Top Design Thinking Interview Questions and Answers 2022

Top Design Thinking Interview Questions and Answers 2022 | Design Thinking | Emeritus

Understanding a candidate’s skills, knowledge about the field, experience, and learnings acquired from their previous jobs is one of the main goals of any face-to-face interview round. To do so hiring managers to ask an array of questions to aspiring candidates. So, if you aspire to make a career in design thinking, here are some interview questions often asked during the in-person round.

Common Design Thinking Questions And Their Answers

Generally, design thinking interview questions are comprehensive and range from challenges of applying design thinking methodologies in business to areas of significant concern while implementing design thinking. Therefore, before the interview, refresh your knowledge on the basics of design thinking, like the benefits, meaning, advantages, the difference between UI andUX design etc. Here are five general design thinking questions to help refresh your knowledge and pass the interview.



  1. What is design thinking, and why is it important in the current milieu?

Design thinking is a process that allows engineers and designers to create new and innovative solutions to business challenges. It is used across varying industries to different degrees. For instance, design thinking is used in sales to address new business growth.

It also helps create high-value, high-performative strategies that match the target audience’s requirements. The importance of design thinking is more in a customer-centric market. However, they prove to be effective in a variety of different applications. That’s why it is gaining traction across industries these days.

  1. What are the different stages of design thinking?

There are five stages of a design thinking process; they are as follows:

Stage 1 – Empathise: Open-mindedness or understanding the users’ needs is the first step of design thinking.

Stage 2 – Define: In the next step, the need and requirements of the audience are defined.

Stage 3 – Ideate: Designers and engineers generate ideas to support the defined goals in the second stage of this step.

Stage 4 – Prototype: The process of creating a dummy product or an experience of service that the brand plans to offer.

Stage 5 – Test: In this step, the prototype created is tested on different parameters.

  1. What are the tools involved in design thinking?

Every aspect of a design thinking plan is created with customers in mind. Design thinkers develop a product that appeals to the customers because with the help of automated tools. Here are some of the standard tools used across various stages of design thinking:

  • Analysis and synthesis: It helps consolidate data collected through various sources, also assisting in converting data into actionable results. There are many tools for visualisation, assumption testing, and others.
  • Ideation: There are many tools that design thinkers use for facilitating brainstorming or ideation sessions, such as rapid concept development, mind mapping, storytelling, etc.
  • Prototyping: Tools like rapid prototyping, journey mapping, etc., are used by design thinkers during prototyping to test the product or service’s usability and the experience it creates.
  • Immersion: There are many tools that design thinkers use to determine the customer’s problem and offer solutions to it.
  1. What are the reasons for design thinking fails?

Here are some reasons for the failure of a design thinking strategy:

  • Wrong or misguided approach

A design thinker’s approach to implementing a plan plays a pivotal role in its success. Therefore, a wrong or misguided approach to a design thinking strategy leads to the failure of a design thinking plan.

  • Unrealistic expectations

Design thinking doesn’t offer a definite solution to a problem. Instead, it tries to find innovative ways to mitigate the risks caused by the situation. Moreover, it provides skills and a mindset to solve similar problems.

  • Lack of patience and vision

Persistence, patience, and clear vision are among the most important qualities of a design thinker. Often, organisations don’t have the patience or persistence to hold an idea long enough to make it happen. Therefore, the chances of projects failing due to it are more than the success rate.

  1. How can design thinking be implemented in an organization?

Implementing design thinking in an organisation is a strenuous and time-consuming process. It might take months or maybe years for proper implementation and optimisation. Apart from persistence and patience, here are some imperatives to remember while implementing design thinking:

  • Focus on issue
  • Building design thinking team
  • Inquisitiveness
  • Proper feedback cycle

Whether you are a newcomer with no work experience or an experienced professional with years of training and multiple skills, knowing the interview questions beforehand can increase your chances of securing a job. In the next part, we will list common design thinking interview questions for freshers, followed by questions asked for experienced professionals.

Design Thinking Questions for Freshers

You will be asked many questions about the design thinking process as a fresher. The interviewer will try to find out the skills possessed by you and check your abilities to deal with different stages of design thinking and problems arising during the process. Here are some questions asked during the design thinking interview.

  1. Who does design thinking in today’s organisation?
  2. What is design thinking ideally used for the most?
  3. Is there any universal design principle that design thinker needs to adhere to?
  4. How would you test a design thinking strategy?
  5. How are design thinking and project management different?

Design Thinking Questions for Experienced Professionals

Meanwhile, interviewers will ask experienced professionals more complex questions that will test their abilities as design thinkers. Below are commonly asked interview questions to experienced professionals.

  1. How can you start using design thinking?
  2. How important is research in design thinking?
  3. What issues did you commonly deal with while doing design thinking in your previous organisation?
  4. According to you, is design thinking the only solution to problems and innovation?
  5. How do you test design thinking in a day?

Design Thinking Courses with Emeritus India

There are seldom courses for designers, engineers, or managers trying to upskill or reskill in design thinking. Emeritus India has partnered with many renowned institutes to offer courses that will act as a catalyst to build a strong career in design thinking.  These online design thinking courses are designed for working professionals and freshers.

About the Author

Content Writer, Emeritus Blog
Nikhil is a passionate and free-spirited writer with 4+ years of experience. He has a keen eye for the ever-evolving content landscape, which helps him craft captivating content across various genres. He writes about marketing, data science, and finance for the Emeritus Blog. Beyond work, Nikhil is a dedicated pet parent who loves leisurely walks with his beloved puppers.
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