Sourcing Guide

Types of Designers

There are four types of people who apply to Hack4Impact as Product Designers.

1. Front-end and UI/UX skills
   • Can hop between both positions
   • Deeper technical awareness of design decisions
   • Would probably be able to show a relevant portfolio
2. UI/UX skills only
   • Likely learned their UI/UX skills from a formal or self-taught environment
   • Would probably be able to show a relevant portfolio
3. Front-end only
   • May not have the innate interest/empathy for designing for the user and user research
   • May not specifically be interested in design but rather looking for another "in" to join the organization
   • Would have to learn the design tools from scratch
4. Art/Design interest
   • If the person already has graphic design skills, this would be easier to learn
   • PM on the team would likely have to be strong in design to help mentor

Most chapters may not quite have the natural capability to mentor and foster budding designers (i.e. types 3 and 4) but can advocate and support them through national resources and a PM that is willing to put in the extra effort. On any team, having one designer can get lonely, and especially when the designer is new to UI/UX, having a PM that has some interest or knowledge in UI/UX would definitely help. What's important to gauge for is how willing and available an applicant is to learning new technologies, tools, and frameworks.

The Recruitment Process

Step 0: Identify design communities and student organizations on campus. Reach out to professors teaching UI/UX classes and ask if they could advertise to their classes. Related departments and majors that may be good starting places include Graphic Design, New Media, Cognitive Science, Information Sciences, Industrial Design, and Product Design. In the process of recruiting for Software Developers, there are likely going to be a few CS majors interested in or already have done UI/UX work.

In the introductory paragraph, make sure to note what designers roles will be, what teams are open for them to be working on, and any other notes

1. Make a general application (same as Software Dev at least partially)

   • Common Questions to ask:
     • Name, Year, Major
     • Why do you want to be a part of Hack4Impact?
       • Good signals include the applicant indicating a larger commitment and interest in social impact.
     • What would you bring as a designer to Hack4Impact? (past experiences, interests, etc.)
       • An applicant should showcase a growth mindset and team-player mindset.
     • What do you do outside of design?
       • Members should be able to articulate and bring their own unique experience and perspective to hack4impact
     • What are your other time commitments?
       • If the applicant has a heavy course load and/or is involved heavily with multiple other organizations and time commitments, it may be difficult for them to balance hack4impact as well — or even more, contribute to growing Hack4mpact.
     • Please link your portfolio below
       • Look for case studies, classwork, and possibly work on Medium or Dribbble with their designs or thought processes

2. During the interview split it into two parts

   Part 1: Background Questions

   • Explain your portfolio, design experiences, interest in the team, any questions they have for the team
   • What is a personal strength? What is a weakness that you might have?
   • How do you work in a team setting?

   Part 2: Design Interview Options:

   • The general process goes from user research → brainstorming and ideation → prototyping → user testing

   • Design Whiteboard Challenge (optional)

     • ex: Take us through the process for designing an app for managing volunteers for a forest restoration nonprofit

     Crushing the product design whiteboard challenge

   • Take us through a case study → Goal is to explain their design process. If they don't have a project then give them a take home design challenge!

   What Is The UX Design Process? A Complete, Actionable Guide

   • Do a take home design challenge

     • ex: Name application (below)

     Context

     A lot of times, peopIe forget names and basic details about a person they’ve just met. Imagine you are a part of a team in the process of designing a new app to help people remember others that they have just met.

     Objective

     Sketch out some screens to explain what the app does - please show/explain your thinking.

     Combine them to create one low-fidelity prototype with 8-12 screens on how a new user could be on-boarded.

     Please be prepared to share about your User Research, Thought Process, and any Final Deliverables.

   For all of these, the main point is to see if the designer can do a short version of the standard design process (user research, low-fidelity iterations, etc.) and communicate their decisions clearly. They should think of this as a mini case-study with lo-fi prototypes.

   What's important for these options is to note and probe the applicants for deeper answers as to why they're making their design assumptions and decisions. As well, questions on the interviewer side should push the applicant's thinking and It's okay if they backtrack and change their mind on things, it's just important to see that they're thinking about the user! Applicants should be able to showcase the ability to ask qualifying questions to better understand the problem, apply empathy, and synthesize clearly their understanding of it.

Things to Consider During Recruitment

Every chapter has their own considerations and values when it comes to recruitment and applicant selection. Here are a few to take into consideration especially when it comes to designers.

• Culture fit
  • Are they interested in social impact or do they see Hack4Impact solely as a resume-builder?
• Behavioral
  • Are they a team player? Do they communicate when they're confused and take initiative?
  • Are they clear and effective communicators? Do they explain what they're working on well and take their time to understand other's critiques?
• Technical skill
  • If they have less technical skill, does your chapter have the capacity to help them learn and thrive?
    • Technical skill is a balancing act between the other things to look out for
    • For designers especially, strong empathy is crucial — applicants may have never done a design challenge before but how do they naturally tackle it?
    • Also, what is the applicant's capacity to learn outside of Hack4Impact? Maybe they show interest in design but are just starting out. If your team doesn't have a design mentorship system, is the designer able to take their own initiative to improve? Having the time, passion, and commitment to learn is crucial.
  • If they are more technically skilled, are they willing to help mentor designers who are still learning or help educate general members about the role of design?

*note: for a virtual semester, it will be difficult to do a design whiteboard challenge but alternatives could be

• screensharing a drawing software/using whiteboard feature on zoom
• having a zoom call but the camera is pointed at a piece of paper