Use this bank to assess how candidates generate, refine, and ship creative ideas that solve real problems. Each section includes prompts and cues for strong answers.

Mindset & Definition

• What does creativity mean in your role?
  Good answers: Original solutions that deliver value; not novelty for novelty’s sake; tied to user/business outcomes.
• Share a time your creativity changed the outcome.
  Good answers: Clear before/after, constraints, idea generation, selection, execution, and measurable result.
• How do you keep a creative practice day to day?
  Good answers: Rituals (idea logs, deliberate practice), scheduled exploration, and feedback loops.
• What’s overrated and underrated about creativity?
  Good answers: Overrated: inspiration; Underrated: constraints, iteration, and editing.
• How do you differentiate clever from useful?
  Good answers: Impact, simplicity, resilience; tests with users/stakeholders.

Divergent Thinking (Idea Generation)

• Describe your process for generating many options fast.
  Good answers: Timeboxed brainstorming, prompts, “crazy 8s,” quantity targets, defer judgment.
• Where do your best ideas come from?
  Good answers: User insights, analogies from other domains, front‑line observations, and constraints.
• How do you avoid converging too early?
  Good answers: Separate explore vs. decide modes, divergent KPIs, and facilitation rules.
• Tell me about an idea you sparked in others.
  Good answers: Prompt design, “yes‑and,” and psychological safety techniques.
• What prompts or tools unlock you?
  Good answers: SCAMPER, random stimuli, role‑storming, sketching/whiteboards.

Convergent Thinking (Selection & Editing)

• How do you pick one idea from many?
  Good answers: Criteria (impact, feasibility, differentiator, time), decision matrix, and evidence thresholds.
• Describe your editing process.
  Good answers: Reduce to essence, remove distractions, user test, iterate.
• A time you killed a beloved idea.
  Good answers: Data/user feedback, opportunity cost, graceful pivot.
• How do you guard against bias in selection?
  Good answers: Blind reviews, criteria upfront, diverse inputs.
• What’s your bar for “good enough to ship”?
  Good answers: MVP with success metrics, guardrails, and plan to learn.

Constraints & Resourcefulness

• Tell me about creating something great with limited resources.
  Good answers: Scrappy tactics, reuse, simplification, partnerships; quantified outcome.
• How do you reframe constraints as creative fuel?
  Good answers: Turns limits into design prompts; narrows scope for focus.
• What do you do when a critical resource is pulled?
  Good answers: Scope cut, alternative channels, prototypes, staged delivery.
• Share a time you simplified a complex solution.
  Good answers: Fewer steps, cheaper components, or better defaults with equal/better outcomes.
• How do you make creativity inclusive under constraints?
  Good answers: Accessible materials/tools, async contributions, and equitable facilitation.

Inspiration & Synthesis

• What sources do you mine for inspiration?
  Good answers: User research, competitive scans, art/design, adjacent industries, communities.
• How do you synthesize diverse inputs?
  Good answers: Affinity mapping, themes, insights statements, and testable hypotheses.
• Example of cross‑pollinating ideas from another field.
  Good answers: Concrete analogy adapted responsibly; avoids cargo‑culting.
• How do you avoid plagiarism while borrowing ideas?
  Good answers: Attribution, transformation, and ethical reuse.
• What’s your take on trends vs. timeless principles?
  Good answers: Uses trends as tests, anchored by principles.

Prototyping & Experiments

• Walk me through your prototype ladder.
  Good answers: Sketch → low‑fi → clickable/mock → pilot; success/fail criteria at each step.
• How do you get fast feedback?
  Good answers: Wizard‑of‑Oz, concierge tests, shadowing, micro‑surveys.
• A time a small test saved a big mistake.
  Good answers: Early disproof, pivot, and quantified savings.
• What guardrails protect users while you experiment?
  Good answers: Safety, privacy, consent, and rollout controls.
• How do you ensure experiments lead to decisions?
  Good answers: Pre‑registered rules, owners, and deadlines.

Collaboration & Facilitation

• How do you run a creative workshop?
  Good answers: Clear brief, warm‑ups, diverge/converge phases, inclusive rounds, and action capture.
• What do you do to include quieter voices?
  Good answers: Silent brainstorming, round‑robins, async boards, and explicit invites.
• Describe a time you resolved creative conflict.
  Good answers: Criteria‑based decisions, user data, and shared goals.
• How do you collaborate with non‑creative stakeholders?
  Good answers: Translates benefits, shows artifacts, defines decision points.
• What artifacts help teams move fast?
  Good answers: Design principles, concept boards, prototypes, decision logs.

Storytelling & Influence

• How do you pitch a bold idea?
  Good answers: Narrative with user pain, concept, proof, risks, and ask; visuals that clarify.
• Give an example where story won resources.
  Good answers: Before/after, stakeholder alignment, measurable outcome.
• What’s your rule for visual simplicity?
  Good answers: One idea per frame, legible hierarchy, and purposeful color/contrast.
• How do you handle skepticism?
  Good answers: Invite dissent, small bets/pilots, and evidence‑based iteration.
• When do you choose not to pursue an idea?
  Good answers: Opportunity cost, ethics, or strategy misfit; documents rationale.

Measurement & Outcomes

• How do you measure creative impact?
  Good answers: User delight, adoption, business KPIs, and learning captured.
• What leading indicators matter?
  Good answers: Idea throughput, test velocity, and decision cycle time.
• How do you prevent vanity metrics?
  Good answers: Pair metrics, guardrails, and qualitative checks.
• Share a time creativity improved efficiency.
  Good answers: Simplification or automation with quantified results.
• How do you ensure ideas become shipped outcomes?
  Good answers: Owners, milestones, and clear definition of done.

Overcoming Blocks & Risk

• What do you do when you’re stuck?
  Good answers: Change medium, constraints, prompts; take a break; seek feedback; explore analogies.
• How do you create psychological safety?
  Good answers: No‑judgment phases, model vulnerability, reward learning.
• Share a courageous creative bet you took.
  Good answers: Risks/mitigations, learning, and outcome.
• How do you avoid idea theft or bias?
  Good answers: Attribution, idea logs, structured reviews.
• What ethics guide your creative choices?
  Good answers: Accessibility, inclusion, privacy, and avoiding harm/manipulation.

Case Study Exercises

• Remix: Take a familiar product and propose three unexpected uses or audiences; justify value.
• Constraint challenge: Design a solution with a near‑zero budget and a two‑week deadline.
• Analogy: Borrow a concept from a different industry and adapt it to ours (show risks).
• Prototype: Outline a low‑fi test plan to validate a bold concept within 7 days.
• Edit: Reduce a 10‑step process to 5 without losing quality; define success metrics.

Tip: Look for curiosity, structured exploration, willingness to edit ruthlessly, and shipped outcomes—not just ideas.