What do you look for in a designer?: Peter Merholz, Adaptive Path
Enter a caption (optional)Peter Merholz is President and one of the founders of Adaptive Path. For more than six years, Peter has been instrumental in developing Adaptive Path's ability to provide world-class consulting, training and public events. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on user experience. He's keynoted such conferences as the IA Summit; About, With, and For and SIGCHI.nl. His blogs and his essays demonstrate his foresight on issues of information architecture, organizational change and product strategy.
1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
Three things come to mind:
1. Skills. Obviously, the candidate has to top quality design skills. I want to see a portfolio, not just of finished product, but of the creative process. We know that final designs are the result of a lot of decisions made by various people. What did you do in the process?
2. Ability to present and communicate. I work in a professional services firm. It's not enough to have amazing design skills, only to have no ability to articulate the rationale behind the design. We want our work to see the light of day, to have an impact on people's lives, and in order for this to happen, we have to communicate meaningfully about the design.
3. A passion not for design, but for the effects of design. We don't want people interested in design for design's sake. We look for people who have passion for the impact that design can have on the world.
2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
Good fits:
- Willingness to get up to a whiteboard and start drawing
- Challenge an assertion I've made
- Respond to my question not with an answer, but with an intelligent insightful question of their own
Bad fits:
- Didn't bring examples of work product (portfolio, sketches, whatever). I can't tell you how many people have shown up empty-handed
- Spend all their time talking, and don't ask me any questions; Unprofessional appearance (we're a services firm; save the wifebeater and flip-flops for the weekend)
- You can't interestingly answer the question, "What pisses you off?"
3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
No answer here. That's a good thing, right?
4. What is the single most valuable piece of advice you could give to those on the hunt?
Be honest. Don't try to sell yourself to a particular organization. Be the most you can be, warts and all.
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