As a UX designer, case studies are the entry way to a new job. A good case study should showcase your best work, communicate your design process and highlight your ability to solve problems.

Often times when I get asked to review another designer’s case study, I notice some common mistakes that are hindering designers from getting interviews.

1. It’s a 5-page essay

I used to think that a case study should be extremely detailed, outlining every step of my design process. But recruiters simply don’t have the time to read an essay when there are dozens or even hundreds of other portfolios they need to comb through.

A recruiter might have a few minutes to look through your portfolio and skim your case studies to decide whether or not to reach out to you for an interview.

Thus, keep your case studies short, simple and specific. You don’t need to talk about every step that you took. Just focus on the highlights of the project and the challenges you faced.

Questions to ask yourself

I like to answer these questions in my case studies.

• How much context do you need to provide?
• What were the constraints? How did you work within these constraints?
• What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome these obstacles?
• How did the solution provide your users value?
• How did the solution measure up against success metrics?

Being able to showcase the highlights and challenges of your projects without writing out every decision can communicate that you know what you’re doing without wasting anyone’s time.

Also, include headings for each section of your case study to make it easy to scan.

2. It follows a template

I often see case studies that follow the exact same design thinking process. More specifically, it’s usually the five-stage design thinking model from the d.school:

1. Empathize: research your users’ needs.
2. Define: state your users’ needs and problems.
3. Ideate: challenge assumptions and create ideas.
4. Prototype: start to create solutions.
5. Test: try your solutions out.

This design thinking process is taught in most beginner design courses, but some designers fail to understand that design thinking is iterative and non-linear.

You should tailor your design process to the specific project. Perhaps a prototype sparked a new idea which led you back to the ideate phase. Or user testing revealed insights that redefined the problem.

Every project is unique in its own way. Don’t apply a cookie-cutter template to your case studies.

3. It lacks visuals

As much as some UX designers don’t want to associate themselves as UI or visual designers, simply having beautiful mockups in your case study can catch attention from recruiters.

Yes, as a UX designer, you want to focus on communicating your design process, but you shouldn’t neglect visual design from your case studies.

The fact is, people tend to associate looks with usability, even if there isn’t a correlation. This is also known as the Aesthetic-Usability Effect.

Nowadays, companies are looking for well-rounded designers, regardless of your main discipline. Even if you identify as a UX designer, having stellar visual design skills can make you stand out from the rest.

Visuals can also help break up large blocks of text. If your case study is text-heavy, include some mockups, diagrams or photographs to spice things up.

By incorporating delightful UI design and other visuals with your UX case studies, your portfolio should do well in getting you to the interview stage.

A good example of balancing visuals with text in their case studies is Shubham Gandhi’s portfolio.

4. It doesn’t incorporate storytelling

Another mistake I see designers make with their case studies is focusing on what they did without tying it back to the user.

As a designer, storytelling can be a very powerful communication tool. It allows you to engage your audience and help build empathy with your user.

Frame the story from the user’s perspective and talk about the current problems that they’re facing. Incorporate what you did into the story but explain how it relates to the user, such as understanding their emotions or helping them achieve their goals.

By telling a story in your case study, your final solution will be much easier to understand as it should be clear what value the solution provides to the user.

5. It doesn’t communicate impact

Not only should your case studies communicate the user value of the solution, hiring managers also want to see how your designs performed in real life.

Often, designers don’t measure their work against success metrics. What better way to prove that your solution actually improved users’ experiences by testing your designs?

For smaller projects, you can simply ask your users for feedback or observe them using your product. Simply gathering qualitative or quantitative feedback on your designs can help you communicate the impact it had on your users.

For larger projects, you could conduct deeper usability studies using frameworks such as Google’s HEART or the System Usability Scale (SUS). These frameworks can help you understand key performance metrics relating to usability, learnability, user engagement, task success and more.

By measuring your designs against performance metrics, you can build a better case as to why your design solution was a success. The more evidence you can provide as to the user and business value that you created, the better chance of your case study getting you your next UX interview.

What if your project wasn’t successful?

On the other hand, not all projects will turn out the way we want them to. Sometimes, we don’t achieve the goals that we set at the beginning of the project.

Nevertheless, it’s good to talk about what you learned from the process and what you could have done differently. This demonstrates to recruiters your openness to receiving and applying feedback, which is an essential trait for all designers to have.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from our failures. The willingness to acknowledge failure plays an important role in a person’s success.

Thanks for reading!

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