Product design question
What is a non-technical product that you use everyday and you like? Why do you like it? How would you improve it?
- Product design
- Easy
Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.
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What this question tests
Tests everyday product sense in a low-structure behavioral-adjacent prompt: choosing a genuine example and reasoning through a specific, thoughtful improvement.
How to approach it
- Pick a real, specific non-technical product the candidate actually uses, such as a thermos, a notebook, or a kitchen tool, rather than a tech product to keep the answer distinctive.
- Explain concretely why it is liked: a specific functional or emotional reason, such as reliability, simplicity, or a well-solved design problem.
- Identify one genuine, small friction point with the product, even a well-loved product usually has one.
- Propose a focused improvement addressing that specific friction, without redesigning the whole product unnecessarily.
- Explain the trade off of the proposed change, such as added cost or complexity, showing balanced product judgment even for something simple.
What a strong answer includes
- Chooses a genuinely non-technical, specific product rather than defaulting to a tech gadget, which better answers the actual question asked.
- Gives a concrete, specific reason for liking it rather than a vague statement like 'it's well made.'
- Identifies a real, minor flaw even in a liked product, showing critical thinking rather than pure praise.
- Proposes a targeted, proportionate improvement and acknowledges its trade off, rather than an unnecessary full redesign.
Common mistakes
- Picking a tech product when the question specifically asks for a non-technical one.
- Giving only praise with no genuine improvement idea, missing half the question.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you test whether your proposed improvement actually makes the product better for most users?
- Would this improvement add meaningful cost, and would that trade off be worth it?
More product design questions
- Design a TV for a car.Google · Product design · Hard
- Design a refrigerator for the blind.Google · Product design · Hard
- How do you design a camera for the elderly?Google · Product design · Medium
- Redesign Twitter for eCommerce.Shopify · Product design · Hard
- How would you go about designing a new location sharing app for Google?Google · Product design · Medium
- How would you improve Google Home?Google · Product design · Easy
More questions from Google
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 7: AI UX and human oversight: design for a system that is wrong sometimes
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop