Describe the Ideal Candidate in three words TALENTED / PASSIONATE / INFORMED
How important is it for you to see personal work? When the candidate is a recent graduate its crucial that we see personal work... not only does this give us a much better idea of the personality and interests of the individual than if we just see college-specified briefs, but it also makes for a more interesting time for us as interviewers when a lot of what we see is the the same D&AD or ISTD projects over and over again. If the candidate is an experienced designer then seeing personal work isn’t vital, as long as we can see commitment and motivation through their professional portfolio, and they can communicate their interests and fascinations to us during the interview in one way or another.
What's the best question anyone has asked you in an interview? We like it when the interviewee asks us informal questions as this allows us to connect on a more personal level and get to know each other a bit during the interview. “What’s your favourite building?” would be an example...
What’s worse — over or underselling yourself? Overselling is worse. You can't undersell your work, it should speak for itself and it’s what just got you the interview. Overselling yourself would set the relationship off on the wrong footing and the truth, in a studio of our size, would soon come to light.
What’s the one thing a potential employee can do that will impress you? The best thing would be for them to show an interest, and knowledge, in Hyperkit in particular and not simply in getting a job. We don’t mean swotting up on our recent projects, but having a genuine interest in and affinity with our approach to design.
Do you ever give feedback on interviews? We don’t tend to give much in the way of feedback unless it’s specifically requested, in which case we give more details, and aim for this to be constructive.
Hyperkit is a design studio founded in 2001 by Tim Balaam and Kate Sclater. We produce good-natured, useful design, often bringing together a love of material, process and functionality. Projects are often multi-faceted in nature. To date the studio has produced graphic design for both print and websites, as well as designing exhibitions, furniture and interiors. We enjoy working with people that are as passionate about what they do as we are.