how to structure a ux case study

How to Craft an Outstanding Case Study for Your UX Portfolio

Writing case studies for your UX portfolio can feel opaque and overwhelming. There are so many examples out there, and often the ones that make the rounds are the stunning portfolios of top visual designers. It can be inspiring to see the most beautiful work, but don’t let that distract you from the straightforward format of a good UX case study. 

At the core, a UX case study relies on excellent storytelling with a clear, understandable structure . This article breaks down the anatomy of a UX case study to help you tell a simple and effective story that shows off your skills. We’ll start with some general guidelines and structure, then break it down one piece at a time:

UX portfolio overview

What is a ux case study, general guidelines, how to structure a case study, how to fill in the details, defining the problem, understanding your users, early or alternate ideation, final design solution, next steps and learnings.

• Final thoughts

1. Before we get started

Before we dive into all the art and science of the case study, here’s a quick refresher on what a job-winning UX portfolio looks like. In this video, pro designer Dee analyses various design portfolios to pick out what works—and what doesn’t:

Simply put, a case study is the story of a design project you’ve worked on. The goal, of course, is to showcase the skills you used on the project and help potential employers envision how you’d use those skills if you worked for them.

A case study is typically written like a highly visual article, with text walking readers through a curated set of images. Curated is an important word here, because it should be short and sweet. It’s a chance to share what you want potential employers to know about your work on this project.

With that in mind, case studies are really a UX designer’s secret weapon in two ways. First, they get you in the door by showing more about your work than a resume and a top UX cover letter ever could. Another benefit is that they’re really handy in job interviews. If someone asks about a past project, you can walk them through the case study you’ve already created (this is sometimes a requirement anyway).

I mentioned that UX case studies are about storytelling. I’d actually say they’re about stories-telling, since they need to tell two intertwined stories .

The first is the story of your project. This answers questions like what problem you solved, who your users were, what solutions you explored, and what impact they had.

The second story is about you as a designer and your process. This is more about which methods you chose to use and why, how you worked within constraints, and how you worked as a member of a team (or without one).

So what are the steps for an effective case study? Well, like most things in design (and life), it depends. Every case study will be different, depending on what stories you’re telling. The six-part outline below, though, should guide you through an effective format for any UX project story. Here’s the outline (we’ll dive into each component in just a minute):

• Defining the Problem
• Understanding your Users
• Final solution

It’s worth it to add a few general notes before we dive into each of the list items above. For each section, include 1-2 short paragraphs and an image of a deliverable that visually tells the story your paragraphs explain. A reader should be able to either just read or just look at the images and roughly get what this moment in the story is communicating.

When choosing images to include, focus on quality over quantity.  Choose your best deliverables for each stage and briefly relate them back to the larger narrative. It can be tempting to overload the page with everything you created along the way, but these extra details should stay in your back pocket for interviews.

Lastly, make sure your case study is scannable . In the best of circumstances, people don’t read word for word on the web. Make sure your text is reasonably concise, use headers and strong visual hierarchy, and use bullet points and lists when possible. If you need a refresher on how to achieve this, check out our guide to the principles of visual hierarchy .

Ok, let’s take a look at each step in a bit more detail.

2. Anatomy of a UX case study

Like any story, the introduction sets the stage and gives much of the necessary context readers will need to understand your project. This is one section where people actually might take some extra time to read carefully as they try to discern what this case study is about. Make sure they have all the details they need.

Some key questions to answer are:

• What is your company and/or product?
• What user problem did you try to solve?
• What was your role?
• What tools and methods did you use?
• What are the major insights, impacts, or metrics related to the project

After introducing the project, dive more deeply into the problem you tackled. You touched upon this in the introduction, but this section is an opportunity to make a strong case for why this project exists. Did a competitor analysis or market research demand a new product? Was there past user research in your company that suggests a needed redesign of the product?

Remember that you’ll want to create a through line in the narrative, so try to lay out the problem in a way that frames your design work as a solution.

Deliverables that work really well for this section would be:

• Analytics or usage data
• Market research of internal business metrics
• Survey results or interview highlights

After explaining the problem, show how it impacts your users and their interaction with your product. If you did original user research or you’re seeking user research-oriented jobs, sharing interview scripts, affinity maps , and spreadsheets can be useful in showing your process.

However, this section shouldn’t be only about your process. A key goal of this section is articulating who your users are and what their needs are. These findings should set up your design work that follows, so try to set up that connection.

A few types of the deliverables you might share here are:

• User personas
• Mental models
• Journey maps or customer experience maps

Keep in mind you want to communicate users’ key motivations and challenges, as well as any more specific user groups you identified.

This section can really scale up or down depending on what you have to show. Research shows that hiring managers  don’t just want the final product , so it’s clear that showing some of your process is helpful. Especially for students or designers without a fully built product to show, this can be a moment for you to shine.

Don’t worry about the low fidelity of these documents, but the rougher they are, the more you’ll need to guide readers through them. Everything you show here should teach the reader something new about your process and/or your users.

Artifacts you might include are:

• Pen and paper or low fidelity digital wireframes

If you did early testing or faced constraints that determined your future design work, be sure to include them here, too.

This section should include the most final work you did on the project (e.g. wireframe flows or color mockups) and any final product it led to (if you have it). Be clear, though, about which work is yours and which isn’t.

Explain any key decisions or constraints that changed the design from the earlier stages. If you incorporated findings from usability testing, that’s great. If not, try to call out some best practices to help you explain your decisions. Referring to Material Design, WCAG, or Human Interface Guidelines can show the why behind your design.

If you’re able to show the impact of your work, this can take a good case study and make it outstanding. If your project has already been built and made available to users, have a look at any analytics, satisfaction data, or other metrics. See what you could highlight  in your case study to show how your design improved the user experience or achieved business goals. Ideally, you can refer back to your original problem statement and business goals from the introduction.

If you don’t have any way of showing the impact of your project, lay out how you would measure the impact. Showing you know how to measure success demonstrates you could do this on future projects.

Lastly, conclude your case study by sharing either your next design steps and/or some key insights you learned from the project. This isn’t just fluff! No project is perfect or final. Showing next steps is a great way to demonstrate your thinking iterative approach (without having to do the work!).

Also, many companies do (or should do) retrospectives after each project to identify challenges and improve future processes. Use this process and the insights you gain from it to inform your case study. Letting employers know you’re capable of reflection shows humility, self-awareness, and the value you can bring to a team.

3. Final thoughts

Since each case study is a unique story you’re telling about your project, it’s a little art and a little science. But starting with the structure laid out in this article will show who you are as a designer and how you solved a problem. And those are two stories companies want to hear!

If you’d like to learn more about how to craft a great UX portfolio, check out these articles:

• 5 Golden rules to build a job-winning UX portfolio
• The best UX design portfolio examples from around the web
• The best free UX/UI portfolio websites to use
• Salary negotiation for UX designers

The Complete Guide to UX Case Studies

Updated: October 23, 2023

Published: August 21, 2023

Writing a UX case study can be overwhelming with the proper guidance. Designing for the user experience and writing about it in a case study is much more than writing content for a webpage. You may ask, “If my design speaks for itself, should I include a UX case study in my portfolio?”

Yes, you should include UX case studies in your portfolio. And here’s why.

You need to make your portfolio stand out among the crowd. A UX case study is a great way to do that. Let’s take a minute to define what a UX case study is and look at some examples.

Table of Contents

What is a UX case study?

The benefits of ux case studies, examples of ux case studies, tips for creating a ux case study.

UX portfolios are essential to showcasing UX designer skills and abilities. Every UX designer knows better designs bring better results. Sometimes, it’s easy to let the design speak for itself — after all, it is meant to engage the audience.

But, in doing that, you, as the designer, leave many things unsaid. For example, the initial problem, the need for the design in the first place, and your process for arriving at the design you created.

This is why you need to include UX case studies in your portfolio.

UX case studies tell a curated story or journey of your design. It explains the “who, what, when, where, and how” of your design. The text should be short and sweet but also walk the reader through the thinking behind the design and the outcome of it.

[Video: Creating a UX Case Study: Right and Wrong Way to Approach It]

There are many benefits to including UX case studies in your portfolio. Think of your UX portfolio as a well-decorated cake. The designs are the cake, and UX case studies are the icing on the cake— they will catch your audience's eye and seal the deal.

Take a look at the benefits of adding UX case studies to your portfolio.

Don't forget to share this post!

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How to Write a UX Case Study: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide

Learn the step-by-step process of writing a compelling UX case study that will elevate your online portfolio

As a digital product designer, one of the most effective ways to showcase your skills and expertise is by creating a compelling UX case study for your online portfolio.

A well-crafted case study not only demonstrates your design process but also highlights your problem-solving abilities and the value you bring to the table.

In this blog post, we'll briefly touch on what a UX case study is, we'll then walk you through the essential steps how to write a UX case study that will impress potential clients and employers.

Let's get started!

What is a UX case study?

A UX case study is like a story that designers tell to explain how they solved a design problem.

It's a way to show others how they researched , planned, and created a digital product or experience that is user-friendly and effective.

It includes details about the project's goals , the people they designed for, the steps they took, and the final design they came up with.

A UX case study helps designers demonstrate their skills and expertise in making things easy to use and enjoyable for users.

It's a friendly and simple way for them to share their design journey and showcase their problem-solving abilities.

Video on how to write a UX case study:

8 simple steps to creating a ux case study:, 1. choose the right project:.

Selecting the right project for your case study is crucial. Aim for a project that best represents your skills and aligns with the type of work you want to attract. It should be a project where you had a significant impact and can showcase your problem-solving abilities and design thinking process effectively.

2. Define the Problem:

Start your case study by clearly defining the problem you were trying to solve. Explain the context, the pain points, and the goals of the project. Highlight the challenges you faced, as well as any research or data that supported your problem identification process.

3. Describe the Research and Discovery Phase:

In this section, describe your research methodologies, including user interviews, surveys , and competitive analysis. Share insights you gained from your research and how they influenced your design decisions. This demonstrates your ability to empathize with users and make informed design choices based on their needs.

4. Outline the Design Process:

Present your design process in a structured and coherent manner. Include wireframes , prototypes, and iterations that show the evolution of your design. Explain the rationale behind your design decisions and how they addressed the identified problem. Be sure to highlight any user testing or feedback loops that helped refine your solution.

‍5. Showcase the Visual Design:

This section is an opportunity to showcase your visual design skills. Include high-fidelity mockups or screenshots that highlight the aesthetics, typography, color schemes, and overall visual appeal of your design. Explain the reasoning behind your design choices and how they enhance the user experience .

6. Present the Final Solution:

Describe the final solution you arrived at and how it effectively addresses the initial problem. Include metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) to demonstrate the success of your solution. Whenever possible, provide real-world results , such as increased user engagement, improved conversion rates , or positive user feedback.

7. Reflect and Share Learnings:

Take a moment to reflect on the project and share any lessons or insights gained during the design process . Discuss what worked well, what challenges you encountered, and how you overcame them. This demonstrates your ability to learn and grow as a designer.

8. Present the Case Study Effectively:

Pay attention to the presentation and formatting of your case study. Use clear headings, subheadings, and bullet points to make it easy to read and skim. Include relevant visuals, such as images , diagrams , and charts, to enhance the visual appeal. Make sure your case study is concise, engaging, and aligned with your personal brand.

Frequently asked questions on how to write a UX case study:

Why are UX case studies important?

UX case studies are important for several reasons. They provide insights into the design process , showcase a designer's skills and abilities, and demonstrate how user-centered design principles were applied to solve a specific problem. They are also useful for sharing knowledge, building credibility, and securing job opportunities.

How long should a UX case study be?

The length of a UX case study can vary depending on the complexity of the project and the information you want to convey. However, it's generally recommended to keep it concise and focused, aiming for a length of 800 to 1,500 words. Including visual elements like images , diagrams, or prototypes is also encouraged to enhance understanding and engagement.

What are some tips for creating an effective UX case study?

Here are a few tips to create an effective UX case study:

Clearly define the problem: Start by clearly articulating the problem statement and why it is important to address.

Show the design process: Walk through the design process, highlighting key decisions, iterations, and insights gained along the way.

Include visuals: Incorporate visual elements like wireframes , prototypes, and user interface designs to provide a visual context and make the case study more engaging.

Share the impact: Demonstrate the impact of your design solution by including user feedback, success metrics, or before-and-after comparisons.

Be concise and organized: Keep the case study concise and well-structured, making it easy for the reader to follow your thought process and understand the project's evolution.

Tailor it to the audience: Adapt your case study to the audience you're targeting, focusing on aspects that are most relevant and impactful to them.

Can I include confidential or proprietary information in a UX case study?

It's generally advised to avoid including confidential or proprietary information in a public UX case study. If you need to showcase sensitive information, consider anonymizing or obfuscating the data to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the individuals or organizations involved. Always respect any non-disclosure agreements or intellectual property rights you may have signed.

Should I include negative feedback or challenges faced in a UX case study?

Yes, it's important to be transparent about the challenges and obstacles encountered during a UX project. Including negative feedback or hurdles you faced demonstrates your ability to navigate difficulties and adapt your approach. Highlighting how you addressed and overcame challenges can also provide valuable insights into your problem-solving skills and resilience as a designer .

Can I use visuals created by others in my UX case study?

If you use visuals created by others, such as stock photos , icons , or illustrations , make sure you have the necessary permissions and licenses to use them in your case study. It's important to respect copyright laws and intellectual property rights. When in doubt, it's best to create your own visuals or use resources that are explicitly licensed for free or commercial use.

How should I present my UX case study?

UX case studies can be presented in various formats, depending on the context and requirements. Common formats include a written document, a slide deck presentation, or a web page . Consider the needs of your audience and the platform where you plan to showcase your case study. Ensure it is well-organized, visually appealing, and easy to navigate , allowing the viewer to understand your design process and the outcomes clearly.

Writing a compelling UX case study is an essential skill for any digital product designer. 

It allows you to showcase your problem-solving abilities, design process, and the impact you have made on real-world projects. 

By carefully selecting the right project, highlighting your research and design decisions, and presenting your case study effectively, you can create a captivating narrative that will impress potential clients and employers. 

Remember, a well-crafted case study is not just a reflection of your design skills, but also an opportunity to tell a compelling story about your expertise and approach to UX design.

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UX Case Study Structure: How to Follow UX Recruiters’ Logic in Your UX Portfolio

Anett Illés

In this article, you’ll find a tried-and-true UX case study structure that you can use as a basis for your own work. Throughout the article, you’ll also find inspiring examples to help you get started.

Great UX case studies have one thing in common: they tell engaging design stories. If you take a second look at them, you’ll find that they are built on a similar structure. A structure that reinforces each building block, making it a whole (and the story as a whole).

Before we get to this structure, let’s clarify the basics!

What are UX case studies?

UX case studies retell the design process of a product in written form, using relevant visual elements, such as sketches, wireframes, prototypes, and screens.

UX case studies are important for UX recruiters because they provide an insight into your design process, the methods you use, your thought processes, and your presentation skills. These are all important deciding factors in the hiring process of UX designers.

Why do you even need UX case studies?

As we stated above, case studies are an essential part of the hiring process. If well done, case studies can flaunt your problem-solving skills, seamless design process, the impact of your work, and your ability to advocate for UX best practices in high-stakes situations.

What’s more, they also prove that you are a good communicator, which is very important in this profession.

Think of it this way:

• Your resumé lists your skills,
• Your case studies present those skills in action.

Writing quality case studies will help put your work and worth into perspective, helping you in numerous ways.

First, you’ll have much more confidence in your applications, because you’ll be proud of the way your skills are presented.

Second, you’ll have a much easier time, when you’ll have to talk about your work, for example, during interviews and UX portfolio presentations.

While you are working on a case study, you’re forced to organize your thoughts and memories of the project. If you are basing your case studies on a structure, like the one in this article, you’ll end up with a case study that tells an engaging story professionally. And you’ll find it easy to retell that story anytime.

What are recruiters and design leads looking for in UX case studies?

When you are building your UX portfolio and writing up your case studies, you have to keep thinking like a UX designer. Keep your users in mind, and create a product that makes their life easier and answers their questions.

For this, you need to understand what your target audience – design leads and recruiters – are looking for in case studies:

• Do they have anything that’s relevant to our work?
• Do they use methods that we use?
• What is their taste level?
• Can they advocate for UX principles ?
• Can they advocate for the users?
• Are they good at communicating design concepts?
• Are they good at teamwork?
• What was the impact of their work?
• Are they willing to learn and evolve?
• Did they solve the problem set out at the beginning of the project?

Well-written and -structured case studies will answer all of these questions, advancing your application and helping the recruiters’ job.

What is the difference between UX case studies and UX portfolios?

Most designers use these terms interchangeably. The difference is subtle. Your portfolio is quite literally a ‘portfolio’: a file that contains your work samples, aka case studies. This distinction harkens back to days when portfolios were still printed. Nowadays, portfolios are expected to be online, kind of like a professional website, linking to your case studies.

How many case studies to include in your portfolio?

As a junior designer , you should show 2-3 projects in your portfolio. As a senior , that number increases to 4-5. Adding more is pointless because it’s unlikely that your audience will have the time to read each. In the end, they’ll just make your portfolio look cluttered for no good reason.

How to choose projects for your portfolio?

Choosing projects for your portfolio is a sensitive task, that needs careful and honest evaluation. The number one rule is that you should never-ever include mediocre work in your portfolio. Though this is echoed in all UX portfolio guides, many UXers ignore the advice, due to their fear of not having enough case studies. Consequently, they are reducing their own chances to land more interviews .

When you are choosing portfolio-worthy material, think about the aforementioned questions, and also ask yourself: Which projects can answer the questions of design leads and recruiters? Which projects demonstrate what I represent as a designer?

If you don’t stand for mediocre work, don’t put mediocre work in your portfolio. Not even if you are short on real-life projects. It’s better to have two great mock-projects than 3 subpar real-life projects.

The same applies to visuals. If, out of necessity, you’ve designed something rough, you shouldn’t include it in your portfolio. Most design leads will close a case study when they see something that implies that you have bad taste or taste that doesn’t align with the company.

For each of your past projects ask yourself:

• Am I proud of the work that I’ve done there?
• Can I present this proudly to anyone who’s an expert in this profession?

If you are not positive about these things, you shouldn’t include that project in your portfolio.

Preparations before writing case studies

• Scan hand-drawn material
• Collect and edit all the artifacts
• Make screenshots of the product
• Create the necessary diagrams and other visuals, such as personas, mockups

You can cut all that work in half with UXfolio, our portfolio builder. UXfolio comes with a built-in mockup feature that allows you to put any image into a mobile, desktop, or tablet device. Furthermore, you’ll find downloadable goodies all around UXfolio, including persona templates, user journey templates, and more!

UX Case Study Structure

You can apply this structure to all your case studies, and if you follow the rest of the advice in this guide, you’ll have yourself some well-rounded and engaging case studies.

Title and cover

• Project description

Team and roles

• Problem-solution pairs

First impressions matter in UX or UI designer portfolios too. It begins with your project thumbnails. Your readers will click if they get curious.

The next thing they’ll see is the cover photo and title of your UX case study. Don’t overcomplicate this. Make everything as clear as possible. Name the product and the work you did. Use product photos or an image that’s relevant to the product, and make sure that the title font is readable.

Project overview

Introduce the project first. Your readers probably haven’t heard about it yet. Include the most important general information here. Highlighting the product name and the job you did can help readers understanding. Use this technique throughout the whole case study.

The most important details are:

• The company
• The challenge/task

Next, introduce your role and the rest of the team. Don’t forget to share the glory, as it shows that you are a good team player.

Describe what you’ve done throughout the discovery phase. How did you map out the project scope? Did you do any market research? Did you have a kick-off? If yes, what type of tools did you use? Add a photo of the team to make it more personal.

Include any other part you find important. For example, if you made an information architecture diagram or user personas. Whatever you choose to add, make sure to describe it in a few sentences to make it easy to understand. This description should say why you decided to add that specific part to your case study.

Process (problem-solution pairs)

Design is about problem-solving. So, present the problems that you have solved and explain how. Here you can mention UX design methods, and use the artifacts that go with them. In UXfolio you can embed your prototypes, upload wireframes into mockups, and more. Choose at least two to five problem-solution pairs.

If you’ve done UI design as well, go into detail. You can include sections like mood boards, Look & Feel, illustrations, and the final design. Use galleries to showcase your screens in an organized fashion.

Always end your case studies with learnings or takeaways to show an eagerness to learn and grow as a designer. UX recruiters and UX leads search for problem-solvers, motivated to explore and learn new things. So, go ahead and show your thirst for knowledge.

You probably faced some unexpected challenges during your project. Share these too! We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them so you can do it better next time. Recruiters appreciate those with the courage to communicate honestly.

3 of the most common UX case study mistakes

We’ve been interviewing world-renowned design leaders as well as recruiters for a long time. Their most common case study complaints are the same, so make sure that you don’t commit them:

1. Artifacts out of context

The best example of this is the gimmicky ‘whiteboard with post-its’ photo. We are not exaggerating, almost everyone mentions this as a huge NO in case studies.

The problem is that 99% of the time the post-its are incomprehensible, so the photo is but decoration. (For decoration though, you have better options.) This image became synonymous with UX, and it might serve some purpose as a landing page illustration. But it has no place in your UX case studies, unless

• It is used in a way that makes it possible for the post-its to be read.
• You give context and explain how and why was this part of the design process.

The same rules apply to all the photos and images that go into your case studies.

Choose artifacts that are relevant to your copy. Present them in context at the right time, so they can aid the readers’ comprehension of the copy. This will allow you to wave a refined story.

Let’s say you are showing sketches. When doing so, point out how and why sketching was important for that project at that phase. How did it contribute to the progress of the project, to the solution? It’s really that simple.

2. Pointless declarations and design method definitions

“We proceeded to do user testing to find opportunities to improve the user experience of the product.” Such declarative, standalone sentences are very common in UX case studies. The issue is that everyone and their mother know that usability testing could reveal opportunities to improve the UX of a product.

What they don’t know are the specific opportunities that you’ve found while doing usability testing for that particular product. Once you clarify that, the next step is to detail how did you use those findings in the next stages of the project. With all that covered, you’ll have an interesting and relevant section about usability testing.

Another widespread – and insulting – mistake is when designers define design methods instead of talking about how they were employed throughout the project.

Design leads, who’ll be reviewing your case studies, are probably aware of what user personas are and how they contribute to product design. So, stating that personas “help to better understand users” is like stating that “grass is green”.

We understand the notion that definitions can help establish the importance and legitimacy of a UX method, but case studies are not the right place for that discourse. ‘Case study’ stands for the study of one particular case, and not all cases. So, instead of generalization, go for specificity.

3. Overlong case studies

Finally, we must talk about the ideal length of case studies. Let’s bring out our target audience again.

They are busy people, with work to do and places to be. Also, they are human, with the attention span of other humans. Considering all that, you could guess that they won’t spend a good 15 minutes reading your case study.

This means that your case studies must be:

• and skimmable.

For the brief part, you have to edit out everything that isn’t necessary for the understanding of the solutions that you came up with. You might have some fabulous sections with sexy visuals to go along. Still, if they are not necessary for understanding your design process or the solution, it’s better to “kill your darlings”.

For the skimmable part, you have to go heavy on headings and bulleted lists. Introduce each new stage in the process with an H2. The smaller sections under them with H3s or even H4s. Have a good mix of short paragraphs, bulleted, and numbered lists.

In UXfolio you can find some great sections to spice up your case studies. For example, a streamline statistics section, that puts the limelight on numbers. Also, carousel and masonry galleries with mockups, that encourage you reader to engage with the page.

Generate UX case studies with UXfolio!

With the help of these elements, your case study will be much lighter on the eye and way easier to digest overall.

This is only one example for a good UX case study structure. So feel free to do it on your own way or alter this one to your liking. We also created a UX portfolio template , check it out if you want to learn more.

Now, let’s put the knowledge you gained into practice!

What do you think? Sounds easy? Or hard? Maybe you think you don’t have time for it? Creating a similar case study doesn’t take much.

We created our tool, UXfolio , to help you create a meaningful UX portfolio, fast and easy. It generates a UX portfolio page and you can put your UX case studies together in just minutes.

If you liked what you read here, give UXfolio a try.

Click here to sign up and try it out!

InVisionApp, Inc.

Inside Design

How to write a UX case study

Sarah doody,   •   jul 19, 2019.

H ave you ever been told your UX portfolio lacks depth, or what you did is unclear, or that it doesn’t seem like you have enough experience, even though you know you do?

Or maybe you landed an in-person interview, it didn’t go very well because you stumbled through presenting and answering questions about your projects. 

These are all symptoms of an underlying problem: your UX case studies are not written well enough. 

After doing at least 100 hours of my own research through talking to UX candidates one-on-one, reviewing portfolios, and analyzing survey data, one thing became clear: UX professionals put too much emphasis on learning how to make deliverables, and not enough on articulating their design decisions. 

When you can’t articulate your design decisions, it will make your day to day role harder, because you won’t know how to deal with pushback. And it will also limit your career options because your ability to write a strong case study is the foundation for creating a strong portfolio and doing well in interviews.

We’re going to go into:

• The role of case studies in your portfolio
• The anatomy of a case study
• The steps to writing a thorough, readable case study

Case studies are the UX application differentiator

It’s no longer enough to just show your work. According to the  Center Centre , the job growth of UX designers is expected to rise 22% over the next 10 years. UX is a hot field, and there’s a lot of competition. 

Your portfolio, therefore, can’t simply be a curation of sexy-looking deliverables. Recruiters and hiring managers need you to articulate your process and design decisions. A key skill for UX professionals is the ability to communicate; in any UX role, you’ll find yourself not just doing UX, but explaining it over and over. 

If you don’t have well-written UX case studies, then how can recruiters and hiring managers trust that you’ll be able to communicate what you did and why you did it if they hire you? 

Writing is a skill that we know is important, but as designers rarely practice or study enough. When it comes to UX case studies, though, the quality of your writing is one of the most important variables in the success of your portfolio.

Let’s be real, writing about your UX projects is not an easy task. However, the good news is that by following the steps that follow, you will clearly understand how to write more clearly.

Anatomy of a UX case study

When approaching your UX portfolio and case studies, my advice is to think like a lawyer. Because how do lawyers win legal cases? With strong communication, and even stronger evidence. 

The projects inside your portfolio are like evidence in a legal case. And that’s why you must choose the projects for your portfolio very carefully. 

Here’s what I recommend including in your UX case study:

• Problem statement
• Users and audience
• Roles and responsibilities
• Scope and constraints
• Process and what you did
• Outcomes and lessons

Want to download a copy of this template? Sign up for Sarah Doody’s newletter and get a free download.

How to write your ux case study.

As you write your case studies, don’t worry about length. Once you get it all on paper you can decide what to put into your portfolio. As you transition your written case studies to something more visual, you will edit them down and also consider how some of the text can be communicated visually.

Step 1. Give your project a title

The big mistake that people make is not giving the project title enough detail when a strong title can give context for the project.

Good: Home Depot user research for mobile app checkout

So-so: Home Depot user research

Bad: Home Depot

Step 2. Write an outline

Lay out your thoughts before you start giving up the details. An outline’s purpose is to help you understand the “big picture” of your project, so you can decide how to structure your case study or if the project is big enough to merit more than one case study.

Start your outline with the seven sections listed above, and start filling in bullet points under each section. Don’t worry about sentence structure; just write and get it out of your head. If you’ve been  documenting your projects as you work on them , then you may have some of this already written.

Step 3. Fill in the details

Now that you have an outline and you see the big picture, you can start filling in details. 

Give the “Process and what you did” section the bulk of your effort. This is where you’ll document the steps you took, just like documenting science experiments in high school. 

You should be answering these questions:

• What did you do? For example, what research method did you use?
• Why did you do it?  For example, why did you choose that research method?
• What was the result?  For example, did you achieve your research goals?
• What did you learn? For example, what would you do differently next time?

Continuing with our (completely fictional) Home Depot example:

BAD: “ We did usability testing on the checkout of the Home Depot mobile app.”

Why is this weak? Because it only tells the reader what you did. It doesn’t address why you did it, what happened, and what you learned.

GOOD: To evaluate the new checkout on the Home Depot mobile app, we relied on usage metrics in conjunction with 8 usability tests. This allowed us to gain deeper understanding through combining both qualitative and quantitative information. Although users were able to get through the checkout more quickly, they continued to struggle with the shipping section. Discussions with users discussion revealed that often times, products in one order have different shipping addresses, which was possible, but difficult in the current checkout.

This version is much stronger because it goes beyond just talking about what was done. Providing this depth is what will set you apart; articulating your design decisions and process will help position you as a more mature and thoughtful professional.

Step 4. Write headlines

At this point, you’re probably thinking something like “Who would ever read this novel?” Which is a good point. That’s why the next step will help you start to distill everything down so that you are focusing on the key highlights of the story.

The best way to do this is to pretend that you have to write your case study only in tweets. It sounds crazy, but it works.

For each section of the outline we’re working with, write a single headline or sentence—except for the Process section, where you’ll be focusing your energies. For the Process section, you’ll want to have a headline for each step. Using our previous fictitious Home Depot user research example, some of the headlines for the Process section might be:

• Step: What type of research you did and why you did it. Example: Analytics revealed customers struggled, and sometimes abandoned, checkout at the shipping section. To understand why, we conducted eight usability tests.
• Step: Findings from the research. Usability tests revealed that business customers, versus residential, had different shipping needs, which were not being addressed in the current checkout experience.
• Step: Impact of research on product development. We prototyped two new versions of the checkout, allowing customers to choose shipping address on a per-product basis.

By sticking to a 140 character limit, you’ll force yourself to identify the most important points of the case study—which will then become headlines when you create your actual portfolio. 

A good way to test whether or not you have strong headlines is to ask yourself if someone would understand the main points of your project by skimming the headlines. If not, then re-write your headlines—because if you want the users of your UX portfolio to quickly understand your project, those are the most important points.

Step 5. Distill the text from your case study into your actual portfolio

Regardless of the format you choose for your portfolio , your writing needs to be clear and succinct. 

It won’t happen in one edit! Let’s say you’re working in Keynote with slides, your process will look like this:

• Take the headlines you wrote and place one headline per slide in Keynote. 
• Consider that you might merge some bits of information into one slide. For example, you might combine your overview and problem statement. It’s subjective, so you decide! 
• Now, you need to go back and start to pull the most important and relevant details from your case study and put them on each slide, as supporting details or evidence. 

Examples in action

Simon Pan’s UX portfolio website went viral because he had awesome case studies. Yes, he’s also a visual designer so it looks beautiful. But what you need to focus on is the content. His Uber case study is an excellent example, let’s take a look at why it works:

• Clear problem and framing of the project. Simon’s case study clearly states the problem and frames the project. So even if I’d never heard of Uber before, I’d have enough context to understand the project.
• Explanation of the process. Simon does this with a story. It’s easy to read and keeps my attention. It feels like a cool article that’s well thought out … not to mention the visual design helps draw key points out. In the screenshot below, he is explaining part of the Discovery process. It sounds like I’m reading an article, therefore it keeps my attention. And the use of a user research quote helps bring the story to life even more.
• Thoughtful conclusions and reflection. At the end, Simon concludes the case study with some results, reflections, and insights. People don’t just want to know what you did, they want to know the impact of what you did.

What comes next?

If you follow all these steps, you will have a longform case study edited down into something that’s more readable and scannable for the user of your UX portfolio. 

And remember, the UX case studies you write serve many purposes. Of course, they are the foundation of your portfolio, but they also can feed into your resume, LinkedIn, cover letters, and what you say in an interview. 

Want to read more by Sarah Doody?

• Seriously, you need to start documenting your UX work
• 4 steps for choosing the right projects for your UX portfolio
• How to create a UX portfolio without UX experience

by Sarah Doody

Sarah Doody is a User Experience Designer, Entrepreneur, and Educator. She is the founder of The UX Portfolio Formula, a UX career accelerator that helps UX professionals learn how to articulate their work so they can create an awesome portfolio. In 2011, she created the curriculum for and taught General Assembly’s first 12-week UX immersive, the genesis of their popular UX programs which are now taught worldwide.

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How to Write an Engaging UX Case Study

Would you believe that a good user experience case study has the potential to get your job application noticed in the eyes of recruiters in case you get that job interview? If you are all set to share your portfolio with the hiring managers, why not take the final plunge and include the element that can transform your overall impression as a candidate entirely? 

Case studies lay out a quick roadmap in front of your recruiters that lets them get a sneak peek into your analytical and creative mind. Reading a UX case study is like your hiring manager taking a walk with you through the design problem at hand. You get to explain the process that you followed to curb the user pain points with your unique design thinking and thought process, which also captures the essence of what is a user-centered design.  

Why Case Studies Are A Game-Changer for Your Portfolio?

Case studies should reflect a curious and creative thinker within you. They should also let you demonstrate your ability to turn research and relevant insights into something concrete for design. When you’re interviewing for an analytical position such as a UX role, you’re showing off your problem-solving skills because UX is problem-solving first and design second. Your case study should demonstrate not just your process but also your ability to tackle complex problems.

The Anatomy Of a Great UX Case Study

A  memorable UX case study  explains in graphic detail the design process you follow throughout every stage of the design project. It pens out not only your research but also the reasoning for your ultimate design decisions while accentuating your design skills.   Let’s begin with the structure you should follow to capture everything chronologically:- Step-1: Start with “An Introduction” Step-2: Familiarise with the “Process Followed” Step-3: Lead with “The Research” Step-4: Engage with “Design Iterations” Step-5: Conclude with “Final Observations/Result” The key here is to keep the content of the case study short, crisp and to the point for hiring managers and recruiters. No one’s going to sit there and sift through your case study for an hour.  Reviewing case studies  by experienced professionals means scanning them in mere minutes and knowing whether you have what it takes or not. Also, make it a point to give each section an equal amount of attention when crafting your case study. You never know when recruiters and hiring managers might take notice of something you avoided.

The Process of Writing an Engaging UX Case Study – A Step by Step Process

Step-1: introduction.

If you don’t capture your reader’s attention in the introduction, they probably won’t continue reading. Make the introduction an engaging, concise way to set the stage for your article. Also, don’t forget to articulate the primary problem that you are aiming to solve. Here are a few elements to include in the introduction that will make your content crisp and self-explanatory:- i) Overview of the company: What is this company’s identity? What do they do, and what are their goals and mission statement? ii) Challenge the company was facing: What was the pain point you decided to tackle? What was the ultimate question you were trying to answer? What difficulties do you encounter while addressing the problem at hand? iii) How do you fit in the picture : What was your role in the project? What were the timelines? Were there any constraints that affected the project? iv) Your Take : A methodology is a specified, systematic approach to solving problems or performing tasks. What methods did you use to comprehensively analyze your user data? What methods did you use to test your idea? v) Conclusion : Elaborate on the conclusion for the end product and wrap up with a fully defined objective which you’ve completed and deliverables. Reminder- Don’t go overboard with details in this section, we will get to it later.

Step-2: Process

When highlighting your process, make sure to be explicit about which UX research methods you used and how they helped influence your  design decisions . You should : i) identify the  UX design problem s that you faced with a problem statement, ii) show how you approached the project in terms of information architecture, iii) show how you interacted with your users in order to gather relevant metrics and understand their needs through good ux iv) show what research methods did you implement etc. Explaining the methodology you used to accomplish a specific task is crucial for recruiters and hiring managers to know. 

Step-3: User Research

Now is the time to walk everyone through your UX design case study process. It works like a hypothesis that can get approved or rejected based on your findings. So there’s no right or wrong answer to it. This gives you an opportunity to elaborate on the methods you came up with the former stage and bring action-oriented improvements to the process.   The way to go about it is to briefly explain the design research techniques you used (card sorting, user persona, usability testing, etc.), why you chose these specific techniques, and what outcome you hoped to achieve. Ultimately, your research ends with how effective your UX design solution proved for the users.

Step-4: UX Design Decisions

When you start the design phase, you look back at your research and start thinking about how you could design to accommodate your findings. Use the results of your research to inform your design decisions. This is an important part of user-centered design. Take the findings from your user research and apply them to your designs. If your project is to build a new site or landing page, make sure each iteration includes visual design mockups. You can include steps such as: i) Sitemaps ii) User Flows iii) User Journeys iv) Paper wireframes v) Medium/High fidelity wireframes v) Prototypes

Step-5: Result

Employers should be able to quickly and easily find the content that’s most relevant to what they want to know about. To show your final UX design, you can use any tool that suits your needs. It can be a wireframe, high-fidelity mockup , or even something more sophisticated like an interactive prototype. Don’t forget to link to the source and voila! You’re done! If you want to show off your skills and use an intuitive tool for that, try out UXPin . Take your interactive prototyping to a higher level.

By following these steps, you can turn a good case study into a relevant  design portfolio  piece that showcases your problem-solving skills while bringing your creative side to the table to achieve maximum harmony between functionality and aesthetically fine design work. At the end of the day, the whole point behind a case study is to establish expertise in the area of UX research and design and be perceived as a UX professional in the eyes of potential prospects. Use an intuitive design tool that will help you show your skills – sign up for a 14-day trial .

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How to Write a UX Case Study to Showcase Your Skills, Experience, & Process

14 min read

By: Sarah Doody on May 22, 2023

UX case studies are the foundation of an excellent UX portfolio and have a direct impact on how well you’ll do in job interviews. 

To demonstrate your skills to recruiters and hiring managers, user experience (UX) professionals of all types – whether UX writers, content strategists, product strategists, product managers, UX researchers, or any other roles in product development – should create case studies for various projects they’ve worked on. The purpose of UX case studies is to articulate what you did, how you did it (your process and thinking), and what happened (the results and impact).

A well-written UX case study tells the story of each project and represents how well you can communicate not just what you did, but why you did it.

How would your UX career change if you could write UX case studies you’re actually proud of? What would happen if you had a clear and powerful story to tell about each project in your UX portfolio? You’d likely … 

• Apply for more roles.
• Get more interviews.
• Make it further in the interview process.
• Be far more confident presenting your projects.
• Stand out as an effective communicator.
• Get more offers.
• Reach your next role faster

But, how exactly do you write more effective UX case studies? Even if you don’t think you’re a good writer, it is possible. You just have to know what questions the recruiters and hiring managers need you to answer in the UX case studies. UX recruiters and hiring managers want your case studies and portfolio to share the details and your process for each project, but not have it be an essay or read like a white paper.

In this article, you will learn:

How to structure a UX case study

• The 5 steps to write a UX case study
• How to actually tell a story of your process

At the end of the article, you’ll find some examples of effective UX case studies. A wordf of caution though, I know you’re tempted to go look at example case studies and copy them. But don’t forget, copying other people’s UX case studies won’t do you any good. You’ll get enamored with the “design” of these case studies and not actually consider the content and the story that each case study tells. Do yourself a huge favor and read the steps below to structure and write your UX case studies. Let’s go! And by the way, this free resource will be tremendously helpful for you: 

Featured Resource

Get a UX case study template. It’s a Google Doc so you’ll be able to make a copy and then start writing your own case studies.

Why UX case studies matter

According to Center Centre , the job growth of UX designers is expected to rise 22% over the next 10 years. UX is a hot field, and there’s a lot of competition. 

This is why your UX portfolio can’t simply be a curation of sexy-looking deliverables. Recruiters and hiring managers need to see your process. It’s your job to articulate not just what you did, but why you did it.  

Communication is a crucial skill for UX professionals. In most UX roles, you’ll find yourself not just doing the actual work, but explaining it over and over as stakeholders challenge your decisions and colleagues who may not be versed in design need a bit of help understanding the process. So ask yourself this … 

If you don’t have well-written UX case studies, then how can recruiters and hiring managers trust that you’ll be able to communicate what you did and why you did it if they hire you? Your UX case studies are a reflection of how you think and communication and they’re a preview of how you’ll think and communicate in a role once you are hired.

There are two parts to being an effective communicator, your writing skills and ability to verbally discuss what you did. If you struggle with verbally presenting your projects, chances are it’s because you did not invest time in writing about your projects first. 

By literally writing out your UX case studies in a Google Doc first, you’ll become much clearer on what you might say as you get further down the UX job interview process. How you perform in the interviews is what will likely get you hired, but to get in the door for an interview, you need a solid portfolio. The quality of the writing for your case studies is one of the most important variables in the success of your portfolio.

When approaching your UX portfolio and case studies, my advice is: think like a lawyer. Because how do lawyers win legal cases? With strong communication, and even stronger evidence. The projects inside your portfolio are like evidence in a legal case. That’s why you must choose the projects for your portfolio very carefully. 

When you write a UX case study, there are 7 main sections that you should cover. It’s important to note this structure does not mean that you will literally have a page in your PDF or section on your website for each of these. Furthermore, not all of these sections will apply for each project. For example, if a project didn’t have many constraints, don’t feel like you must invent or stretch some constraints, just to include it. Use your best judgment, this structure for your UX case study is a guideline, not the gospel. 

Here is the high level structure of an effective UX case study:

• Problem statement
• Users and audience
• Roles and responsibilities
• Scope and constraints
• Process and what you did
• Outcomes and lessons

Get this UX case study template. It’s a Google Doc so you’ll be able to make a copy and then start writing your own case studies.

5 steps to write a UX case study for your portfolio

A UX case study is not just about having something for your UX portfolio, but it also equips you for interviews and provides you with content you can also use on your resume and LinkedIn profile.

As you write your case studies, don’t worry about length. If your case study ends up being 2,000 words in a Google Doc, it’s not as though you are going to take all that text and cram it into your portfolio. That would be insane.

There will be a process of editing as you decide which bits of the story in the Google Doc are what hiring managers and recruiters want to hear about. As you take the content in your Google Doc and move it into a more visual format, you’ll pair down what you wrote and come up with a more compact version of the story that you want to share in your UX portfolio.

1: Outline your UX case study

An outline’s purpose is to help you understand the big picture of your project, so you can decide how to structure your case study. It may also help you realize that the project already feels like it’s too big, in which case you should consider breaking it up into multiple smaller projects so that you don’t overwhelm the user of your UX portfolio.

Start your outline with the seven sections listed above ( use this Google Doc template ), and start filling in bullet points under each section. Don’t worry about sentence structure; just write and get it out of your head. If you’ve been documenting your projects as you work on them , then you may have some of this already written.

2: Write the details of your process

Now that you have an outline and you see the big-picture story of the project, you can start filling in details. The bulk of what you write will be for the “Process and what you did” section. This is where you’ll document the steps you took during the project, just like documenting science experiments in high school.

The Process section of your UX case study should address these questions:

• What did you do? For example, what research method did you use?
• Why did you do it? For example, why did you choose that research method?
• What was the result?   For example, did you achieve your research goals?
• What did you learn? Anything unique happen? What would you do differently next time?

To continue learning by example, let’s refer back to our fictional example of the Home Depot project that focused on user research for the mobile app checkout. Below are examples of content that could be for the Process section of the project. Imagine this part of the case study is meant to address the research step of the process.

• Poor explanation of the research step: “We did usability testing on the checkout of the Home Depot mobile app.”

Why is this weak? Because it only tells the reader what you did. It doesn’t address why you did it, what happened, and what you learned. It’s too vague and provides no insight into what actually happened. Instead, consider this more descriptive explanation of the user research step of the process:

• Good explanation of the research step: “To evaluate the new checkout on the Home Depot mobile app, we relied on usage metrics in conjunction with 8 usability tests. This allowed us to gain a deeper understanding by combining both qualitative and quantitative information. Although users were able to get through the checkout more quickly, they continued to struggle with the shipping section. Discussions with users discussion revealed that oftentimes , products in one order have different shipping addresses, which was possible, but difficult in the current checkout.”

Why is this good? This version is much stronger because it goes beyond just talking about what was done. Providing this depth is what will set you apart; articulating your design decisions and the process will help position you as a more mature and thoughtful professional.

3: Write headlines to summarize

At this point, you’re likely freaking out and worried your UX case study is too long. You’re right, it probably is. But remember, what you wrote in your Google Doc is not going to all make its way to your actual UX portfolio

Imagine that your Google Doc is a movie and now it’s time to make the 60-second trailer! This next step will help you start to distill everything down so that you are focusing on the key highlights of the story in your case study.

The best way to do this is to pretend that you have to write your case study only in tweets. It sounds crazy, but it works. For each section of the case study outline, write a single headline or sentence, except for the Process section. For the Process section, you’ll want to have a headline for each step. Continuing with our Home Depot user research example, some of the headlines for the Process section might be:

• Step: What type of research you did and why you did it Headline: “Analytics revealed customers struggled and sometimes abandoned, checkout at the shipping section. To understand why we conducted eight usability tests.”
• Step: Findings from the research Headline : “Usability tests revealed that business customers, versus residential, had different shipping needs, which were not being addressed in the current checkout experience.” 
• Step: Impact of research on product development Headline: “We prototyped two new versions of the checkout, allowing customers to choose shipping address on a per-product basis.”

By sticking to a tweet-length character limit, you’ll force yourself to identify the most important points of the case study—which will then become headlines when you create your actual portfolio.

A good way to test whether or not you have strong headlines is to ask yourself if someone would understand the main points of your project by skimming the headlines. If not, then re-write your headlines—because if you want the users of your UX portfolio to quickly understand your project, those are the most important points.

4. Create a compelling title

The big mistake that people make is not giving the project title enough detail when a strong title can give context for the project. As an example, imagine you worked on a user research project related to the checkout process on Home Depot’s mobile app. Consider each of these project titles:

• Poor Title: Home Depot
• So-so Title: Home Depot user research
• Good Title: Home Depot user research for mobile app checkout

Let’s break this down … a title with just the company name, such as “Home Depot” tells the reader absolutely nothing about what you did. It could have been visual design or app development. But the user of your UX portfolio has no idea because the project title was not clear.

A title such as “Home Depot User Research” is a bit better. But it still is vague. Yes, it tells the reader that the project was about user research. But it doesn’t reveal the specific area of focus within the product.  Something more specific provides a lot more clarity of your experience such as, “ Home Depot User Research For Mobile App Checkout” .

This is the purpose and strategy of an effective case study project title. It’s much clearer, can you see the difference?

5: Edit & move into portfolio slides

Regardless of the format you choose for your portfolio, your writing needs to be clear and succinct. It won’t happen in one edit! Let’s say you’re making your UX portfolio in Keynote or PowerPoint. Your process will look like this:

• Take the headlines you wrote and place one headline per slide in Keynote.
• Consider that you might merge some bits of information into one slide. For example, you might combine your overview and problem statement.  It’s subjective, so you decide!
• Now, you need to go back and start to pull the most important and relevant details from your case study and put them on each slide, as supporting details or evidence.

Examples of UX case studies

To help you see what makes a good UX case study, let’s break down a few good ones. Simon Pan’s Uber case study definitely has reached “viral” status … have you read it? A quick word of caution, yes, it looks good. Simon’s a visual designer. But the reason it went viral goes way beyond the visuals. So don’t let that spin you into Imposter Syndrome.

Simon understands how to write a solid story about the problem, people, product, process, and solution. Here’s what Simon’s Uber case study does well:

• Simon’s case study clearly states the problem and frames the project. Even if I’d never heard of Uber before, I’d have enough context to understand the project.
• Next, Simon explains his process. And he does so as a story. It does not read like a white paper. It’s easy to read and keeps my attention.
• At the end, Simon concludes the case study with some results, reflections, and insights. People don’t just want to know what you did, they want to know the impact of what you did.
• Simon creates a scannable and skimmable experience for the user of his case study. Obviously, Simon is a visual designer and was able to nail the visual presentation of this. 

In the video below, I do a quick 5-minute teardown of Simon’s Uber case study. 

A well-written case study can serve you for years to come in your UX career

If you follow all these steps, you will have a long-form case study and you’ll have edited it down into something that’s more readable and scannable for the user of your UX portfolio. And remember, the UX case studies you write serve many purposes. Of course, they are the foundation of your portfolio, but they also can feed into:

• Bullet points for your  resume and LinkedIn problem
• What you include in cover letters
• How you present a project in a UX job interview
• Articles you publish in the future
• Talks you may give at local UX meetups

Learning to write effective UX case studies will also equip you with crucial written communication skills. This will help you in your day-to-day role as a UX professional as you not only do the work but also educate others and advocate for UX.

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How to write the beginning of your UX case study

Writing your portfolio UX case studies is easier when you follow a simple structure: a beginning, a middle and an end part. As with practically everything else in the field of writing, knowing what to do where and what to save for later is vital. That’s why, here, we will get you off to a good start, by giving you a few tips on how to write the perfect beginning to your case study.

Sometimes, making a start is the most difficult part of a project. Writing your own UX case studies can be an intimidating task. After all, they are the most important part of your UX portfolio, and only if you get them right will you stand a chance of being invited for an interview, where you will really have an opportunity to let your personality and professional skills shine. So, where do you begin?

The role of a UX case study’s beginning section

A UX case study tells a story. More precisely, it follows one of the most well-known story structures in literature: a story based on an idea . Idea stories start by raising a question – for instance, what if an alien civilization made contact with us? What would the world look like if Hitler had won in WW2? How would people behave if the government could monitor them at all times?

Great questions make for amazing novels and films. They also make for great UX case studies. When you’re writing your case study, all you are doing is really expressing the question, the premise that challenged you to think and employ your skills, and the motivation behind all the discoveries you made (and which you are going to tell the recruiters about in the case study).

Therefore, your beginning section must set the stage, or frame, for the rest of the story. Here, you will write about the project, its goals, why they were important, and what your role was in seeing the project through to the end. A common portfolio mistake is to jump straight into the design details, without giving the recruiter a clear overview of the project’s scope. You might therefore consider having three separate subheadings in this section:

The Problem: A problem statement introduces why you undertook this work and whom you did this for. What were the challenges and barriers that you tried to overcome? What would be the payoff if you managed to do it?

The Solution: Here, you might outline your approach to tackling the problem and why it was important to follow that strategy.

My Role: Finally, you should explain what role you played in this project. This is important. If you are applying for a user researcher role, then your case study should be about something you did that included user research . You might have also done other things, but tailor the case study to focus more on the work you did on the aspect that fits the role you are applying for.

Writing the beginning of the case study can take whatever form you like. You can include the above information under separate headings, or you can write it all in a paragraph. No matter the case, the content shouldn’t be longer than 4-5 sentences. The story of how the project came to be could be really interesting, but it’s not why recruiters will be hiring you. So, keep it short, and super-focused. Remember, the goal is to give some context about the work you did on that project and nothing more.

Turning a bad example into a great one

Let’s take an example of a bad introduction to a UX case study and break it down, so we can highlight some important mistakes.

Author/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Starting off with an introduction and not doing too well, since there is no sight of the challenges or barriers that we needed to overcome in the project, or the importance of the work.

The description starts off with the scope of the project – i.e., what the end goal (to design a new app for location-based reminders) was. But it tells us nothing about the challenges or barriers that the designers needed to overcome. We have no understanding of whether this was a difficult or easy problem. And we certainly don’t know the payoff – whom is this for? Why is it important that it is built? What needs does it meet? Let’s improve on that sentence.

A better phrasing for the starting problem statement – It’s quite long, though!

Note in the example above that we clearly introduced the problem, the payoff and the challenge. Now, let’s tackle the solution part. In our bad example, the solution was simply stated as “being asked to build the app from scratch” – but that says nothing about how we approached the challenges of the project. Also, the statement about a recommendation from another client says nothing to your recruiter about how you approached the project. Let’s rephrase it.

A better phrasing for the solution statement, now including some insights on our methodology.

In this rephrasing, we have divulged a wealth of information: our knowledge of two popular industry methodologies and the value we place on evaluation and role in mitigating risks.

Now, let’s look at the third part: It talks about what the team did, but the recruiter isn’t hiring the team; the recruiter is hiring you . The statement about the 1m downloads probably means you did something right after all, but it doesn’t say much on its own – after all, most users uninstall apps a few minutes after they have downloaded them. You are better off leaving impact statements for the end of your case study, anyway. Let’s rephrase this.

A better phrasing for the role statement, focusing on the work we did individually as part of a team.

Let’s now put it all together:

The first revision of our introduction – It is much more relevant than the initial introduction, but it’s now rather long.

That’s 6 sentences in all – a bit over our desired 4-5. Can we make it shorter? Let’s try.

Second revision of the introduction, now shortened to the desired 4-5-sentence length.

There we go! That’s 4 sentences that give a full account of the project’s background. It’s always best to leave yourself free to write as much as you think is required at first. Then, you can begin stripping back the text to the required 4-5 sentences. To do this, follow Brutal Pixie’s golden rule to content simplicity :

“Subtract the obvious, add the meaningful.” Brutal Pixie, content strategist

Copyright holder: BK, Flickr. Copyright terms and license: CC BY 2.0

Take the first step into writing with an eager attitude. Communication skills are crucial to your professional life as a UX designer. Don’t see writing your case studies as a chore, but as a chance to improve and develop yourself professionally.

Think about what you really want to say here — what are the key takeaways that whoever is reading this must discover? Rephrase your writing to ensure that all the important details are there, but in a short and concise form. It takes some practice, but you can do it. Most importantly, however, don’t forget to have key takeaways for the Problem, Solution and Role elements of your case study beginning. Katherine Firth, a teacher of research and writing skills at La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne, provides a few excellent tips to make your writing more concise (2015). If you’re having trouble molding what you want to write into a sharper, more streamlined “spearhead” that gets to the point every time and makes a deep impression, we highly recommend going through her article (see the references section).

Use active instead of passive voice.

Get rid of adverbs and reduce your adjectives.

Use the shortest form of the word.

Use the shortest form of a phrase.

Keep your sentences to 25-30 words.

The Take Away

Case study beginning sections take some time to master to write. They need to be quite short, but also contain all the crucial details that will explain the project’s context to your recruiters, and show them why you thought this might be a good case study to include in your portfolio. Keeping things short and tight takes a bit of practice, but even if you can’t keep to the 4-5 sentence guideline, at the very least pay special attention to ensuring that all of the key elements of the case study beginning are present. Remember, what the recruiters will read is a “solution”, in a sense, to the “problem” of how to present the most outstanding case study. In the process, you want to show how adept you are at tackling problems overall and, in particular, finding results that win for them and the users.

References & Where to Learn More

Hero Image: Copyright holder: MemoryCatcher, pixabay.com. Copyright terms and license: CC0

Course: “User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide” .

Firth, K. (2015). 10 tips for more concise writing .

How to Create a UX Portfolio

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15 excellent ux case studies every creative should read.

• By Sandra Boicheva
• October 21st, 2021

In a previous article, we talked about UX portfolios and how they carefully craft a story of how designers work. Interestingly enough, recruiters decide if a UX freelance designer or an agency is a good match within 5 minutes into the portfolio . In order to persuade these recruiters, the portfolio needs to present an appealing story that showcases the skill, the thought process, and the choices taken for key parts of the designs. With this in mind, today we’ll talk about UX case studies and give 15 excellent examples of case studies with compelling stories.

The Storytelling Approach in UX Case Studies

An essential part of the portfolio of a UX designer is the case studies that pack a showcase of the designer’s skills, way of thinking, insights in the form of compelling stories. These case studies are often the selling point as recruiters look for freelancers and agencies who can communicate their ideas through design and explain themselves in a clear and appealing way. So how does this work?

Photography by Alvaro Reyes

Just like with every other story, UX case studies also start with an introduction, have a middle, and end with a conclusion .

• Introduction: This UX case study example starts with a design brief and presents the main challenges and requirements. In short, the UX designer presents the problem, their solution, and their role.
• Middle: The actual story of the case study example explains the design process and the techniques used. This usually starts with obstacles, design thinking, research, and unexpected challenges. All these elements lead to the best part of the story: the action part. It is where the story unveils the designer’s insights, ideas, choices, testing, and decisions.
• Conclusion: The final reveal shows the results and gives space for reflection where the designer explains what they’ve learned, and what they’ve achieved.

Now as we gave you the introduction, let’s get to the main storyline and enjoy 15 UX case studies that tell a compelling story.

1. Car Dealer Website for Mercedes-Benz Ukraine by Fulcrum

This case study is a pure pleasure to read. It’s well-structured, easy to read, and still features all the relevant information one needs to understand the project. As the previous client’s website was based on the official Mercedes Benz template, Fulcrum had to develop an appealing and functional website that would require less time to maintain, be more user-friendly, and increase user trust.

• Intro: Starts with a summary of the task.
• Problem: Lists the reasons why the website needs a redesign.
• Project Goals: Lists the 4 main goals with quick summaries.
• Project: Showcases different elements of the website with desktop and mobile comparison.
• Functionality: Explains how the website functionality helps clients to find, and order spare parts within minutes.
• Admin Panel: Lists how the new admin panel helps the client customize without external help.
• Elements: Grid, fonts, colors.
• Tech Stack: Shows the tools used for the backend, mobile, admin panel, and cloud.
• Client review: The case study ends with a 5-star review by the marketing director of Mercedes Benz Ukraine, Olga Belova.

This case study is an example of a detailed but easy to scan and read story from top to bottom, featuring all relevant information and ending on the highest note: the client’s review.

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2. Galaxy Z Flips 5G Website by DFY

This is a big project that covers every aspect of the website, including the UX strategy. The creative studio aimed to fully illustrate and demonstrate the significant upgrades over previous models and to enable two-way communication with the customers through an interactive experience.

• Intro: Summary of the project and roles.
• Interactive Experience: The main project goal.
• Demonstration: Explains the decision to feature 360-degree views and hands-on videos instead of technical terms.
• Screens: Includes high-quality screenshots of significant pages and features.
• Ecosystem: Highlight a page with easy navigation across different products as a marketing decision that makes cross-selling seamless.
• Essentials: Showcases a slider of all products with key features that provide ample information.
• Showroom: Interactive experience that helps the user “play around” with the product.
• Credits: As a conclusion, DFY features the stakeholders involved.

A strong presentation of a very ambitious project. It keeps the case study visual while still providing enough insight into the thought process and the most important decisions.

3. Jambb Social Platform by Finna Wang

Here we have a beautiful case study for a platform that aims to help creators grow their communities by recognizing and rewarding their base of supporters. It tackles a curious problem that 99% of fans who contribute in non-monetary ways don’t get the same content, access, and recognition they deserve. This means the creators need a way to identify their fans across all social platforms to grow their business and give recognition. To get a clear picture of what the design has to accomplish, Finna Wang conducted stakeholder interviews with the majority of the client’s team.

• Intro: Listing roles, dates, team, and used tools.
• Project Overview: The main concept and the reasons behind it.
• Exploration: What problem will the platform solve, preliminary research, and conclusions from the research.  The section includes the project scope and problem statement.
• Design Process: A thorough explanation of the discoveries and the exact steps.
• User Flows:  3 user flows based on common tasks that the target user/fan would do on the site.
• Design Studio: Visualization process with wireframes, sitemap, prototypes.
• Design Iterations: The designer highlights the iterations they were primary behind.
• Style Guide: Typography, colors, visual elements breakdown.
• Usability Testing: Beta site vs Figma prototype; usertesting.com, revised problem statement.
• Prototype: Features an accessible high fidelity prototype in Figma you can view.
• Takeaways: Conclusions.

An extremely detailed professionally made and well-structured UX case study. It goes a step further by listing specific conclusions from the conducted research and featuring an accessible Figma prototype.

4. Memento Media by Masha Keyhani

This case study is dedicated to a very interesting project for saving family stories. It aims to help users capture and record memories from their past. To do so, the design team performed user research and competitive analysis. The entire project took a 6-week sprint.

• Overview: Introducing the client and the purpose of the app.
• My Role: Explaining the roles of the designer and their team.
• Design Process: A brief introduction of the design process and the design toolkit
• Home: The purpose of the Homepage and the thought process behind it.
• Question Selection: The decision behind this screen.
• Recording Process: Building the recording feature and the decisions behind it.
• User research: a thorough guide with the main focuses, strategies, and competitor analysts, including interviews.
• Research Objectives: The designer gives the intent of their research, the demographics, synthesis, and usability testing insights.
• Propositions: Challenges and solutions
• User Flow: Altering the user flow based on testing and feedback.
• Wireframes: Sketches, Lo-Fi wireframing.
• Design System: Typography, colors, iconography, design elements.
• The Prototype: It shows a preview of the final screens.

This UX study case is very valuable for the insights it presents. The design features a detailed explanation of the thinking process, the research phase, analysts, and testing which could help other creatives take some good advice from it for their future research.

5. Perfect Recipes App by Tubik

Here we have a UX case study for designing a simple mobile app for cooking, recipes, and food shopping. It aims to step away from traditional recipe apps by creating something more universal for users who love cooking with extended functionality. The best idea behind it is finding recipes based on what supplies the user currently has at home.

• Intro: Introducing the concept and the team behind it.
•  Project: What they wanted to make and what features would make the app different than the competitors.
• UI design: The decisions behind the design.
• Personalization: Explaining how the app gives the user room for personalization and customizing the features according to their personal preferences.
• Recipe Cards and Engaging Photos: The decisions behind the visuals.
• Cook Now feature: Explaining the feature.
• Shopping List: Explaining the feature.
• Pantry feature:  The idea to sync up the app with AmazonGo services. This case study section features a video.
• Bottom Line: What the team learned.

This UX case study is a good example of how to present your concept if you have your own idea for an app. You could also check the interactive preview of the app here .

6. SAM App by Mike Wilson

The client is the Seattle Art Museum while the challenge is to provide engaging multimedia content for users as well as self-guided tours. Mile Wilson has to create an experience that will encourage repeat visits and increase events and exhibition attendance.

• Intro: Listing time for the project, team members, and roles.
• The Client: A brief introduction of Seattle Art Museum
• The Challenge: What the app needs to accomplish.
• Research and Planning: Explaining the process for gathering insights, distributing surveys, interviews, and identifying specific ways to streamline the museum experience.
• Sloane: Creating the primary persona. This includes age, bio, goals, skills, and frustrations.
• Designing the Solution: Here the case study features the results of their research, information architecture, user flows, early sketching, paper prototypes, and wireframes.
• Conclusion: Explaining the outcome, what the team would have done differently, what’s next, and the key takeaways.

What we can take as a valuable insight aside from the detailed research analysis, is the structure of the conclusion. Usually, most case studies give the outcome and preview screens. However, here we have a showcase of what the designer has learned from the project, what they would do differently, and how they can improve from the experience.

7. Elmenus Case Study

This is a case study by UX designers Marwa Kamaleldin, Mario Maged, Nehal Nehad, and Abanoub Yacoub for redesigning a platform with over 6K restaurants. It aims to help users on the territory of Egypt to find delivery and dine-out restaurants.

• Overview: What is the platform, why the platform is getting redesigned, what is the target audience. This section also includes the 6 steps of the team’s design process.
• User Journey Map: A scheme of user scenarios and expectations with all phases and actions.
• Heuristic Evaluation: Principles, issues, recommendations, and severity of the issues of the old design.
• First Usability Testing: Goals, audience, and tasks with new user scenarios and actions based on the heuristic evaluation. It features a smaller section that lists the most severe issues from usability for the old design.
• Business Strategy: A comprehensive scheme that links problems, objectives, customer segment, measurements of success, and KPIs.
• Solutions: Ideas to solve all 4 issues.
• Wireframes: 4 directions of wireframes.
• Styleguide: Colors, fonts, typeface, components, iconography, spacing method.
• Design: Screens of the different screens and interactions.
• Second Usability Testing: Updated personas, scenarios, and goals. The section also features before-and-after screenshots.
• Outcome: Did the team solve the problem or not.

A highly visual and perfectly structured plan and process for redesigning a website. The case study shows how the team discovers the issues with the old design and what decisions they made to fix these issues.

8. LinkedIn Recruiter Tool by Evelynma

A fresh weekend project exploring the recruiting space of LinkedIn to find a way to help make it easier for recruiters to connect with ideal candidates.

• Background Info: What made the designer do the project.
• Problem and Solution: A good analysis of the problem followed by the designer’s solution.
• Process: This section includes an analysis of interviewing 7 passive candidates, 1 active candidate, 3 recruiters, and 1 hiring manager. The designer also includes their journey map of the recruiting experience, a sketch of creating personas, and the final 3 personas.
• Storyboard and User Flow Diagrams: The winning scenario for Laura’s persona and user flow diagram.
• Sketches and Paper Prototypes: Sticky notes for paper prototypes for the mobile experience.
• Visual Design: Web and mobile final design following the original LinkedIn pattern.
• Outcome: Explaining the opportunity.

This is an excellent UX case study when it comes to personal UX design projects. creating a solution to a client’s problem aside, personal project concepts is definitely something future recruiters would love to see as it showcases the creativity of the designers even further.

9. Turbofan Engine Diagnostics by Havana Nguyen

The UX designer and their team had to redesign some legacy diagnostics software to modernize the software, facilitate data transfers from new hardware, and improve usability. They built the desktop and mobile app for iOS and Android.

• Problem: The case study explain the main problem and what the team had to do to solve it.
• My Role: As a lead UX designer on a complicated 18-month project, Havana Nguyen had a lot of work to do, summarized in a list of 5 main tasks.
• Unique Challenges: This section includes 4 main challenges that made the project so complex. ( Btw, there’s a photo of sketched wireframes literally written on the wall.)
• My Process: The section includes a description of the UX design process highlighted into 5 comprehensive points.
• Final Thoughts: What the designer has learned for 18 months.

The most impressive thing about this case study is that it manages to summarize and explain well an extremely complex project. There are no prototypes and app screens since it’s an exclusive app for the clients to use.

10. Databox by FireArt

A very interesting project for Firearts’s team to solve the real AL & ML challenges across a variety of different industries. The Databox project is about building scalable data pipeline infrastructure & deploy machine learning and artificial intelligence models.

• Overview: The introduction of the case study narrows down the project goal, the great challenge ahead, and the solution.
• How We Start: The necessary phases of the design process to get an understanding of a product.
• User Flow: The entire scheme from the entry point through a set of steps towards the final action of the product.
• Wireframes: A small selection of wireframe previews after testing different scenarios.
• Styleguide: Typography, colors, components.
• Visual Design: Screenshots in light and dark mode.

A short visual case study that summarizes the huge amount of work into a few sections.

11. Travel and Training by Nikitin Team

Here’s another short and sweet case study for an app with a complete and up-to-date directory of fitness organizations in detailed maps of world cities.

• Overview: Explaining the project.
• Map Screen : Outlining the search feature by categories.
• Profiles: Profile customization section.
• Fitness Clubs: Explaining the feature.
• Icons: A preview of the icons for the app.
• App in Action: A video of the user experience.

This case study has fewer sections, however, it’s very easy to read and comprehend.

12. Carna by Ozmo

Ozmo provides a highly visual case study for a mobile application and passing various complexities of courses. The main goal for the UX designer is to develop a design and recognizable visual corporate identity with elaborate illustrations.

• Intro: A visual project preview with a brief description of the goal and role.
• Identity: Colors, fonts, and logo.
• Wireframes: The thinking process.
• Interactions: Showcase of the main interactions with animated visuals.
• Conclusion: Preview of the final screens.

The case study is short and highly visual, easy to scan and comprehend. Even without enough insight and text copy, we can clearly understand the thought process behind and what the designer was working to accomplish.

13. An Approach to Digitization in Education by Moritz Oesterlau

This case study is for an online platform for challenge-based learning. The designer’s role was to create an entire product design from research to conception, visualization, and testing. It’s a very in-depth UX case study extremely valuable for creatives in terms of how to structure the works in their portfolio.

• Intro: Introducing the client, project time, sector, and the designer’s role.
• Competitive Analysis: the case study starts off with the process of creating competitive profiles. It explains the opportunities and challenges of e-learning that were taken into consideration.
• Interviews and Surveys: Listing the goals of these surveys as well as the valuable insights they found.
• Building Empathy: The process and defining the three target profiles and how will the project cater to their needs. This section includes a PDF of the user personas.
• Structure of the Course Curriculum: Again with the attached PDF files, you can see the schemes of the task model and customer experience map.
• Information Architecture: The defined and evaluated sitemap for TINIA
• Wireframing, Prototyping, and Usability Testing :  An exploration of the work process with paper and clickable prototypes.
• Visual Design: Styleguide preview and detailed PDF.
• A/B and Click Tests: Reviewing the usability assumptions.
• Conclusion: A detailed reflection about the importance of the project, what the designer learned, and what the outcome was.

This is a very important case study and there’s a lot to take from it. First, the project was too ambitious and the goal was too big and vague. Although the result is rather an approximation and, above all, at the conceptual level requires further work, the case study is incredibly insightful, informative, and insightful.

14. In-class Review Game by Elizabeth Lin

This project was never realized but the case study remains and it’s worth checking out. Elizabeth Lin takes on how to create an engaging in-class review game with a lot of research, brainstorming, and a well-structured detailed process.

• Intro: What makes the project special.
• Research: Explaining how they approached the research and what they’ve learned.
• Brainstorming: the process and narrowing all How Might We questions to one final question: How might we create an engaging in-class math review game.
• Game Loop and Storyboarding: Sketch of the core game loop and the general flow of the game.
• Prototyping: Outlining basic game mechanics and rounds in detail.
• Future Explorations: The case study goes further with explorations showing how the product could look if we expanded upon the idea even further.
• What Happened?:  The outcome of the project.

This case study tells the story of the project in detail and expands on it with great ideas for future development.

15. Virtual Makeup Studio by Zara Dei

And for our last example, this is a case study that tells the story of an app-free shippable makeover experience integrated with the Covergirl website. The team has to find a way to improve conversion by supporting customers in their purchase decisions as well as to increase basket size by encouraging them to buy complementary products.

• Intro: Introducing the project and the main challenges.
• Discovery and Research: Using existing product information on the website to improve the experience.
• Onboarding and Perceived Performance: Avoiding compatibility issues and the barrier of a user having to download an app. The section explains the ideas for features that will keep users engaged, such as a camera with face scan animation.
• Fallback Experience and Error States: Providing clear error messaging along with troubleshooting instructions.
• Interactions: explaining the main interactions and the decisions behind them.
• Shared Design Language: Explaining the decision to provide links on each product page so users could be directed to their preferred retailer to place their order. Including recommended products to provide users with alternatives.
• Outcome and Learning: The good ending.
• Project Information: Listing all stakeholders, the UX designer’s role in a bullet list, and design tools.

In Conclusion

These were the 15 UX case studies we wanted to share with you as they all tell their story differently. If we can take something valuable about what are the best practices for making an outstanding case study, it will be something like this.

Just like with literature, storytelling isn’t a blueprint: you can write short stories, long in-depth analyses, or create a visual novel to show your story rather than tell. The detailed in-depth UX case studies with lots of insights aren’t superior to the shorter visual ones or vice versa. What’s important is for a case study to give a comprehensive view of the process, challenges, decisions, and design thinking behind the completed project .

In conclusion, a UX case study should always include a summary; the challenges; the personas; roles and responsibilities; the process; as well as the outcomes, and lessons learned.

Video Recap

Take a look at the special video we’ve made to visualize and discuss the most interesting and creative ideas implemented in the case studies.

In the meantime, why not browse through some more related insights on web development and web design?

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21 UX case studies to learn from in 2024

UX case studies are the heart of your design portfolio. They offer a peek into your design process, showcasing how you tackle challenges, your methods, and your results. For recruiters, these case studies serve as a metric for evaluating your skills, problem-solving abilities, and talent.

If you’re considering creating your own UX case study in 2024 but don’t know where to start, you’re in the right place. This article aims to inspire you with 21 carefully hand-picked UX case study examples, each offering valuable lessons.

But before we dive into these examples, let’s address a question that might be lingering: Is a UX case study truly worth the effort?

Is it worth creating a UX case study?

The short answer is yes.

Remember how in math class, showing your workings was even more important than getting the correct answer? UX case studies are like that for designers. They are more than just showcasing the final product (the polished website or app); they detail the steps taken to get there (the research, user testing, and design iterations). By showing your design process, you give potential employers or clients a peek into your thought process and problem-solving skills.

A well-laid-out case study has many benefits, including the following:

Building credibility

As case studies provide evidence of your expertise and past successes, they can build credibility and trust with potential employers or clients.

Educational value

By showing your design process, you provide valuable insights and learnings for other designers and stakeholders.

Differentiation

A compelling case study can leave a lasting impression on potential recruiters and clients, helping you stand out.

Iterative improvement

A case study is like a roadmap of each project, detailing the highs, lows, failures, and successes. This information allows you to identify areas for improvement, learn from mistakes, and refine your approach in subsequent projects.

Now that you know why a stand-out case study is so important, let’s look at 21 examples to help you get creative. The case studies will fall under five categories:

• Language learning app
• Learning app
• Travel agency app
• Intelly healthcare app
• Cox Automotive
• Swiftwash laundry
• Wayfaro trip planner
• New York Times app redesign
• Disney+ app redesign
• Fitbit redesign
• Ryanair app redesign
• Forbes app redesign
• Enhancing virtual teaching with Google Meet
• Airbnb’s global check-in tool
• Spotify home shortcuts
• AI-powered spatial banking for Apple Vision Pro
• Sage Express

In this section, we’ll explore case studies that take us through the complete design journey of creating a digital product from scratch.

1. Language learning app

If you’re a designer looking to get your foot in the door, this is one case study you need to check out. It’s so well detailed that it helped this designer land their first role as a UX designer:

Created by Christina Sa, this case study tackles the all-too-common struggle of learning a new language through a mobile app. It takes us through the process of designing a nontraditional learning app that focuses on building a habit by teaching the Korean language using Korean media such as K-pop, K-drama, and K-webtoon.

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Key takeaway

This case study shows how a structured design process, user-centered approach, and effective communication can help you stand out. The creator meticulously laid out their design process from the exploratory research phase to the final prototype, even detailing how the case study changed their view on the importance of a design process.

If you’re searching for a comprehensive case study that details every step of the design process, look no further. This one is for you:

This impressive case study by Finna Wang explores the creation of a fan-focused responsive platform for Jambb, an already existing social platform. The creator starts by identifying the problem and then defines the project scope before diving into the design process.

This case study shows us the importance of an iterative problem-solving approach. It identifies a problem (pre-problem statement), creates a solution, tests the solution, and then revises the problem statement based on the new findings.

3. Learning app

If you need a highly visual case study that takes you through every step of the design process in an engaging way, this one is for you:

This case study walks us through the design of a platform where users can find experts to explain complex topics to them in a simple and friendly manner. It starts by defining the scope of work, then progresses through research, user journeys, information architecture, user flow, initial design, and user testing, before presenting the final solution.

This case study demonstrates effective ways to keep readers engaged while taking them through the steps of a design process. By incorporating illustrations and data visualization, the designer communicates complex information in an engaging manner, without boring the readers.

If you’re in search of a case study that details the design process but is also visually appealing, you should give this one a look:

This case study by Orbix Studio takes us through the process of designing GiveHub, a fundraising app that helps users set up campaigns for causes they’re passionate about. It starts with an overview of the design process, then moves on to identifying the challenges and proposing solutions, before showing us how the solutions are brought to life.

This case study illustrates how a visually engaging design and clear organization can make your presentation easy to grasp.

5. Travel agency app

This case study is quite popular on Behance, and it’s easy to see why:

The case study takes us through the process of creating a travel app that lets users compare travel packages from various travel agencies or groups. The creators set out a clear problem statement, propose a solution, and then show us the step-by-step implementation process. The incorporation of data visualization tools makes this case study easy to digest.

This is another case study that shows the importance of using a clearly defined design process. Going by its popularity on Behance, you can tell that the step-by-step process breakdown was well worth the effort.

6. Intelly healthcare app

If you’re looking for a UX case study that explores the design journey for both mobile and desktop versions of an app, this is one you should check out:

This case study explores the process of creating Intelly, an app that transforms patient care with telemedicine, prescription management, and real-time tracking. The case study begins with a clear design goal, followed by a layout of existing problems and design opportunities. The final design is a mobile app for patients and a desktop app for doctors.

This case study highlights the importance of proactive problem-solving and creative thinking in the design process. The creators laid out some key problems, identified design opportunities in them, and effectively leveraged them to create an app.

7. Cox Automotive

If you prefer a results-oriented case study, you’ll love this one:

This case study delves into how Cox Automotive’s Manheim division, used LogRocket to optimize their customers’ digital experience for remote car auctions. It starts by highlighting the three key outcomes before giving us an executive summary of the case study. The rest of the case study takes us through the process of achieving the highlighted outcomes.

A key takeaway from this case study is the significance of using user data and feedback to enhance the digital experience continuously. Cox Automotive used LogRocket to identify and address user-reported issues, gain insights into customer behaviors, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their product.

These case studies are more focused on the visual aspects of the design process, teaching us a thing or two about presentation and delivery.

If you love a case study that scores high on aesthetics with vivid colors, cool illustrations, and fun animations, you need to check this one out:

This case study takes us on a visual journey of creating Rebank, a digital product aimed at revolutionizing the baking industry. It starts with the research process, moves on to branding and style, and then takes us through the different screens, explaining what each one offers.

This case study illustrates the value of thinking outside the box. Breaking away from the conventional design style of financial products makes it a stand-out case study.

9. Swiftwash Laundry

If you’re looking for a case study that prioritizes aesthetics and visual appeal, you should check this one out:

This case study by Orbix Studio gives us a peek into how they created Swiftwash, a laundry service app. It takes us through the steps involved in creating an intuitive, user-friendly, and visually appealing interface.

If there’s one thing to take away from this case study, it’s the value of presenting information in a straightforward manner. Besides being easy on the eye, this case study is also easy to digest. The creators lay out the problem and detail the steps taken to achieve a solution, in an easy-to-follow way, while maintaining a high visual appeal.

10. Wayfaro trip planner

If you’re looking for a concise case study with clean visuals, you should definitely check this one out:

This Behance case study takes us through the design of Wayfaro, a trip planner app that allows users to plan their itineraries for upcoming journeys. The creators dive straight into the visual design process, showing us aspects such as branding and user flow, and explaining the various features on each screen.

This case study shows us the power of an attractive presentation. Not only is the mobile app design visually appealing, but the design process is presented in a sleek and stylish manner.

App redesign

These case studies delve into the redesign of existing apps, offering valuable insights into presentation techniques and problem-solving approaches.

11. New York Times app redesign

If you’re looking for an app redesign case study that’s impactful yet concise, this one is for you:

This study details the creation of “Timely,” a design feature to address issues with the NYT app such as irrelevant content, low usage, and undesirable coverage. It takes us through the process of identifying the problem, understanding audience needs, creating wireframes, and prototyping.

This case study shows us that you don’t always need to overhaul the existing app when redesigning. It suggests a solution that fits into the current information setup, adding custom graphics to the mobile app. Starting with a simple problem statement, it proposes a solution to address the app’s issues without changing what customers already enjoy.

12. Disney+ app redesign

If you’re looking for an engaging case study that’s light on information, you should check out this one:

This case study by Andre Carioca dives right into giving the user interface a little facelift to make it more fun and engaging. By employing compelling storytelling and appealing visuals, the creator crafts a narrative that’s a delight to read.

Given how popular this case study is on Behance, you can tell that the designer did something right. It shows how injecting a little playfulness can elevate your case study and make it more delightful.

13. Fitbit redesign

If you want an in-depth case study that doesn’t bore you to sleep, this one is for you:

This case study by Stacey Wang takes us through the process of redesigning Fitbit, a wearable fitness tracker. The creator starts by understanding personas and what users expect from a fitness tracker.

Next was the development of use cases and personas. Through a series of guerrilla tests, they were able to identify user pain points. The redesign was centered around addressing these pain points.

This case study highlights the importance of clear organization and strong visual communication. The creator goes in-depth into the intricacies of redesigning the Fitbit app, highlighting every step, without boring the readers.

14. Ryanair app redesign

If you’re bored of the usual static case studies and need something more interactive, this app redesign is what you’re looking for:

This case study takes us through the process of giving the Ryanair app a fresh look. Besides the clean aesthetics and straightforward presentation, the incorporation of playful language and interactive elements makes this case study captivating.

This case study shows how adding a bit of interactivity to your presentation can elevate your work.

15. Forbes app redesign

This case study starts by explaining why the redesign was needed and dives deep into analyzing the current app. The creator then takes us through the research and ideation phases and shares their proposed solution. After testing the solution, they made iterations based on the results.

When it comes to redesigning an existing product, it’s a good idea to make a strong case for why the redesign was needed in the first place.

UX research

These case studies are centered around UX research, highlighting key research insights to enhance your design process.

16. Enhancing virtual teaching with Google Meet

This case study by Amanda Rosenburg, Head of User Experience Research, Google Classroom shows us how listening to user feedback can help make our products more useful and inclusive to users.

To improve the virtual teaching experience on Google Meet, the team spent a lot of time getting feedback from teachers. They then incorporated this feedback into the product design, resulting in new functionality like attendance taking, hand raising, waiting rooms, and polls. Not only did these new features improve the user experience for teachers and students, but they also created a better user experience for all Google Meet users.

When there isn’t room for extensive user research and you need to make quick improvements to the user experience, it’s best to go straight to your users for feedback.

17. Airbnb’s global check-in tool

This case study by Vibha Bamba, Design Lead on Airbnb’s Host Success team, shows us how observing user behaviors inspired the creation of a global check-in tool:

By observing interactions between guests and hosts, the Airbnb team discovered a design opportunity. This led to the creation of visual check-in guides for Airbnb guests, which they can access both offline and online.

There’s a lot to be learned from observing user behavior. Don’t limit yourself to insights obtained from periodic research. Instead, observe how people interact with your product in their daily lives. The insights obtained from such observations can help unlock ingenious design opportunities.

18. Spotify Home Shortcuts

This case study by Nhi Ngo, a Senior User Researcher at Spotify shows us the importance of a human perspective in a data-driven world:

When the Spotify team set out to develop and launch the ML-powered Shortcuts feature on the home tab, they hit a brick wall with the naming. A/B tests came back inconclusive. In the end, they had to go with the product designer’s suggestion of giving the feature a name that would create a more human and personal experience for users.

This led to the creation of a humanistic product feature that evoked joy in Spotify’s users and led to the incorporation of more time-based features in the model, making the content more time-sensitive for users.

Although data-driven research is powerful, it doesn’t hold all the answers. So in your quest to uncover answers through research, never lose sight of the all-important human perspective.

Artificial intelligence

The following case studies are centered around the design of AI-powered products.

19. AI-powered spatial banking for Apple Vision Pro

If you want to be wowed by a futuristic case study that merges artificial intelligence with spatial banking, you should check this out:

In this revolutionary case study, UXDA designers offer a sneak peek into the future with a banking experience powered by AI. They unveil their vision of AI-powered spatial banking on the visionOS platform, showcasing its features and their AI use cases.

This case study shows us the importance of pushing boundaries to create innovative experiences that cater to user needs and preferences.

20. Sage Express

If what you need is an AI case study that isn’t information-dense, this one is for you:

This case study by Arounda takes us through the design of Sage Express, an AI-powered data discovery tool that automatically extracts patterns, tendencies, and insights from data. It outlines the challenge, proposes a solution, and details the journey of bringing the proposed solution to life. But it doesn’t stop there: it also shows the actual results of the design using tangible metrics.

This case study underscores the importance of showing your outcomes in tangible form. You’ve worked hard on a project, but what were the actual results?

If you’re looking for a clean and well-structured AI case study, this will be helpful:

This case study takes us through the process of creating Delfi, an AI-driven banking financial report system. It details the entire design process from onboarding to prototype creation.

If there’s one thing to learn from this case study, it’s how a well-structured presentation can simplify complex information. Although the case study is heavy on financial data, the organized layout not only enhances visual appeal but also aids comprehension.

This article has shown you 21 powerful case study examples across various niches, each providing valuable insights into the design process. These case studies demonstrate the importance of showcasing the design journey, not just the final polished product.

When creating your own case study, remember to walk your users through the design process, the challenges you faced, and your solutions. This gives potential recruiters and clients a glimpse of your creativity and problem-solving skills.

And finally, don’t forget to add that human touch. Let your personality shine through and don’t be afraid to inject a little playfulness and storytelling where appropriate. By doing so, you can craft a case study that leaves a lasting impression on your audience.

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Home - UX Portfolio - Tips on presenting your UX case study

Tips on presenting your UX case study

Imagine this. You’ve made it through the first job interview. You’re now asked for a second round interview to show your work. But how? And what do you need to keep in mind? Here’s how to present a UX case study during a job interview.

• Updated on November 17, 2022

This article will teach you how to present your UX case study during a job interview. If you follow along, you’ll increase your chances of getting invited to the next round. We’ll talk about the basics, such as attending the meeting on time, and more advanced tactics, like how you structure your presentation.

I’ve based the following tips on presenting my UX portfolio to multiple potential clients for years and the UX mentorships I’ve hosted for aspiring designers. In other words, these tips are based on real-world experience.

Table of Contents

How to present a ux case study.

The most important aspect of giving an excellent UX case study presentation is showing that you can solve a business challenge.

Even though your main goal is to be there for the user, you can’t forget that you’re hired by a business to help that business make money. If you only talk about users and forget to mention how you can help your potential employer grow a business, you’re likely to miss out.

Then there are also some basic job interview rules to consider. Let’s discuss those basics first.

Presentation basics

These basics are essential. People expect you to follow them. Because of that, doing so will not get you any bonus points. However, failing to follow the basics will leave a bad taste during your interview. Make sure you can check the following basics off of your list.

• Arrive on time.
• Stable internet connection (remote only).
• Position yourself in the middle of your frame (remote only).
• Make sure you’re able to focus without disturbance (remote only).
• Make sure your camera and mic are working correctly (remote only).

Pick your case study

At some point during the interview, the interviewer will ask you to present your work. This means you can choose which of your case studies to pick. And that’s a good thing.

In my experience, there’s always a case study you prefer over your other case studies. Creating that particular UX case study has been easier, or the project has been more fun than your other projects.

So make sure you’re ready to pick one of your case studies on the spot if asked to. Pick the one you’re most comfortable with.

Start with a case study summary

Once you’re asked to present your UX portfolio, it makes sense to start explaining everything you’ve done. Try and stay away from doing that. 

You’ll lose the attention of your crowd and put yourself in a position to receive challenging questions you can’t answer. Instead, give a summary first. Here’s what to include.

• The business challenge, what you were asked to do, and your role.
• What your main deliverable was. 
• The results of your project and deliverable.

Here’s an example of what your UX case study summary might look like.

As a product designer at my local recruitment firm, I’ve worked on redesigning the sign-up flow for job candidates. As a result, the recruitment firm has seen more applicants successfully go through the sign-up flow.

This is a very short summary. And by doing so, you give those listening to your presentation the opportunity to ask questions. Because you keep a lot of information to yourself, chances are you get questions about that information. You can answer these questions with ease.

If you had presented every detail of your case study, you’re more likely to get questions you can’t answer.

Answering case study questions

After presenting your UX case study summary, it is time to answer questions. As I said, you leave room for questions on purpose to have more control over the type of questions you get.

My main advice here is to be honest when you don’t have an answer to one of the questions. I’ve seen many designers desperately try to answer every question they get. However, the people listening to your presentation will notice this.

Instead, be honest when you’re not sure. Let your audience know you’re willing to learn or return the question by asking what they think or what the company expects you to do.

That way, you show you know what you can improve and that you’re willing to have a good talk about it. That’s way more valuable than being someone that pretends to know everything.

Frequently asked questions

With the above structure, presenting your UX case study during a job interview should go much better. However, there are still some questions to be answered. I’ve collected several in the list below.

How long should a UX case study presentation be?

The length of your case study presentation depends on the structure of the interview. In almost all cases, that’s up to the hiring company. It is common for an interview to take between 30 and 60 minutes.

However, your UX case study presentation can be shorter than that. Those 30 or 60 minutes include the introduction, asking questions, and discussing the next steps as well. That leaves between 5 to 15 minutes for the actual case study presentation.

How many slides are in a UX case study presentation?

The number of slides in your UX case study can vary between 5 and 15. Less than that would mean that you don’t include the basics like the cover page, challenge, things you’ve done during the project, and your results.

However, when you go over 15 slides, you risk losing your audience’s attention. Be strict in the number of slides you include!

What should a UX presentation include?

Your presentation should include at least the main building blocks of your project. These include the business problem you’re solving, what the client has asked you to do, what you actually did, and the impact of your work.

Try making it very visual with mockups, photos of you working on the project, and a user testimonial from your tests. Before and after images also help you tell a better story.

Case studies are what make up most of your UX portfolio. Therefore, being able to present them is a crucial skill you need to have when you want to get hired in UX .

These crucial steps will increase your chances of making it to the next round.

• Get the basics right. Make sure you’re on time, in a place where you can focus, and with a stable internet connection.
• Start with a summary of your case study to leave room for questions you can answer.
• Accept the fact that you can’t answer everything. It is better to acknowledge that than to try and desperately answer every question you get.

Do you have feedback on this article? Missing something? Or just a question? Reach out to me and I’ll get back to you!

About the author

Hi! I'm Nick Groeneveld , a senior designer from the Netherlands with experience in UX, visual design, and research. I'm a UX coach that supports other designers and have completed design projects in finance, tech, and the public sector.

Through The Designer's Toolbox, I'm an Educational Partner for Interaction Design Foundation.

☎️ Book a 1:1 mentor meeting with me or let's connect on LinkedIn , Twitter and Medium .

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Pioneers in digital education

KnowHouse is Norway’s leading online education company offering practical courses in digital marketing, website development and communication to working professionals. 

Jakob Thyness and Nina Furu, Founders and CEO, KnowHouse

Founded by the entrepreneurial couple Nina Furu and Jakob Thyness in 2006, Knowhouse emerged from their passion for everything internet and their commitment to helping digital professionals excel in their jobs.

Nina and Jak ob also have a strong background in organising events and conferences for the digital community. With events like Web Forum, one of Norway’s largest gatherings in the digital sphere, and the highly successful AI conference, AI-con 2024, KnowHouse continues to push boundaries and shape the discourse around emerging technologies.

Their commitment to innovation and knack for identifying market trends prompted them to partner with the UX Design Institute, a global leader in UX education and certification. Continuing their pioneering streak in the market with this partnership, Jakob remarks,

We now champion UX education in the Norwegian market.

An opportunity to expand KnowHouse’s digital programme portfolio and the market

Small and medium enterprises dominate the digital landscape in Norway, with a scattering of larger companies. While these firms recognise the importance of offering an excellent user experience, they often struggle with initiating employee training. Traditional university education isn’t always tailored for working professionals, making it impractical.

Nina and Jakob recognised this gap, both in the market and within their programme portfolio. This realisation led to KnowHouse identifying the potential for collaboration with the UX Design Institute in November 2022. Jakob says,

We swiftly recognised the market opportunity and saw UX Design Institute as a credible partner we wanted to collaborate with.

He adds, “In addition to addressing market demand, broadening our programme portfolio with UX courses was a key motivation. It filled a gap in our offerings and resonated with my passion for user experience.” The partnership began by offering UX Design Institute’s two most popular professional courses: a diploma in UX design and a certificate in UI design.

Nina explains, “Offering professional courses in UX and UI aligns with our brand’s focus on practical skills. Employers often sponsor their employees to attend our courses during work hours. We are all about empowering them to excel in their roles.”  

UX Design Institute’s courses, crafted by professionals with input from industry experts, provide practical training highly valued by employers. Students gain real-world experience and mentorship, building professional portfolios to showcase their UX skills effectively.

While considering potential partners, the KnowHouse founders evaluated several companies, including the prestigious Nielsen Norman Group. Jakob, certified by them, acknowledges their excellence. However, Nina highlights, 

UX Design Institute’s stellar reputation and position at the forefront of the UX education industry appealed to us.

A responsive and flexible partnership

The UX Design Institute ensured that the partner onboarding was swift and systematic. 

KnowHouse already had a course-selling platform and a promotional website. Nina highlights the simplicity, stating, “It was straightforward—setting up landing pages and devising a launch marketing plan.” She describes the onboarding as seamless and convenient.

John Doran, Head of Partnerships, UX Design Institute

Under the leadership of John Doran, Head of Partnerships, the UX Design Institute team demonstrated a deep understanding of KnowHouse’s expectations, leading to a long-term, responsive, and supportive partnership.

Nina commends the team for their excellent responsiveness and efficiency in providing course-related information and student progress feedback, stating, “It’s been a pleasure working with them.”

KnowHouse values the UX Design Institute for its efficiency and for maintaining partner brand integrity. The partnership offers easy access to customised resources, eg. a special Slack channel for KnowHouse students, promotional material, regular consultation via a partner success manager, and tailored sales and marketing support.

John has always been prompt, involving other team members as needed. We’ve built a strong working relationship with the extended team. Overall, it’s been smooth sailing,

agrees Jakob. They both appreciate UX Design Institute’s focus on meeting their students’ training needs and ensuring course quality.

All of UX Design Institute’s courses are university credit-rated by Glasgow Caledonian University and validated by UX experts to ensure the highest standards. The courses have gained top global ratings, receiving a 4.9-star rating on Google, a 97% Customer Satisfaction Score, and a Net Promoter Score of 70.

More business growth and a brighter future: ‘Lønnsomt’ it is!

The partnership between KnowHouse and the UX Design Institute is succinctly captured in a single Norwegian word, ‘lønnsomt,’ meaning profitable.

Nina highlights the fact that the UX and UI courses offered as part of the partnership have emerged as top revenue generators for KnowHouse.

Jakob adds, “Moreover, this programme stands out in our portfolio for its comprehensiveness, reflecting its value and relevance to our students’ needs.”

He emphasises the core of the partnership as the two companies work together to provide world-class UX education in Norway,

The content quality, collaborative spirit, and the valuable portfolio expansion are standout aspects.

The partnership’s success has Nina optimistic about the future: “We aim to broaden our course offerings through this collaboration, introducing specialised programmes as the market evolves. We look forward to incorporating UX Design Institute’s professional certificates in user research and content design in the coming months.”

It’s great to see KnowHouse’s trust in UX Design’s products and support as the partnership enters its next phase of UX offerings. Jakob affirms,

We’re excited about this collaboration’s potential for growth and innovation. UX Design Institute’s responsiveness and product quality inspire confidence in exploring new ventures.

There’s nothing more motivating than a vote of confidence from our partners. UX Design Institute is thrilled to deepen and expand this partnership further.

You can learn more about KnowHouse by visiting their website: https://knowhouse.no/

Please visit UX Design Institute’s partner hub to learn more about our partner network and how to partner with us .

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