Preparing for an interview at Perkins & Will requires a balanced approach that highlights both your technical UX/UI expertise and your appreciation for physical architecture and spatial design. Interviewers want to see that you can collaborate across disciplines and bring a structured, user-centric perspective to complex physical-digital challenges.

Portfolio Storytelling – Your portfolio is the single most critical element of your evaluation. You must be prepared to go beyond showing beautiful high-fidelity screens; instead, focus on the "why" behind your decisions. Highlight your research, wireframes, user testing, and how you measured success.

Spatial & Technical Literacy – Because you will be working within an architectural context, demonstrating an understanding of space, scale, and environment is highly advantageous. If you have experience with 3D modeling, environmental graphics, or architectural workflows (such as Revit integration), make sure to emphasize these skills.

Collaborative Dynamics – You will routinely collaborate with professionals who do not speak traditional UX jargon. You must demonstrate that you can translate complex digital design concepts into clear, accessible language for architects, clients, and project managers.

Ambition & Goal Alignment – Perkins & Will looks for passionate designers who want to grow within the firm. Be ready to articulate your long-term career goals clearly, showing how you plan to contribute to the team's evolving digital capabilities without sounding overly transactional.

The interview process for a UX/UI Designer at Perkins & Will is highly conversational, professional, and heavily centered around your portfolio. While the exact steps can vary slightly depending on the specific office location (such as Atlanta, Chicago, or San Francisco) and whether the role focuses on internal design tools or environmental digital experiences, the overall structure remains highly consistent.

The process typically begins with an introductory call with an HR manager or a direct invitation following a career event. This is followed by one to three rounds of interviews, which are often conducted by a panel. You can expect to meet with a diverse group of stakeholders, including design principals, senior associates, architectural designers, and managing directors. The firm places a strong emphasis on culture fit, assessing both your technical competency and whether your personality aligns with their collaborative, studio-based environment.

The timeline above outlines the standard progression from your initial application to the final offer stage. While some candidates receive feedback and offers within a few days of their panel interview, others report a longer, more deliberate process that can take several weeks. Use this timeline to pace your preparation, ensuring your portfolio is fully polished before your first major presentation.

To stand out in the Perkins & Will interview process, you must understand the specific areas where you will be closely evaluated. The hiring team looks for a unique blend of digital design mastery and spatial awareness.

Portfolio Presentation & Design Rationale

This is the core of your interview. The panel wants to see how you think, solve problems, and structure your design process from concept to execution.

Be ready to go over:

• User Research & Insights – How you gather user requirements, conduct interviews, and translate those insights into actionable design strategies.
• Information Architecture & Wireframing – Your ability to structure complex information logically, ensuring intuitive navigation flows.
• Visual Design & Prototyping – Your mastery of typography, color theory, grid systems, and interactive prototyping tools like Figma.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating digital UI with physical environmental sensors, designing for large-scale interactive screens, or creating accessibility-first interfaces for public spaces.

Example scenarios:

• "Walk us through a project where your initial user research completely changed the direction of your UI design."
• "How did you balance aesthetic appeal with strict functional requirements in your most complex project?"

Technical Competency & Spatial Collaboration

Because Perkins & Will is an elite architecture firm, your ability to understand and integrate with architectural workflows is highly valued.

Be ready to go over:

• Software Competencies – Your familiarity with industry-standard design tools and any exposure to 3D or architectural software.
• Digital-Physical Integration – How you design interfaces that adapt to different physical environments, lighting conditions, and hardware constraints.
• Developer Handoff – Your process for preparing design systems, assets, and documentation to ensure smooth implementation.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Building custom scripts or UI plugins for Revit or other BIM software to optimize internal design workflows.

Example scenarios:

• "Explain how you would design an interactive wayfinding kiosk for a large hospital campus, considering physical accessibility and varying light levels."
• "Describe your experience collaborating with technical teams to bring a complex interactive design to life."

Behavioral Fit & Studio Culture

The studio culture at Perkins & Will is highly collaborative and multidisciplinary. Interviewers will gauge your communication style, humility, and eagerness to learn.

Be ready to go over:

• Multidisciplinary Communication – How you explain digital design principles to team members from non-technical backgrounds.
• Receiving Feedback – Your ability to process constructive critique from senior design leaders and clients gracefully.
• Career Ambition & Values – Your alignment with the firm’s commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and design excellence.

Example scenarios:

• "Tell us about a time you had to defend a design decision to a senior stakeholder who preferred a different approach."
• "How do you stay inspired and keep up with emerging design trends outside of traditional tech spaces?"

As a UX/UI Designer at Perkins & Will, your day-to-day responsibilities will be highly dynamic and collaborative, differing significantly from a standard corporate tech environment.

You will be responsible for leading the user experience and interface design for a variety of digital and hybrid projects. This includes conducting user research, creating detailed user journeys, wireframing, and building high-fidelity interactive prototypes. You will regularly collaborate with architectural designers, environmental graphic designers, and project managers to ensure that digital elements enhance, rather than distract from, the physical spaces they inhabit.

Additionally, you may work on internal digital transformation initiatives. This can involve designing custom digital tools, dashboards, or proprietary software integrations (such as custom Revit interfaces) that help the firm's architects and engineers work more efficiently. You will act as the primary advocate for the user, ensuring that all digital touchpoints—whether internal tools or client-facing installations—are intuitive, accessible, and beautifully designed.