We can see the work of graphic designers everywhere–on each book cover, on every billboard, on a pen we sign letters with, or on a glass we drink water from… Each company, in each sector of economy, needs to have a graphic designer in their team. And while some smaller players prefer to cooperate with freelance designers, bigger corporations prefer to have in-house designer, or they run an entire graphic design team. The same applies to fashion design. Everything considered, dozens of interviews for graphic designer jobs take place daily, all around the world, and one of the most common questions you may face in this interview is the dreaded one: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
The rule of a thumb says that you should pick some strengths that are highly relevant for the job, and weaknesses that aren’t central in this work. That means weaknesses that won’t restrain you from delivering excellent designs–but may make your life a bit difficult in certain situations in the workplace. Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to this question.
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7 sample answers to “What are your strengths and weaknesses as a graphic designer?” interview question
- I would say that creativity is my greatest strengths. Each of my design is unique in something. I do not copy the work of other people, and I always look for some special angle, something that will make my work stand out in the eyes of the target audience. I do not want to sound over-confident, but most of my designs are a testimony to my creativity. On the other hand, I sometimes struggle with time-management. I get so immersed in the work that I forget the time, and sometimes neglect the secondary duties in work because of that–such as communication with colleagues or clients. I am aware of this weakness and hope to improve on it in the future.
- Precision, attention to detail, passion for my work, which reflects in each painting or drawing. These are my greatest strengths as a fashion designer. What I struggle with, however, is meeting deadlines. I have worked as a freelancer until this point, and sometimes I just took on many projects, too much work. Then I struggled to meet the deadlines with the clients. It is maybe one of the reasons why I look for employment now, why I do not want to freelance anymore. In a corporation someone else will decide what I should work on, and hence it cannot happen that I take on too much work.
- Experience is my greatest strength. You cannot beat ten years of active design experience, and hundreds of satisfied clients. I’ve worked with all kinds of design, faced all sorts of situations, dealt with every client objection you can imagine. This certainly makes it easier for me in the daily job. On the other hand, I’ve been so long in the field, and still like to work with certain software products or techniques that may be outdated. Just because it is a habit, and I can get around them easily. But I understand it is my weakness as a designer, and I will have to learn to work with newer tools, since they offer better options and perhaps also allow me to work faster…
- To be honest, I cannot really tell what are my strengths and weaknesses as a graphic designer. This is my first job application in the field, and though I have a lot of design experience from school, it’s not the same like having a job, and facing various situations in the workplace. I believe I will have to work for you (or someone else) for a month at least as a designer, to be able to identify any weaknesses I may have. Having said that, I am sure that I won’t excel in everything. I am ready to work on my skills and try my best to improve on any weaknesses I identify while working for you.
- I would define as my greatest strength my ability to match the final design with the goal of the campaign. Always talking with clients at length, trying to understand all nuances of their campaign, and what exactly they try to achieve with this or that design, I typically succeed in delivering work that achieves the goal–be it brand building, shocking the audience, creating certain emotion, or doing anything else the client wants the design to do. At the end of the day, that’s the reason why they pay for our work. As to my weaknesses, I’d say that I am a bad manager, and if I was supposed lead a group of designers, or any other small team in your place, it would not end up well…
- To be honest, I am a perfectionist. And I think it’s my greatest strength and biggest weakness at the same time. Strength, because I really play with the designs to the smallest detail. Many of my designs are works or art, and many of my former clients called me an artist–not a designer. On the other hand, since I am rarely satisfied with my work, and have the greatest level of precision, it takes time until I finalize my works. And, of course, I often fail to meet the deadline because of it. I know I cannot afford that in a corporate setting, and will try to find the right balance between quality , precision, and time it takes to do the designs.
- I’d say my biggest weakness is the lack of experience. And while I have it all–talent, passion, dedication to my work, one can still feel it on my designs–the lack of experience. But everyone has to start somewhere, and even the best graphic designers in the world had their first job one day. I sincerely believe that I will quickly improve, especially in such a great company like this one, and with the help of more experienced colleagues.
Your desire to improve matters the most for the interviewers
Everyone has some weaknesses–including the best designers in the world. HR managers do not expect you (and do not want you to) say that you have no weaknesses. On the contrary, they want to hear you admit one or two weaknesses, and clearly specify what you can improve on, in order to become a better graphic designer, or a better employee.
Then you should ensure them that you do not plan to keep the status quo, but, on the contrary, try your best to improve on your weaknesses. That’s the attitude they seek in the right job applicant, and the one you should demonstrate with your answer.
* Special Tip: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” isn’t the only difficult question you will face while interviewing for a job of a Graphic Designer. You will face questions about meeting deadlines, dealing with pressure, dealing with ambiguity, and other tricky scenarios that happen in the workplace. If you want to make sure that you stand out with your answers and outclass your competitors, have a look at our Interview Success Package. Up to 10 premium answers to 31 tricky scenario based questions (+ more) will make your life much easier in the interviews. Thank you for checking it out!
Experience or lack of experience always works
If you cannot come up with any particular strength or weakness, you can always refer to your experience. Or, to the lack of it. Saying that you’ve worked on all sorts of designs in all types of campaigns and settings, is definitely something the hiring managers will like to hear from you.
On the other hand, lack of experience isn’t a showstopper either. Remember that they read your resume before the start of the interview, and perhaps also saw your portfolio. If they invited you for an interview, it means that they are willing to give you a chance. But you can still point the lack of experience out as your weakness…
Ready to answer this one? Great! Make sure to check also sample answers to other tricky graphic design interview questions:
- Graphic designer interview – Tell me about yourself.
- What does excellence mean to you?
- Tell us about a time when you had to meet a tight deadline.
