Test task for a designer. How to “level up” as a designer: tips and useful links from Russian experts
A smart web designer is the basis of your beauty and conversion on the Internet. This is the person who is responsible for your “showcase” and the first impression of your product or service.
This specialist bears full responsibility for visual appeal your website, landing page, which is, if not half, then definitely a third of the success of the business.
Well-thought-out design can make all the difference in transforming potential clients and regular visitors into buyers. After all, first of all, the user pays attention to the visual appearance of the service or product.
This is why finding a decent web designer for a company is a complex and lengthy process.
In this article, we will try to make it easier for you by describing all the necessary stages of searching for an employee, which is designed to create and bring beauty to your business.
1. Competency profile
It is worth starting with the formulation of a competency profile.
This is your internal document that will allow you to structure your thoughts and expectations regarding the candidate and, thus, improve the quality of his search. In the future, you will use this document when training a web designer.
In it you indicate in detail the expected result of the specialist’s work, his area of expertise and his functional responsibilities(describe them at the level of behavior, actions).
2. Vacancy
The next step is to compile and post a vacancy. The essence of the vacancy is to interest a potential candidate in employment in your company.
4. Preliminary interview of the candidate by telephone
All candidates should be contacted. Script telephone conversation- below.
Candidate's name, good afternoon. My name is your name, I'm calling about a vacancy for a web designer at a company Company name. Can you talk now? Please tell us what kind of job you are looking for? Please tell me, do you have experience creating a layout using a grid? Do you have experience preparing a layout in layers for layout? Do you have experience working with CMS? Rate your technical and aesthetic skills as a web designer on a scale of 1 to 10. You can argue this assessment? What salary level are you expecting?
During the telephone interview, if necessary, additional questions are also asked to clarify the candidate’s professional qualities.
Candidate's name, thank you for your time. I will send you a letter with a small and interesting test task.
If the telephone interview has a positive result, we will send the candidate test and please specify the time it needs to complete (with an accuracy of 15 minutes). The results of communication and deadlines are entered into a table.
The letter should praise the candidate (at least because he has already devoted time to your company, sent examples of work, spent time communicating on the phone - this is worthy of praise) and offer to answer several test questions.
Candidate's name, good afternoon. Thank you for applying for the vacancy. Your work is interesting and deserves attention. In order for us to see you in action, please complete a short task in which you can show your skills in practice.
5. Test task
The test task should be given in accordance with the tasks that the employee will need to perform in the activity. Under no circumstances should you abuse a specialist’s time and give commercial unpaid tasks (which you can then use in your activities without payment). It is worth giving a task that clearly does not have a commercial customer.
Come up with an interesting test so that you want to complete it, like a quest, and which will show the designer what he will have to work with in your company. With the help of test tasks, we have the opportunity to consider several candidates at once, without much time investment.
If you do everything right, many will respond.
By entering data into a table, we check a person’s verbal communication over the phone, his level of interest, self-organization and compliance with deadlines. To check attention to detail, it is worth specifying the format of the name of the response file. This is what a test task for a web designer might look like.
Candidate's name, hello! Below is a test task for the vacancy Web designer at the company Company Name.
Tasks 1. Give 3 examples of sites that inspire you. Give reasons for your point of view. 2. Check the landing page grid is correct and make changes if necessary. 3. Describe potential areas for improving the page in terms of increasing conversion.
Link to landing page https://www.infovideo.pro/web-designer-test/
The answer to the task must be sent to following format: “AmV-web_designer_Ivan_Ivanov_120614”, where AmV is the company code, web_designer is the position for which you are applying, Ivan_Ivanov is your first and last name, 120614 is the date the file was sent (for example, here June 13, 2014).
6. Processing test tasks
When you have received completed test tasks, frankly weak candidates should be eliminated immediately. They can write a response in the following format.
Candidate Name , Thank you for completing the test. The level of knowledge you have demonstrated in this moment is not enough to further pass the competition for this vacancy. We wish you good luck in your job search.
We respond to other candidates in approximately the following format:
- what was done well in the test,
- point out potential points of improvement,
— we ask you to make certain changes to the work.
We record successes and comments for each candidate in a table.
7. Personal or group interview
After completing the stage of test tasks, only a few selected candidates remain, whom we invite for personal acquaintance. You can organize a group interview by inviting several candidates who have successfully completed the quest.
We place the children in the classroom so that they feel comfortable. We tell you about the company, the vacant position, and get you interested. Then we call the guys one by one for a dialogue, and in order for the rest not to get bored, we suggest filling out a short questionnaire.
At this point, we have already tested our practical skills, it’s time to delve a little deeper into the theory. Here are some questions that will help you identify a good designer.
After this, we invite the candidate to ask questions that interest him. Frequently asked questions can reveal a lot about the person you're talking to and their interests.
If necessary, if a final decision has not yet been made, it makes sense to collect recommendations on the selected finalist candidates. To do this, it is enough to conduct a telephone survey of at least two or three previous employers. It is important that these are the candidate’s immediate supervisors. During the conversation, you need to obtain information about: - the position held by the candidate, — level of satisfaction of the previous employer with the candidate,- specific duties and types of work that the candidate performed, with a possible assessment of him for each type of work, — attitude towards meeting deadlines (were there any delays, if so, how often and why), — the candidate’s reaction to criticism and comments on work, — the reason for the candidate’s dismissal.
After such communication, most likely you will be able to make the right decision.
If the candidate is rejected, it would be good to explain what he lacked to get this position.
Special attention should be paid to the candidate’s playlist. Musical preferences can sometimes determine a person's character traits.
For example, there may be the following situation: a web designer, quite young, and at the same time has musical preferences associated with protest and challenge. With a high degree of probability, in this case, you will encounter difficulties when making edits and comments to the layouts.
Good luck to you and we hope that this material was useful.
Let's assume that you have an urgent need to create your own representation on the Internet. The reasons for this may be different, for example, you just want to make a page about yourself, the purpose of which will be to find new acquaintances, search for friends with similar interests.
Or, there is a need to expand the circle of consumers of your product or service. And it doesn’t matter who you are, a large organization, small company or a private entrepreneur, you should not neglect the opportunity to attract clients to your field of activity. You never know the reasons that will make the task of creating a website a priority.
How to solve this problem is another matter. There are two possible options solutions to this problem. The first one is if you have experience in the field information technologies And free time, it is quite possible to independently master the basics of website building and even study them deeply. For a person who is familiar with at least one programming language, the task of creating a simple business card website with several static pages should not be difficult. It will not be difficult for him to create his own information resource using popular news engines, for example, Wordpress or Joomla.
Second - if you have absolutely no experience with computer technology at the level of at least an advanced user, if to configure, say, office programs, you invite a specialist, then there is only one way to solve your problem - find a competent web designer. However, it is quite possible that you yourself can make any website perfectly well, but you simply do not have enough time for it.
Finding a competent web designer can also be a challenging task. Here you can rely, both on the projects he has implemented, and on the reviews of uninterested people for whom he performed similar works, and, of course, on your own experience and what this experience will tell you at the first meeting.
If, as soon as you have told the web designer the theme of your site, for example, you order a site where visitors can buy a baby monitor (remote means of monitoring children). And they just said a few words about what exactly you want from the web designer, that is, place a price list, contact information. And the designer says that everything is clear to him, that everything will be in order at its best, without asking a single question, kick such a designer in the neck. And you will save yourself money and time. But if clarifying, leading, and at first glance, completely trivial questions immediately begin, for example, is it planned Feedback, whether a registration form is needed, whether there will be discounts for regular or wholesale customers, in the end, what color you see the background, grab such a designer and hold it with both hands. He clearly knows the meaning of these questions and understands that the result of the work and its price will depend on your answers to them.
Therefore, before talking with a designer, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to get as a result. That is, in fact, it is necessary to compose technical task for website development.
It is advisable to put all your wishes on paper. This will allow you, firstly, to more clearly formulate what you want to receive; secondly, it will avoid conflict situations like - “you didn’t tell me that.”
What questions need to be included in the terms of reference for website development?
1. Describe the structure of the site’s information content. That is, clearly indicate what type of information you will have, break it down into sections. For example, general information about your company, services, examples of work, price list, Contact Information. It would not be amiss to include sections for the future, for example, question and answer, in order to choose the most suitable tool for developing the site and the possibility of subsequently expanding its functionality.
2. If possible, sketch out a sketch appearance. That is, what the site header should look like, where to place the menu, whether there will be positions for advertising units, search positions. If, as they say, God did not give the talent to draw, at least in a descriptive form, based on what was seen, for example, a header like this site, advertising blocks, as on a site like that. In any case, the web designer will know what you like and what you don’t.
3. Select a site template. That is, indicate how many columns the site should contain and where they should be. Here, too, it would be appropriate to indicate several sites whose information layout suits you. Be sure to immediately specify what type of website template will be - rubber or constant width. Here you need to remember that beautiful websites can be quite easily obtained using constant-width templates, but we should not forget that such a template looks rather poor on widescreen monitors, where it uses a third of the usable screen area in width.
4. Create and at least schematically draw the menu structure. Here you need to remember that the menu should be logically constructed and give easy access to structured information. You are an expert in your field, and if you entrust this work entirely to a designer, then, say, information about the choice remote funds monitoring children (baby monitors, video baby monitors) may well fall into the section on types of children's furniture. Put yourself in the role of a site visitor who needs to find a specific product and mentally go through the path of finding it. If you have to make more than 3-4 menu transitions to do this, you need to change something.
5. Also, it is necessary to prepare color options, at least at the level of examples. You may already have a logo and form style, then, if possible, it is advisable to create the site in exactly these colors in order to increase its recognition. The only thing you shouldn’t forget is that you shouldn’t turn your website into an artist’s palette. The time of websites “all the colors of the rainbow” has long passed and such design causes nothing but irritation.
Following these recommendations will determine the necessary future content of the site, clearly set the task for the web designer, reduce the time and nerves for coordinating every detail and, ultimately, will allow you to obtain a high-quality product that can compete with similar resources and help you achieve the goal for which the site was conceived by you.
The association task is usually given on the subject of design.
These tasks are for the development of imagination and associative thinking.
Exercise No. 1
Words are given and depending on your future profession, tasks are performed on them. If this is an assignment for a drawing lesson at school or an art club, then you can give the assignment as for a profession - an art teacher or object design. I give examples of words, but you can come up with many more, the main thing is to be creative!
Carousel
Architecture
If your specialty is interior design, then you give the words, and the students do different designs interior to words, that is, the interior itself should be similar to the word you said. You are given not one word, but a list of words, and for each word you must make an interior design.
If your specialty is an art teacher, then you give the same words, but already ask to perform some kind of abstraction, or fantasy composition - this can be real characters and objects and abstraction. For example, the word carousel: You make real children, but you can arrange them any way you like, draw a carousel wherever you want, or instead of a carousel, in general, draw that the children are holding on to ribbons and sitting on some kind of horses, or weirdos, you can draw some confetti around or just spots different shapes. That is, you can use whatever you want in your fantasy task. The main thing is that by looking at your work, one could immediately tell what kind of word you asked.
If your specialty is fashion design, then you give a list of words and ask them to make clothing designs based on these words. Just like with the interior, but only with clothes you need to complete the task.
If your specialty is environment design or object design, then of course you give words and draw objects on them, these objects should express these words.
With the design of an object environment and the design of clothing it is even more interesting, you can also give words, naming specific animals (a cat for example), birds (a crow for example), shells, plants, flowers, trees, etc.
Exercise No. 2
Design exercises for association:
One of the favorite exercises for children of all ages (from 3 to infinity) by design:
I call him “Kaki little guys.”
On A4 format you should have six drawings made in pencil. You draw one: we draw the little ones, like little children draw. Then we begin to look at this drawing and look for what it might look like, you can find several lines or one that looks like something, like a bird, an animal, shells, sea animals, jellyfish, cartoon characters, whatever. For example, we decided that it looks like a bird: we take this bird and draw on what is missing: a beak, a wing, an eye, and fill in the missing details. Very often, stylized cartoon heads are “found”: an old woman, a grandfather, a man, a woman, a boy, a girl. Usually these are funny faces, like from cartoons. The picture can be rotated different sides, you can even look upside down and draw, that is, the drawings can be located in very different directions. We start making drawings one at a time. Required parts can be outlined with a pencil. There can even be several drawings in one drawing. Here I sketched out the arrangement of the drawings in A4 format in vector. And next to it is a finished drawing, as it should be done - in pencil.
Those who studied layout and got a job in the IT field, and today we will continue the topic of training. Another area that is closely related to layout is web design. This time we asked Russian Internet experts to give advice on professional development for aspiring designers.
Of course, this requires endurance and perseverance. I know a person who started practicing design on this site and after three months found regular customer from the USA with a contract.
It’s better to start with simple series, as Sherlock or The Big Bang Theory will be difficult to watch. I myself made a lot of progress in English while watching Lost during training. The English is very simple, and the plot is so simple that even without translation it is clear what is happening.
Online courses
If you have mastered touch typing and can read at least a little English, then you can move on. For example, try online technology courses. There are a lot of them, some paid and free. [...]
But the courses have a problem: they chew everything very gradually and slowly. You manage to fall asleep without getting to the point.
Bonus: several speeches by Anton on the topic of design and prototyping.
If you are looking for a job as a designer, at some point during the interview, or even before the interview begins, you may be told magic words"test". Personally, this seems very strange to me. I can understand when we're talking about about a person with a completely empty resume, but if you have some experience, a portfolio, the employer looked at it, invited you, you came and spend your time answering all the questions of interest, then the person on the other side of the table has a comprehensive information to decide whether you are suitable for the job or not. Do you have enough experience or not? Why you need to take some other “exams” for professional suitability on top of everything else is not clear.
Someone will say that the employer is taking a risk and wants to hedge his bets. But for this he has, among other things, probation. What is the risk if within 3 months (or even more) you can be thrown out of work without explanation?
Another nonsense is that the task is usually final, after a thorough study of the resume and an interview with the candidate. At the same time, I have never encountered a situation where, after completing a task, for example, the probationary period is removed or shortened. Or a higher salary is offered for excellent performance.
It seems to me that this question most often arises in 2 cases:
- The person from the other end of the table is not very smart. Not only is he unable to ask the right questions and make a decision based on all the information received, he does not respect your time, a priori considers you some kind of student-freeloader who is apparently trying to deceive him and suck all the juice out of the wonderful “dream company”.
- They are just trying to use you. Under the guise of a test task, they give you a completely real job, but they don’t plan to hire you at all. Moreover, this can be either a certain “style” of work of the company as a whole, or simply the ingenuity of an individual employee. It is especially easy to snag tasks if you are a representative of a company with a well-known name.
- If you have almost no experience and an empty portfolio, you are new to this field, and the employer’s doubts are quite understandable, but the test task itself is quite abstract, will not require more than 8 hours of your time with lunches and smoke breaks, and is definitely not related to desire to use you for free.
- The test task is paid. After all, it's essentially the same job. Therefore, you may well say that, ok, I will estimate the labor costs, divide the salary that I am asking for by 160 (working hours per month with a 40-hour week), multiply one by the other, and issue an invoice. If you are willing to pay for it, I will take on the task. After all, any work must be paid, and you value your time. Let employers value him too, because this is exactly what you are trying to negotiate - you have experience and personal time, the employer has tasks and money.
- The task is simply incredibly interesting and unique, and you have a lot of free unpaid time.
Now clinical cases from personal practice. If you come across something like this, it will definitely not lead to anything good.
- There is no charge for the test task. For many, this will be a revelation now, but in general, this is work that requires time and distracts me from my main activities, therefore it must be paid.
- The assignment is sent on several sheets (my record is 7 A4 sheets) in small print, consisting of items with extremely vague wording.
- It is proposed to complete the test task online, on Skype, sitting in front of the bright eyes of the employer.
- The test task has nothing to do with future work- for example, they sent me a mountain of tasks for usability specialists for the position of a designer.
- “You are DEFINITELY suitable for us, BUT we will only hire you after a test task.” (Well, take it, since I’m up to it, and give me any tasks, not necessarily tests.)
- The test task is aimed at solving specific task companies. I did this once, after sitting over the solution and thinking it through well, in the end the result was quickly implemented on the company’s website one-on-one.
- There was also a case when a good test task was sent with a bunch of corrections, almost in red pen, with a request to work more and send the final result.
- There is a strict ban on using the results in your portfolio.
