Interviewing for a Game UI Design job? I’ve written over and over again how the process of a Game UI job interview plays out. Eventually you’ll end up talking to the Art Director – probably the final decision maker on your employment. Now, taking a Mentorship would help you point-by-point figure out what to say but… if you can’t one right now, no worries. Here’s a few things you could say during an interview that might make an Art Director say, “Oh Poop emoji… that’s pretty good!”

Art Directors are supernaturally talented artists… who have had it up to here with interviews! Don’t make them angrier! 

–

–

SAY, “I MAKE CONVERSATION PIECES FOR TEAMS”

Even if you work a lightning-quick contract to deliver X amount of wireframes by Y date, those aren’t deliverables you hand off blindly. Almost everything you make or say is Strategy, meant to crystalize a Vision of the best, smoothest gaming experience possible.

Other artists make deliverables (and um… we do too, hold on) but we also touch all possible corners of game design and interact frequently with The Vision Holders(tm), so the clarity of our work is our craft. We guide strategic conversations with tactical art.

For the Art Director, this could mentally check off:

-Experience working with a team
-Veteran-level competency with Game Wireframing

Read up: What is Wireframing from the Interaction Design Foundation

SAY, “I DON’T DO MULTIPLE OPTIONS.”

“Yeah, make me two or three ideas and I’ll pick” is something you instantly say No to – and counter with this: if you do two iterations, literally HALF your work evaporates into a nothing as soon as a choice is made. That’s an extraordinary waste of a hyperspecialist.

Instead, insist that you only drive a single clear Vision forward that goes through iteration after momentum-building iteration. A single ideation with multiple rounds of refinement teaches you where the Project needs to go. Multiple options just teaches you how to waste irreplaceable time.

For the Art Director this could mentally check off:

-Experience with a Team (you have a healthy sense of pushback against the Director),
-Excellent management of Time & Effort

Read up: Should you present your client multiple options? Just. Don’t. from Medium

SAY, “THE DIRECTOR IS THE KEY DEMOGRAPHIC.”

It’s adorable, truly, when my Sweet Summer Children (aka Students) ask me how we bridge the gap to the core audience. Your Creative Director IS the core audience. Their biases, strange quirks, and strong dislikes? Well, those are yours now!

Of all the people to be most creatively sensitive to, the oft-deranged and sometimes very logical whims of your CD rule all. Your Creative Director has the creative Veto Power, the Supreme authority from which all other authority flows!

For an Art Director, this could mentally check off:

-Experience with a Team (you understand of the Director’s Role as Vision Holder)
-Excellent management of Time & Effort

Read up: What its Really Like in a Game UI Design Interview by me

SAY, “I’D LOVE TO LOOK AT ANY PROBLEM SCREENS YOU’RE HAVING”

Invariably during the interview, the company will let you know what they’re working on (certainly the genre!), often after signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Once you know the game’s vitals, you can make much more informed and sparkling conversation.

But far more importantly, you can ask to see the game in progress – specifically any UI screens that have been giving them problems. If you are interviewing, there must be some major pressure point on the interface side of development, so it’s an easy assumption and an easy win for you.

You can even tell them that your Portfolio represents you previous work, but they’re hiring you for your adaptable mind in the here and now. Showing them how you analyze their game, think of solutions on the fly, and guide them through bespoke (not theoretical!) pitfalls will make you stand out beyond anything your competition could muster.

For an Art Director, this could mentally check off:

-Proactivity

-An agile mind with quick decision-making capabilities

-Team player, able to discuss ideas in a group setting

Read up: Wireframing for different game Genres by me

SAY, “I’D LOVE TO WALK YOU THROUGH ONE OF MY PROJECTS.”

Imagine an Art Director starring at one of your Portfolio pieces on a fancy Gallery wall, sipping wine, and nodding sagely, “Such pathos… such majesty… My God…” No! Of course they wouldn’t do that! Well – then why are you interviewing as if they do?

Your Portfolio is serving its only real purpose when YOU are guiding the conversation about your work with very specific examples ABOUT your work. In fact, you need to design your Portfolio around the very real possibility of a remote presentation to a very bored audience.

It’s also an interesting anecdote that when Designers talk about their work in interviews, they are very dry about the work they didn’t enjoy, and very upbeat about the work that they did. Use that: focus on the conversations on your best work that inspires sparkling conversation about the work.

For an Art Director, this could mentally check off:

-Veteran-level competency interviewing, which implies multiple projects under your belt
-Culture Fit, your enthusiasm for your work is a pretty big deal!
-Formal training under a Mentorship, since where else would you learn any of the things on this list?

Read up: Common mistakes to avoid in a Junior Game UI Design Portfolio by me

CONCLUSION

Obviously there are many things you can say to an Art Director to charm them into giving you a game development home. This list is easily the best way I can think of to ingratiate myself to a total stranger who has a supernatural eye for art. Start appealing to them, and you’ll have a much better chance, I promise!