founders who hired a designer this year, how did you filter past the Claude-fluent badge

i'm hiring a designer right now and the profiles all look the same. last year everyone listed Figma plugins. this year everyone lists Claude and Cursor. the work samples underneath haven't moved.

i keep getting screens that look fine in a deck and fall apart the second i ask what problem they solve or how they sit next to the rest of the product.

the part the tool never touched is reading the product. knowing the patterns well enough to catch a pretty screen selling the user something the system can't deliver. that takes years of looking at real work.

i don't know how to test for it in a 45 min interview. portfolio review surfaces taste but not whether they can hold the whole product in their head. take-homes get gamed by the same AI tools i'd be hiring them to use.

founders who hired a designer in the last 6 months, what worked. did portfolios tell you anything useful or did you have to run a paid trial week to see real judgment.