How to hire a Motion Designer
What the role does, the job description, the interview questions, and the 42-minute screening pack that tells you who can do the job before you book a single interview.
The role
What a Motion Designer does
A Motion Designer sits in the Product & Design function. The sections below give you the job description, the interview questions and the screening pack for the role.
Screen before you interview
The Motion Designer screening pack
3D and motion tooling, design sense and precision. Every applicant gets one link. You get one ranked report.
- 1
Walk us through your favourite piece in your reel and how you made it.
- 2
How do you take a brief from a marketer and turn it into motion?
- 3
Describe your process for feedback rounds without losing the idea.
- 4
How do you keep animation performant for web or app?
- 5
Which tools are in your stack, and what would you learn next?
Interview questions
Motion Designer interview questions
For the candidates who pass the pack. Each comes with a sample answer on the full page.
Ask these after the screening pack, not instead of it. A candidate who has already scored on Blender, Design Thinking, UX/UI Design, Attention to Detail has shown they can do the work, which frees the interview to do what a test cannot: find out how they think, how they explain themselves, and how they behave when something goes wrong.
- Ask every Motion Designer candidate the same questions in the same order. Comparable answers are the whole point; a different conversation with each person tells you who you liked, not who was strongest.
- Look for a specific example with a result, not a description of how the candidate would approach it in principle. Follow up once with “what happened next?” and stop talking.
- Score each answer before moving to the next question, and write down what was said rather than the impression it left.
- At volume, record the first 4 of these instead of calling. Candidates answer on their own time, the answers are transcribed and scored, and you keep live interviews for the shortlist.
The pack takes a candidate about 42 minutes, so a Motion Designer applicant arrives at this interview already measured on the parts you can measure without a meeting.
- 01
What drew you to motion design over static graphic design?
- 02
Walk me through your portfolio and the piece you are proudest of.
- 03
What kind of motion projects do you most want to work on here?
- 04
How do you stay current with motion design trends and tools?
- 05
Which tools are in your core workflow and how do you choose between them?
- 06
How do you think about easing, timing, and the principles of animation?
- 07
How do you keep animations performant when they ship in a product?
- 08
How do you approach animating within an existing brand or design system?
Frequently asked questions
Send every applicant one link that carries 4 skills tests (Blender, Design Thinking, UX/UI Design, Attention to Detail), a personality inventory and 5 one-way video questions. springhire scores everything automatically and ranks the candidates, so you interview the top few. The free plan covers 10 candidates a month.
About 42 minutes for the tests, plus 10 to 15 minutes for the video questions. Candidates complete it on their own time, on any device.
A short brief, key responsibilities, must-have and nice-to-have skills and the requirements. The JD generator writes one for this role in a minute.
Questions that ask for a specific past example and a walkthrough of how the candidate thinks. This page lists 8 with sample answers, and the full bank has more.
Yes. The free plan includes every screening tool with 10 candidate credits a month and no card. Paid plans start at $39 a month.
