{"id":653,"date":"2025-04-09T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adhdux.com\/?p=653"},"modified":"2025-04-02T12:09:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T12:09:35","slug":"interviewing-ux-professionals-with-no-ux-experience-ux-is-not-figma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adhdux.com\/?p=653","title":{"rendered":"Interviewing UX Professionals with No UX Experience: UX Is Not Figma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s get something out of the way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being great at Figma does not<\/em> make you a UX designer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes you a great visual designer\u2014or maybe a UI designer\u2014but UX is an entirely different mindset. And yet, companies keep interviewing “UX designers” who have never conducted a user interview, run a usability test, or even read a heatmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s break this down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UX Is Strategy, Behavior, and Empathy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At its core, UX is about understanding how humans<\/em> interact with systems and how to improve that experience. That means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Research comes first.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve never spoken to a user, conducted a field study, or done a card sort\u2014how do you know what they need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good UX designers start with questions, not comps. They use qualitative interviews, surveys, analytics, ethnography, and competitive audits to uncover what’s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Behavior matters more than beauty.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A pretty UI that nobody uses is a failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UX is about making things usable, useful, and usable again<\/em>. This means mapping user journeys, identifying pain points, and making iterative changes based on real-world behavior\u2014not just stakeholder preferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Testing is not optional.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You’re missing half the job if you’ve never watched someone struggle through your design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usability testing\u2014moderated or unmoderated\u2014exposes flaws you didn’t consider. The best UX professionals get excited when their design fails<\/em> in a test because it’s a chance to learn and improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Accessibility is part of the job.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Actual UX means designing for everyone<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your product doesn’t work with a screen reader, if color contrast fails WCAG standards, or if tap targets are tiny on mobile, you’re not done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility is not a nice-to-have. It’s table stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Content is UX, too.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If your buttons say “Learn More” on every screen and your error messages are cryptic, you’re not solving problems\u2014you’re creating them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microcopy, labeling, hierarchy, and instructional clarity all impact user experience. Great UX designers care about the words just as much as the wireframes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do we interview for UX\u2014real<\/em> UX?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Look for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n