Heady 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Tell me about yourself.

A

I’m a product designer based in Los Angeles.

Until recently, I was a product designer at David’s Bridal for the past year.
My role consisted of designing David’s new service, a wedding planning/vendor marketplace called Pearl by David’s so I worked in both realms of B2C and B2B from the early stages of inception to launch which included creating low-to-high fidelity prototypes, user journeys, journey maps, developing and managing the design system and presenting to c-executives on a bi-weekly basis.
All while iteratively redesigning David’s e-commerce routing pages like the product listing and details pages.

Unfortunately, a significant layoff occurred, and our entire product team, including myself was let go.

So now I’m currently exploring specializing in the e-commerce industry. and I want to continue applying my knowledge and incorporating it into real practical projects in my next role.

Over the past year, I’ve dedicated time to studying and familiarizing myself with the e-commerce UX research conducted by reputable sources like Baymard and Nielsen Norman. This really provided me with valuable insights into the best practices for optimizing UX in e-commerce so I’m just very eager

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2
Q

Walk me through your resume.

A

My degree in visual communication trained me with a solid understanding of design principles and the art of conveying messages through visual elements. Early in my career, I was a digital designer for Fashion PR firms and an independent women’s magazine here in LA. During this time, I really honed my skills in crafting visual designs for various digital platforms, including social media, email newsletters, and web banners.

As I continued to further my education through online courses, I discovered the power of empathy-driven design and product design. and a fire ignited in me to expand my skill set and delve deeper into the world of product design so I transitioned my focus to product design.

Over the past five & a half years, I’ve obtained two UX certificates and started my product design journey at OYA, a startup that’s B2B&B2C women’s networking app. Unfortunately, the business didn’t go anywhere so after two years there, I took up freelance work while traveling, collaborating on projects for companies like terra kaffe, Chegg, and various other projects with different agencies. and most recently, I spent the last year at David’s Bridal, where I contributed to the development of a wedding planning/vendor marketplace and redesigned their e-commerce routing pages.

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3
Q

Why are you interested in this role? / What do you think makes you a good fit for this role?

A
  1. I noticed this role is specifically looking for a designer with e-commerce experience. Over the past year, I’ve dedicated significant time and effort to deepening my understanding of e-commerce UX and I’m very eager to continue using the knowledge I’ve gained and applying it to new and exciting projects moving forward.
  2. I’m also very excited to potentially work at an agency again because the environment challenges you to think quickly and adapt to changing requirements and deliver high-quality work efficiently, and that type of environment makes me feel alive. It gives me life.
  3. BUT what I’m most excited about is working for a company that has “a great place to work” certification. Hell yeah!!~

All that makes me very excited about the opportunity to contribute my skills and be part of Heady’s team and this project.

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4
Q

What are your strengths?

A
  1. The ability to understand, connect, and care about the people I work with as well as the users I’m advocating for.
  2. I pay meticulous attention to even the smallest details of my designs. This ensures a high level of precision and quality in the final product, resulting in a polished and professional user experience.
  3. I am comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. I am open to feedback and able to adapt my designs and strategies based on changing project requirements or user feedback.
  4. I have a solid grasp of current design tools and technologies. This allows me to efficiently translate my designs into functional and feasible solutions, collaborating effectively with development teams.
  5. I have an insatiable curiosity and a deep passion for learning. I continuously stay updated with the latest design trends, emerging technologies, and industry best practices. This drive for knowledge allows me to grow as a designer and deliver cutting-edge solutions.
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5
Q

What are your weaknesses?

A
  1. Dealing with ambiguity: In situations where requirements are not well-defined or when faced with vague design briefs, I can initially find it challenging to navigate through ambiguity. However, I have developed effective strategies to ask clarifying questions, conduct research, and collaborate closely with stakeholders to define clear design goals.
  2. Impatience: Due to my passion for design and desire to see projects progress quickly, I sometimes struggle with patience, especially when facing delays or obstacles. However, I have learned to recognize the importance of maintaining a composed and patient approach to ensure the best possible outcomes.
  3. As someone who takes ownership of my work, I sometimes find it difficult to delegate tasks to others, particularly when I feel personally invested in the outcome. However, I am aware of the importance of collaboration and have been actively working on delegating responsibilities to optimize team efficiency.
  4. Presenting design concepts or leading design discussions in front of larger audiences can sometimes make me feel a bit nervous. However, I have been working on strengthening my public speaking skills through practice and seeking out opportunities to present my work.
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6
Q

Have you ever heard of Heady? (Know the company - Know every detail)

A

Yes, I am familiar with Heady. Heady is a well-known digital agency that specializes in creating innovative and impactful digital experiences for various industries. They have a strong reputation for delivering cutting-edge solutions and driving digital transformation for their clients. Heady offers a range of services, including UX/UI design, web and mobile app development, e-commerce solutions, and digital marketing. They are known for their expertise in leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and blockchain to create unique and immersive digital experiences. With a focus on collaboration, creativity, and delivering exceptional results, Heady has built a strong client base that includes renowned brands across different sectors.

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7
Q

Do you have agency experience?

A

Yes, I do have agency experience. I have had the privilege of working on two exciting projects in collaboration with agencies. One of the projects involved developing the Terra Kaffe mobile app, where I contributed to the design and user experience aspects. Additionally, I had the opportunity to work on the redesign of Chegg’s dashboard, collaborating closely with an agency to enhance the user interface and improve usability. These experiences provided me with valuable exposure to agency workflows, client collaboration, and the opportunity to contribute to impactful projects.

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8
Q

How do you collaborate with others, and who do you frequently collaborate with?

A

Collaboration is vital for me throughout the entire process, and I actively engage with various stakeholders throughout the project. I frequently collaborate with product managers, developers, and executives so that we ensure alignment and gather diverse perspectives.

It helps me understand the project requirements, technical constraints, and business goals, and ultimately it leads to a more well-rounded and successful outcome.

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9
Q

What did you focus on as a product designer when working on David’s e-commerce site?

A

We focused on several key areas when we redesigned David’s e-commerce site.

During their brand refresh, they focused primarily on visual design, so they neglected the importance of creating a seamless user experience throughout the user’s e-commerce journey.

So our priority was to design clear and efficient navigation, simplified product search and filtering, easy-to-use shopping carts, and a more streamlined checkout process.

In the redesign project, my responsibility involved conducting research on eCommerce UX and applying industry-leading design practices to enhance the product listing page and product details page. So I mainly focused on the routing pages.

For example.
I focused on product presentation which involved evaluating and selecting the most important descriptions to add to the cards to make sure to help users compare products efficiently.

and given that the majority of our customers accessed our platform through mobile devices, I made it a priority to design a fully responsive layout tailored for mobile users.

Ultimately, Our aim was to build a user-centric e-commerce experience that boosts conversions while fostering customer trust, loyalty, and satisfaction.

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10
Q

What B2C experience do you have?

A

In the context of product design, B2C experiences refer to designing and creating products or services that directly target individual consumers. Here are some examples of B2C experiences that product designers commonly work on:

E-commerce Platforms: Designing user-friendly and visually appealing interfaces for online shopping experiences. This involves creating intuitive navigation, effective product search and filtering, seamless checkout processes, and personalized recommendations to enhance the overall shopping experience.

Mobile Applications: Designing mobile apps for consumer use, such as social media platforms, entertainment apps, fitness trackers, food delivery services, or travel booking apps. These apps often prioritize ease of use, engaging interactions, personalized content, and seamless integration with device features.

When working on B2C experiences, product designers focus on understanding user behaviors, preferences, and motivations.

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11
Q

What B2B experience do you have?

A

In the context of product design, B2B experiences refer to designing products or services that cater to the needs of businesses and their operations. Here are some examples of B2B experiences that product designers commonly work on:

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Products: Designing user interfaces and experiences for cloud-based software applications that are provided as a service to businesses. This could include designing platforms for data analytics, marketing automation, collaboration tools, customer support systems, or HR management solutions. The focus is on creating user-friendly interfaces and seamless workflows that cater to the specific needs of businesses.

B2B Marketplaces and Procurement Platforms: Designing interfaces for online marketplaces or platforms that facilitate business-to-business transactions, procurement, or supplier management. These designs aim to provide efficient search and filtering capabilities, seamless communication channels, and transparent transaction processes to streamline B2B interactions.

When working on B2B experiences, product designers often collaborate closely with business stakeholders, user representatives, and development teams to understand the unique requirements, workflows, and pain points of businesses. They prioritize usability, efficiency, and integration capabilities to deliver products that enhance productivity, streamline operations, and meet the specific needs of B2B users.

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12
Q

Can you walk me through a key project in your portfolio?

A

And ask “why” about everything. Asking a candidate to explain why they made every small decision on a project lets you see inside their mind. Were their choices based on data, experience, or gut? Why did the project exist in the first place? What made it important to the business? How did it impact the users? Why did they choose to walk through this project in particular? What lessons did they learn or what would they have done differently? The amount of insight you can gain from this exercise is endless.

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13
Q

Do you have experience working on responsive web design?

A

Yeah, Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in designing user interfaces that are fully responsive across various devices and screen sizes.

In Figma, I prioritize creating flexible layouts, fluid grids, and scalable elements using auto layouts, positioning, and constraints so that components seamlessly adapt to various screen sizes. This helps developers implement responsive designs more efficiently.

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14
Q

Please describe how you test your product designs, what methodologies you use, and how you evaluate product usability.

Can you give me an example of a time you had to conduct A/B testing to improve the user experience?

A

I test product designs through various methodologies including A/B testing, gathering feedback on prototypes, and conducting heuristic evaluations. These methods help evaluate product usability, validate design decisions, and identify areas for improvement.

For example, we conducted A/B testing on David’s Bridal home page. During the testing, we compared two variations of the category buttons: one with images and the other without images. The results showed that category buttons with images had a higher conversion rate.

Based on our findings, we discovered that users tend to stop scrolling just after the hero section and rarely reach the bottom of the page. This valuable data convinced our executives to reduce the length of the homepage, which improved page load times and overall user experience.

This valuable insight enabled us to make data-driven decisions and optimize the user experience by implementing the category buttons with images on the home page, resulting in improved engagement and conversions.

When assessing product usability, I take into account factors like ease of use, efficiency, learnability, error prevention, user satisfaction, and accessibility.

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15
Q

How have you worked closely with software engineers?

A

I work closely with software engineers throughout the design process. I involve them early on to ensure feasibility and align on technical constraints.

This approach opens communication and lets us create designs that are both user-centered and technically viable.

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16
Q

Describe a recent product design project you were particularly challenged by and how you approached the problem.

A

In a recent product design project, I faced the challenge of users leaving during the onboarding process. To address this, I conducted user research, identified friction points, simplified the process, incorporated progressive onboarding, and convinced our business executives to incorporate skip buttons.

17
Q

Walk me through a product design example where you set out to solve a business problem.

A

I tackled the business problem of increasing the number of vendors on our wedding planning platform.

I conducted market research to understand the pain points and motivations of vendors.

Based on these insights, I redesigned the vendor onboarding process, simplifying it and making it more enticing for vendors to join our platform. I also implemented features that showcased the benefits of joining, such as increased visibility and access to a wider customer base.

18
Q

Have you ever led the development of the product experience’s design direction by leveraging product design?

A

Yeah, I’ve actively advocated for and pushed for the implementation of important features, using UX thinking to justify it

(e-commerce card hover story)

I’ve successfully influenced stakeholders and collaborated with cross-functional teams to make it a reality.

19
Q

Co-led kick-offs and ideation workshops and effectively communicate and present design work both internally and externally.

A

I’ve facilitated workshops where we collaboratively brainstormed and prioritized features, considering nice-to-haves, minimum viable product (MVP) components, and filling our backlog.

20
Q

Contributed to Design systems efforts, leverage existing design systems, or help build design systems from scratch

A
21
Q

Questions

A
  1. So who would I be working with on a daily basis?
  2. What milestones are we working on here, what are the set deliverables we’ll be handing off to the client?
  3. Can I also ask what the rest of the interview process is like?
22
Q

Ending.

A

Thank you for having me and taking the time. I really enjoyed this.

Hope you have a good weekend.

23
Q

A story of when you owned the product

A

I fully owned Pearl by David’. It’s a wedding planning platform and vendor marketplace. Features we offer our users are booking and managing your vendors, a budget tracker, a wedding date countdown, a registry, wedding website.

On the vendor side, we offer our vendors to manage their pearl website and bookings.

So in the beginning of the process of putting Pearl together, we had resource constraints, so research wasn’t really part of the plan, I really value research at the beginning of the product cycle so I put together as much research as I could on my own by going to wedding forums and discord and talking to users there and asking questions like what features would you like to see and what problems are they facing using other wedding planning platforms,
as well as putting together a competitive analysis.

So I brought that over to the team and reviewed and it helped to define our core features and put together a backlog. I then got started putting together user flows, site maps, and wireframes.

We reviewed and iterated those with the team until they eventually evolved into high-fidelity prototypes. Once those were improved I worked with the development team to ensure the quality of the product.

Once we launched we received a lot of insight from our users and we used that to continue iterating and improving the product.

24
Q

Design Process

A

My design process is iterative, but it usually starts with understanding the users as well as the business goals so we can define the problem statement and set clear design objectives that benefit both the users and the business.

After I conduct user research, I compile it to create any documents that’ll be helpful in establishing design objectives. This could include creating user personas, journey maps, or empathy maps to visualize user insights.

and then I’ll use these references throughout the design process to help me guide decision-making.

After I identify the problems to solve, I proceed to develop wireframes and prototypes at varying levels of fidelity. Once it’s ready, I put them through a feedback loop to make iterative improvements.

After that, I conduct usability testing and make any necessary adjustments before handing it off to the development team.

And this process is iterative and flexible.