Tricky interview question?

So, we’ve been doing some interviewing and one of the questions we are asking potential UXers is

“Can you tell me a website or app you’ve used recently that you think has been really well designed and why?”

So many people have struggled with this, so I was wondering what you guys would answer to this question?

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@jacquidow
I always ask this question during the interviews.

I’m very happy with a native app, available here in Switzerland, called Paymit.
It’s an app for asking/sending money using you contact list (native, gmail etcl)
*The UI is light and easy to read and interact with
*The UX patterns are well defined and the overall experience is very smooth
*It is engaging because you can send text and pictures when you ask/receive money
*it is super easy to connect with your bank account

Here’s the landing page: http://www.paymit.com/en/home/individuals.html

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I get asked that question a lot and never remember to think of something beforehand.

Any ideas what you’d answer now?

What I did find interesting, is a lot of people said Amazon, but then couldn’t back up why! (Other than saying, ‘well, it’s easy to buy stuff’!)

The follow up question to this is usually - “Can you tell me a website or app you’ve used recently that you think has been really badly designed and why?”

Funnily enough, this usually gets a lot of the same answer (from different people) - Amazon!

I tried to think of one but couldn’t, by answering Amazon they’ve basically said I don’t know. For bad I usually say the National Rail App. It drivesme in circles sometimes.

A good one I would say is Right Move’s app. I often spend time on it just looking at houses for the sake of it.

I also like Github. It’s a powerful site.

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This is a very common interview question, and one that’s good to think about beforehand.

I was asked both ends of this question-- which apps/sites I liked, and which apps/sites I didn’t, and why. I had recently written a (since deleted) blog post about why I hated reddit’s design, so I started there. I talked about their page layout, the clicks-to-content route for each type of content, the multitude of font sizes used, and how I would smooth things out for them. For a site I liked, I spoke about TuboTax-- a company that has mastered UI/UX so well that it’s made even the most boring, difficult subject in the world downright easy and fun. I talked about their use of iconography, their quasi-gamification of the income tax experience, and how their sales model has apparently changed over time.

I felt like I did quite well on this question, mostly because I cam prepared and knew points I was going to hit on. For anyone job searching, I recommend taking some time to think about this question before going in. Not only will it allow you to be well-prepared on speaking about apps as a whole, but you’ll find yourself picking apart different flows and designs as you go, allowing you to speak about the individual pieces much more easily than otherwise.

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100% agree here! I was genuinely shocked at how few people had thought about this before showing up for an interview.

Another one I always prep for is who influences me, or where do I get inspiration from.

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I have a friend who has been doing a round of interviewing for a Senior User Experience position. He added a really interesting interview question to his list: If you could explain your role as a User Experience Designer as a User Story, what would it be.

Apparently it had some really interesting responses! (As well as pointing out people who didn’t know what user stories were).

In terms of preparing that question about websites/apps I do have to admit it has never been one that I’ve actually encountered before. I have a few bug bears that I could list (some airline sites, office365 and netsuite), and some ones I do quite like (don’t hate on me but I really like the clean new Pokemon Go app… - although I can see some improvements that could be made too).

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That’s a really good question!

I agree with you on office365 - especially sharepoint, I don’t know if it’s the setup we have but the navigation is awful!

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