okay so I just got a rejection after the take-home round for a junior product designer role. they said feedback isn't provided at this stage which is standard but also really frustrating.
I spent about 8 hours on it and thought it was pretty solid. the brief was something like: redesign a specific flow in the product to improve conversion for a specific user segment.
I focused heavily on the visual execution and mockups. wondering now if I under-indexed on the problem definition and research justification. like did I skip to solutions too fast?
has anyone else been through the Canva take-home? what did you prioritize? feeling pretty discouraged.
4 replies
brand_ben
from what I heard in my loop: yes, problem framing is weighted more than visual polish at Canva. they see beautiful mockups all day. what they're filtering for is whether you understand why you're solving THAT problem and not a different one. if the take-home didn't have explicit research or a written rationale section, adding that framing into the doc itself would have helped.
jp_newgrad
that tracks. I had like two slides of context before jumping into the solution. lesson learned for next time I guess. did you do a written doc alongside mockups or all in one Figma file?
brand_ben
I did a Notion doc with Figma embeds. made it easy to interweave the reasoning with the visuals. the hiring manager later said she appreciated being able to read the thinking without having to jump around.
returner_ren
don't let this crater you. design take-homes are notoriously subjective and one rejection doesn't tell you much about your skills. it tells you one reviewer on one day had a preference you didn't match. keep going.