Cambridge Design Interview Questions and Mock Interviews

A school canteen is a large rectangular hall with a hard tiled floor, tiled walls and a high flat ceiling. About two hundred children eat there at the same time and the room is painfully loud. Using what you know about how sound travels, explain why a room like this is so noisy. Then suggest two changes that would make it quieter, and say what each might do to cleaning or to how the room feels.

Some designers aim for objects that disappear in use: you never think about them because they simply work. Others want you to notice and enjoy an object each time you pick it up. Choose a side and defend it, using one everyday object as your example. Then say what the other side gets right.

It is often said that the shape of an object should come from the job it does. Take a teapot, a pair of scissors and a sofa. For which of the three is that claim most convincing, for which is it least convincing, and why?

A town has a disused railway station, built of brick, with a high roof and cold, draughty waiting rooms. The council can either convert it into a library or knock it down and build a new library on the same site. Argue for one option, and then give the strongest argument you can against your own view.

Two bowls look identical. They match in weight, size, colour and every measurement you could take. One was thrown by hand by a potter and the other was made by a machine. Is the hand-made bowl better? If so, in what way, and who is it better for?

Is a well-designed footbridge a work of art or a work of engineering? Argue for a view, and then say where you think the line between the two falls, or why you think there is no line at all.

Should every phone sold in a country be required to use the same kind of charging socket? Argue for or against, and think about who gains, who loses and what might be lost if every maker had to follow one standard.

In a park, a paved path turns a sharp corner. Across the corner, the grass has been worn away in a straight diagonal line. The park manager says visitors are simply ignoring the path. A designer says the worn line is evidence that the path is in the wrong place. What does the worn line show about the people who use the park, what can it not show, and what else would you check before moving the path?

A hospital replaces round door knobs with lever handles on one ward. Over the next six months, staff on that ward report fewer strained hands and fewer slips when their hands are wet. A manager concludes that lever handles are better and wants them on every door in the hospital. What else could explain the change, what would you want to measure, and for which doors might the conclusion fail?

A museum holds a small clay bowl. Its inside is smooth and slightly glossy. The outside has faint finger marks near the rim, a base worn flat on one side, and a patch of black staining on the lower half. A visitor says it was a cooking pot. Which details support that idea, which do not, and what other evidence would help you decide?

A company says its reusable water bottle is better for the environment than single-use bottles because it can be refilled hundreds of times. What would you need to find out to test that claim? Think about how the bottle is made, how it is used and what happens to it at the end of its life.

A designer wants to know which of two handle shapes is easier to use for people with a weak grip. She asks twelve colleagues in her office to try both and say which they prefer. What can this test show, what can it not show, and how would you improve it?

Suppose the passenger lift had never been invented, so that every building had to be reached on foot, by stairs or ramps. Using what you know about how people use buildings, how would cities, homes and workplaces be different? Which kinds of people would live and work on which floors?

Many homes, schools and offices are organised around people sitting on chairs at table height. Suppose chairs had never become common and most people sat or rested at floor level instead. What would change in how rooms, furniture and everyday objects are designed? Would anything be better in that world?

A new town is planned with all its shops in one central square. Suppose the planners had instead spread small shops along every street. Reason through what would change for residents who cannot walk far, for delivery lorries and for the character of the streets.

Suppose plastics had never been invented. Choose three objects from an ordinary kitchen, say what each would be made from instead, and explain what would change about how each one looks, how long it lasts and how it is made.

Choose one piece of work of your own that you are not fully happy with. What would you change if you made it again, and what did making it teach you?

Compare a piece of your own two-dimensional work, such as a drawing or painting, with something you have made in three dimensions. Which was harder, and why? If you have made little in three dimensions, say what you would try and why.

Think of a building, object or place near you that you have looked at closely. What did you notice that many people might walk past, and how did you record what you saw?

Think of a book, exhibition, building or object that has shaped your interest in design. What did you take from it, and what would you question or disagree with?

A client asks you to design a beautiful table lamp with a sealed light source that cannot be replaced. When the light fails, the whole lamp has to be thrown away. The client says the sealed design looks cleaner. What responsibilities does a designer have here, and what would you say to the client?

An architect designs a public library with a broad curved flight of steps up to the entrance. A ramp and a lift could be added, but the architect says they would spoil the shape. Whose needs should come first? Is there a way to meet both?

A shop puts sweets at a child's eye level next to the checkout, where adults queue. Many children ask for them. The layout does what the shop wants. Is it good design? Who is responsible for the result, and would you accept a commission to design a layout like this?

A designer who has always lived in a large city is asked to plan homes for a small farming community in a different climate, with different ways of cooking, eating and sharing space. What does the designer owe the community before drawing a single line, and how could they find out what they do not know?