⚠️ DESIGNERS, BE CAREFUL! Designers looking for jobs in the UK, I want to share my personal experience applying for a Product Designer role connected to The Flex. / Base360. I was asked to complete a substantial 6–8 hour design assignment before having a proper interview or conversation with the team. I took the opportunity seriously, researched the product, and started creating a complete website concept with polished sections and interactions. While working on the social proof section of the website, I naturally started researching the company’s public reputation, customer reviews, testimonials and online discussions so I could understand what kind of trust signals would make sense in the design. That is when I came across Reddit discussions from other designers describing very similar recruitment experiences, alongside public comments and reviews on platforms such as Trustpilot. At that point, I started questioning the hiring process much more seriously. Seeing other applicants describe similar experiences raised an important question for me: How much unpaid design work should a company reasonably ask candidates to produce before even speaking with them? I can’t say how anyone else’s submitted work was ultimately used, and I don’t want to make claims I can’t prove. I can only share what happened to me, what I created, and the publicly available experiences I discovered while actually researching the company for the assignment itself. So instead of letting those hours go to waste, I’m sharing some of the website sections that I designed. If you’re applying for a role at The Flex. / Base360, or any company asking for a large unpaid assignment, I strongly recommend researching the company, checking independent discussions and reviews, and understanding exactly what you’re being asked to create before investing hours of your time. Designers’ time, ideas and creativity have value. Hiring tasks should evaluate candidates — not leave them wondering whether they just completed free client work. Please research, protect your work, and share your experiences so other designers can make informed decisions. 🤝 🫶🏼 #ProductDesign #UXDesign #UIDesign #DesignJobs #Hiring #UXJobs #UKDesign #JobSearch