how to make a case study ux

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

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 a UX Case Study: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide

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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7 Steps to Creating a Spectacular UX Case Study

UX Design Paula Borowska • March 11, 2020 • 7 minutes READ

In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through how to create an impactful UX case study. It’s perfect advice for designers who are about to embark on a new job hunt. And, it’s going to be especially helpful for junior designers who are new to creating case studies.

Included are seven steps:

• Problem and the goal
• Target audience
• Deliverables and the outcome
• Lessons learned

Each is going to help you identify how to tell the story of past projects  effectively. Once you’ve completed all seven, you will have an excellent case study!

• Include visuals and documentation along the way, not just in the final deliverable sections to tell your stories better.
• Respect the NDAs you’ve signed as you’re generating the case study.
• Don’t forget to treat the case study and the job application process like any other UX design challenge.

Step 1: Case Study Overview

Two major components make up the case study overview. The first is a summary of the project. Keep it around three or four sentences. It might be helpful to wait until you finish writing the entire case study to summarize what you just wrote.

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The second major component is your role within this project. What services did you provide? What responsibilities did you have? Give potential employers a better picture of your involvement in the projects. Otherwise, they will have to assume, and that’s not good.

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Case study overview in practice

Lucy Qi’s Print It Digital case study offers a detailed overview of the project in addition to identifying her role, the client’s name, and the project timeline.

Step 2: Define the Problem and Goal

Articulating the problem well will help in telling the story of the case study. State the problem concisely.

Next, identify the project’s goal. What did the project aim to achieve? Be as detailed as you can. For example, was it to:

• Gain 10,000 new email subscribers?
• Increase user retention by 10%?
• Improve MoM revenue by 30%?
• Decrease withdrawals by 50%?
• Advance over NPS scores in the next six months?

Defining the problem and goals in practice

France Sung’s Zillow case study  succinctly identified the problem.

Then there is Gabrianna Dumaguin, who identifies two major goals for the project and how her team plans on measuring them in her  Yelp case study .

Step 3: Scope

Stating the project’s scope helps in comprehending the case study further. Say, the overall project scope was large, and you only played a small role in the project; that’s perfectly fine. In this case, identify your scope of the whole project. To further distinguish the project’s boundaries, state anything that was  outside of the project’s scope .

If applicable, you use this section as an opportunity to show your project management skills. Talk about how you handled staying on budget, staying on time, or scope creep for this project.

The project scope in practice

Focus Lab’s BlueWave case study  shows off bullet lists of exactly the services the company provided for their client.

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Step 4: Target Audience

When it comes to identifying the target audience within your case study, start by answering the following questions:

• Who are they?
• How does the problem affect them?
• What key insights do you have about them?

There might be a lot of information to cover to give someone an overview of the target audience. That’s fine. Be concise.

You can treat the audience section in one of two ways. Share everything you know about them upfront, including what you knew going on versus what you learned along the way. Or, you can address what you learned within your process section. It’s up to you where you define this information as long as you do. After all, discovering and handling new information is a big part of being a UX designer.

For added insight into your design process, mention what questions you needed to investigate regarding the audience to solve the problem. Mention the details about user research or user testing in the design process section in the fifth step.

The target audience in practice

Emily Yeh’s BlueStack TV case study  has an extensive break down of the target audience, including a persona, list of main use cases, and a feature list.

On the other hand, Vax Liu’s Battery Saver case study identifies common user pain points addressed by the project.

Step 5: Process

Now, we’ve gotten to the meat and potatoes portion of the case study!

Here is where you will identify the different steps you took in the project, why you did them, and the value of those actions’ outcomes to the project. Show off those  fantastic UX skills ! The goal is to share your specific approach and contributions. Additionally, share some of the decisions you’ve made, trade-offs, or ideas that didn’t make the cut.

Each project is different, of course. Describe the process you took as best as you can. Some of the things you can include are:

• User research
• User journey mapping
• User testing
• Accessibility testing

Let’s take wireframes, for example. Explain  why you choose to wireframe , how you went about wireframing and what value did it add to the project. How did user research findings influence the wireframes? What was the take away from the wireframes? This is the time to share how you work , how you think, and how you make decisions.

The process section is a great place to mention any collaborations you may have done as well. Showing you can collaborate with other teams is important for many hiring managers. Maybe someone else was responsible for user research? How did the two of you collaborate on it? Perhaps you have to work with a copywriter? Again, how did you collaborate? How did you handle the handoff to developers or cross-browser QA testing with the dev team?

The UX process in practice

Hiroo Aoyama gives an in-depth walkthrough on conducting research, ideation, and making design decisions in his  Wish case study .

Yi Tang’s Play-Later case study  does the same thing in explaining different processes, including user journey, user flows, and wireframes.

• Wireframing, Prototyping, Mockuping – What’s the Difference?

Make These Changes to Meet Web Design Accessibility Standards

• A Beginner’s Guide to Voice UX Prototyping

Step 6: Deliverables and Outcome

Now, we’re wrapping up the case study. Do so by showing off a final deliverable. If it’s a new mobile app, provide some screenshots or recordings. You can go a step further and include a bullet list of additional assets or documents you created too. A voice and tone style guides would be one such example.

Most notably, identify whether or not you hit your desired goal and how did you  measure success for the project . Basically, show what you’ve made and tell us  the effect it had on the business .

• Did you hit, miss, or surpass the goal set?
• What outcome did this project have?
• Can you share other business results?
• Did you decrease withdrawal rates by 15% or customer service complaints by 30%?
• Did your landing page get fantastic conversion rates?
• Did you improve the lifetime value of customers or the NPS scores?

Deliverables and outcomes in practice

Helen W. Bentley, in her  Le Tote case study , proudly exclaims that her work “saw a 61% increase in conversion.”

It doesn’t get much better than the detailed results Morgan Gore shares in her Educents case study!

• 5 UX KPIs You Need To Track
• The Design Side Of Conversion Rate Optimization
• How to Improve Customer Loyalty through User Experience

Step 7: Lessons Learned

Tell potential employers what this project taught you. If something went wrong or not according to plan, explain how you handled it.

• What insights have you gathered along the way?
• Especially knowing what you do now, what would you change?
• Did you learn a new method or practice?
• Maybe you figured out a better way to conduct user testing,  communicate with project managers ?
• How did you handle scope creep or miscommunication between teams?

Share how you are better at your job because of this project.

Lessons learned in practice

At the end of her Box case study, Vandana Pai shares her four takeaways from working on this project.

Bonus step 8: Visually Design the Case Study

So far, I’ve helped you figure out how to explain the project you’ve worked on and what information to convey. Now, it’s time to put it together in a lovely design. Below are examples of visually captivating case studies to get your inspiration going.

• Moment Brew
• Eleven James
• Space Design System

When putting together a UX case study, you’re telling a story about your work to potential employers. If you follow these steps, you’re going to showcase your UX design skills in a fantastic light. A well-written case study is a compelling case study. You’re bound to be hired in no time with a handful of these case studies.

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Paula Borowska

Paula Borowska is an innovative and insightful Senior UX Designer at CVS Health, known for her relentless pursuit of designing the best user experiences. As an expert in design systems, user testing, accessibility, and cross-team collaboration, Paula is dedicated to enhancing digital experiences for all users.

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The Ultimate UX Case Study Template

Having a template to follow is the biggest help in UX case study writing. Even more so, if you’re a junior who doesn’t have much experience with portfolios. A template can help you plan, organize your thoughts while showing you the light at the end of the tunnel.

The UXfolio team reads hundreds of case studies every month. What we’ve found is that successful UX case studies have a similar structure. In this article, we’ve distilled this formula into a flexible UX case study template and some practical tips that you can use to polish your case studies!

About UX case studies in general:

Before you get to work, we need to clarify a few important details. Doing so will help you understand the expectations and the purpose of UX case studies:

What are UX case studies?

UX case studies are a form of professional content that mixes text and visuals to present the design process of products or product features. They make up UX portfolios, alongside optional pages such as ‘About Me’ or ‘Contact’.

How are they different from UX portfolios?

UX portfolios are made of UX case studies. Think of your portfolio as a folder that holds together your case studies. Back in the day, these used to be printed, book-like documents. Nowadays the industry prefers websites and other digital formats .

How are they different from resumés?

Your resumé lists your skills and work experience. Meanwhile, your portfolio uses case studies to showcase how you apply those skills and experience . Ultimately, you’ll need both to land a job.

How many case studies should be in a portfolio?

If you’re a junior UX designer , you should include 2-3 case studies in your portfolio. These could describe UX bootcamp assignments, re-design concepts, UX challenges , internship projects , or even fictional products. If you’re a medior or senior UX designer, write up 4-5 of your most impressive projects into case studies. Your goal should be to feature as many of your skills as possible. And remember: quality over quantity.

What to feature in your UX case studies?

Since your career depends on your UX portfolio, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with putting one together. Usually, it’s this pressure that numbs designers and leads to procrastination. But just setting straight what lays ahead will help ease your mind:

The story of your design

Design decisions, visuals with explanations.

This might sound very esoteric, but it’s really not. For every design, there was at least one problem that required a solution. You were the person who explored the problem and found the solution/solutions. There might have been moments when the whole thing went off-rails, or when you needed to go back to the drawing board. Those are all part of your design story.

Now, imagine that a friend, peer, or colleague asks you about a project. How would you talk about it? That’s almost exactly what you should put in your case studies. Just polish it a bit, leave out the curse words, add visuals and you have a case study.

Throughout the design process, you keep making decisions. Choosing a UX method to apply is a decision too, and there’s a reason why you chose it. Your UX case studies need to highlight these decisions and their contribution to the design.

The biggest mistake in UX case studie s is when UXers go on defining instead of explaining:

• Definition ➡️ “I proceeded to do an in-depth competitive analysis to find out more about competing apps in the same category.”
• Explanation ➡️ “I proceeded to do an in-depth competitive analysis to make a list of features that were missing from our products, check out how others solved the XY flow, and find out how could we improve on it in our solution.”

Then you’ll move on to explain what you’ve found and as your case study progresses, you reference those findings.

You need to be heavy-handed with your visuals when you’re creating UX case studies. Using images alongside your text will help your readers’ comprehension. So, as a first step, collect everything you can: photos, sketches, whiteboard grabs, graphs, personas, screenshots, wireframes, user flows, prototypes, mood boards, notes, and so on.

We’ve seen some creative UXers use screenshots of calls (with blurred-out faces), group photos, and prototypes of all fidelity. Such visuals help us understand what we’re reading about. But they also build an image in our heads of the designer behind the screen, which can be very powerful and memorable.

Some designers are already in the habit of keeping every scrap of paper with a scribble on it because they know that when it comes to writing a case study, you can’t have enough visuals. Follow their example to make your easier – your future self will thank you.

But it’s not enough to just throw some images into a case study. Here’s how you can make them impactful:

• Always give context ➡️ if you put that stunning photo of the wall with post-its into your case study, make sure that you place it in a section where you explain what’s happening on it (see design decisions) or give it a caption that explains it. The important thing is that visuals will only work if they are strategically placed or they come with an explanation.
• Strive for visual consistency ➡️ even if it requires some extra work, you should make sure that your visuals match each other. Yes, a persona and the user flow might not be close to each other on your layout, but they’re still in the same document so they need to have consistent styling. Believe me, this is a common criticism from design leads and HR folk as well.

How long should be a case study?

If you check a site like Behance, you’ll find that most UX projects there are rather short. Usually, they focus on the visual aspects of design, aka UI. That is a fantastic starting point for a case study. But for UX design, you will need to add some content for context.

The good news is that you don’t need to write essays for case studies. All it takes is around 500 words and some well-optimized visuals. You should never stretch your words because it’ll reflect poorly on your presentation skills. 

Also, treat this number with flexibility: If the project at hand justifies it, feel free to go above or below that. Usually, when a case study is very long, it’s because the project itself was more complicated.

What’s the point of UX case studies?

1. applied designer skills.

It’s one thing to learn a skill and it’s another to use it in a way that can help drive numbers for a business. A great UX case study will prove that you are capable of applying your skills and delivering a solution even with all the distractions and obstacles that come with real-life scenarios.

2. Presentation skills

Many UXers forget about the skills that are required beyond UX. Just read a few UX designer job descriptions , and you’ll find that advocating for design best practices is one of the most common requirements.

As a designer, you’ll have many stakeholder meetings and you’ll need to present your or your team’s ideas. And the fate of those ideas might depend on the way they’re presented. Therefore, the way you articulate your thoughts is important. A great UX case study will show that you are great at structuring your thoughts and articulating complex concepts.

3. The impact of your design

You can see in our UX case study template that there’s a separate section for showcasing your impact. If you can prove that your design can drive numbers, you’re set. This is the single most powerful tool that you can use in a case study: before-and-after analytics, such as an increase in checkouts, increase in finished flows, better CTRs, user feedback, etc. Use whatever number you have to show that your design contributed to the business. It’ll convince even the UX-doubters.

Obviously, as an aspiring/junior designer , this might be impossible, so you need to be a bit more creative. We advise you to show what impact the project had on you: what you’ve learned and how you’ve improved as a designer.

4. Navigating in a team

Almost every product is a collaborative effort between professionals from various disciplines: researchers, designers, developers, marketers, etc. Therefore, navigating in a collaborative environment is an important trait. A case study should show how the team influenced the design, how you’ve collaborated with other designers, the sacrifices that had to be made, and so on.

You don’t need an elaborate plan for this. First and foremost, make sure that you introduce the team in your case study. Second, ask for quotes/recommendations and include them in a neat quotes section. Yes, tooting your own horn can be a bit uncomfortable, but unfortunately, it’s part of the game.

5. Showcase of your taste

Yes, it’s UX, but the reality is that most people don’t care: if what you present doesn’t appeal to them, it’s unlikely that you’ll get the job. Make sure that your UX case studies are visually consistent. If you want to cast a wider net, strive for sleek, minimalist solutions and harmonizing colors.

A simple yet effective UX case study template

This is a tried-and-true UX case study template that can provide a structure to your thoughts. There are 6 chapters that are standard for almost any UX case study. However, the content of these chapters is highly dependent on the project you’re writing about. But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that we’ll leave you on your own: for each chapter, we’ll give you various options and ideas to help you get going.

UX case study template/skeleton:

• Hero section
• Project overview
• Exploration/Discovery
• UX design process
• Final design

1. Hero section

All case studies should begin with a title & subtitle. You can use various formulas for your title, but we’ve found that this is the one that works the best:

• App name + project scope + project/case study = Netflix Checkout Redesign Project

Your subtitle can provide a glimpse into the project, for which you have various options:

• What’s the product about? (An app that helps you keep your plants alive.)
• What was the project about? (6-week UX design and research project)

If you want to include something visual in your hero section go hard or go home: use spoilers, aka show screens of the final design. You don’t have to fit everything there, just the parts you’re most proud of as an appetizer. Later in the case study, you’ll have enough space to showcase everything you’ve worked on.

• 2 sentences (titles), and
• 1 optional cover image.

2. Project overview

Make sure that your readers are prepared for what’s to come. Remember: they know nothing about this project, so you need to cover the bases:

• Product description,
• Team members,
• Project length,
• Methods used, and
• 3-4 sentences for the overview, and
• 4-5 bulletpoints for the small details.

3. Exploration/discovery

Now that we have all the background information, we can move on to how you’ve approached the issue you were presented with. This part usually includes:

• Competitive analysis,
• Interviews, and

Make sure that for everything you mention you answer at least these three questions:

• Why did you choose to do it?
• What did you find out?
• How did that influence your next move?

You can end this chapter with a wrap-up to create a smooth transition to the next chapter.

• At least 3-4 sentences for each method you’ve used,
• Visualize as much information as you can.

4. UX design process

Now that we understand the scope of the project, we’re eager to see how you went on to design a solution. You can achieve a great structure here if you start from more abstract ideas and move towards the final design:

• Wireframes,
• Prototypes,
• Iteration, and
• Validation.

Again, you need to answer a few questions for every step you made:

• What did you want to achieve by doing this?
• How did this step contribute to the final design?
• At least 3-5 sentences for every method you mention.

5. Final design

Probably the most exciting part of every UX case study is the reveal of the final design. In this section, you should explain

• Why did you choose this solution?
• What other solutions were in the run?
• Before-and-after screenshots (if relevant to the project).

There are two great options to present your final designs. The first is to use galleries. You can go with a nice carousel or a grid that follows a logical order. The second is to embed your Figma prototype. This has the added benefit of making your case study interactive, which makes for a more memorable experience. (Or you can combine the two for an even better showing.)

• 2-3 short paragraphs.

If you have numbers or analytics that show how your design contributed to business goals, you need to showcase them. This will make your case study even more impactful. You don’t need graphs and piecharts (unless you have the time to create some); it’s enough to make a list with the quantifiable data. If you don’t have access to such data , you can also include testimonials and user quotes to underline impact. If you can include both, that’s a winning combination.

• At least 1 sentence for each achievement.
• In a bulleted list or short paragraph.

6. Learnings

There’s something to learn even from the most boring project you’ve ever done. At least, you should strive to find something positive that can contribute to your growth as a designer. This can be a soft skill, a new tool, a new method, or a different way of cooperation. Try to think of things that were new to you in this project and share the takeaways with your readers. Alternative closures include:

• What would I do differently?
• Jobs to be done
• This chapter can be as long as you please, but
• At least 3-4 sentences.

Alternate UX case study templates

We’ve provided a classic UX case study template that has been proven to be working. Now, we’ll show you how you can alter this template for different flows:

UI focused case study template

If you’re strong in UI, you should not wait to reveal your final design until the end of your case study. You needn’t worry about spoiling the surprise as a case study is not a fiction novel or Netflix show. A beautiful design will pull in your readers. What’s more, if the company doesn’t really know the difference between UI and UX, this approach will make your case study even more impactful as it’ll start with the ‘beautiful stuff’.

Here’s how that template would go:

• Project Overview
• Transition to the next section by letting your reader know that you’ll explain how you’ve arrived at this solution.
• Exploration/discovery
• (Optional: Showcase even more of your final designs)

Impact driven case study template

Every product has a business behind it. And what you can do for that business is what matters to stakeholders. We can all conclude that a screen is pretty, but if it doesn’t contribute to business goals or KPIs, it’s just that, a pretty screen. So, if you have some numbers to share, don’t be afraid to put them right after your intro section. Then go on and showcase how you’ve achieved it:

• Share numbers then follow up by showcasing the design which contributed them:

Build your UX case studies with UXfolio!

UXfolio is a portfolio and case study builder made with UX designers in mind. It offers stunning, customizable templates as well as a case study generator with text and image ideas. What’s more, UXfolio comes with built-in device mockups, easy prototype embedding, and password protection on the portfolio or the case study level. Ready to work on your portfolio? Try UXfolio for free!

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How to present a UX design case study

A well-written and formatted case study can make the difference between catching a hiring manager’s eye and being overlooked.

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Case studies are the cornerstone of any UX design portfolio. A well-written and formatted case study can make the difference between catching a hiring manager’s eye and being overlooked. 

However, it’s not easy to figure out the best way to present a UX design case study, especially if you haven’t created one before. How much detail should you go into? How many images should you include? Should you only present polished final work, or should you show the iterations and setbacks you went through along the way?

This post will demystify the process of presenting a case study in your UX portfolio. While there is no one-size-fits-all method for creating a case study, these guidelines will give you a clear structure to follow. 

We’ll first provide an overview of what a case study is, as well as a basic outline for writing them. Then we’ll dive deeper into each section that should be included in a case study, complete with real-world examples. 

Here’s what we’ll explore:

What is a UX design case study?

How should a case study be structured, what should be included in each case study section, final thoughts.

[GET CERTIFIED IN UX]

A UX case study is a detailed summary of a project you designed. Case studies go beyond the polished final product of your design work to tell the story of one project from beginning to end. That means explaining through both text and images what the project was, how you and your team tackled the design problem, and what the final results were. 

The objective is to give hiring managers insight into the way you think, including how you approach and solve UX problems and how you overcome challenges. This will help them understand how you’d fit into their UX team if they hired you. Each case study you include in your portfolio is a chance to showcase how you employed your strengths and skills as a UX designer at each stage of the design process . 

As a result, the UX case studies you create will have a big impact on whether you are selected for a job interview. And, during an interview, you’ll likely be asked to talk about your case studies so hiring managers can learn more about your past UX design experience.

Case studies can help your UX portfolio stand out from other job applicants—but only if you can clearly articulate your design thinking and process through them. The best way to do this is to think of each case study as a story with a beginning, middle, and end. 

Each section of your case study should build on the previous section as you guide your reader from the inception of the project to your final deliverables. Along the way, you should include clear, concise explanations of what you did alongside images of the project. In addition, each section should be presented with a strong visual hierarchy so that readers can easily understand both the project and your contributions to it by scanning your case study .

Each case study will be different depending on the project you’re explaining and the details you’re highlighting. However, the following is a general outline of the main sections to include:

Introduction

The problem, process and iterations, final design solution, results and key takeaways.

Let’s outline the key information you should include in each section of your case study.

In this section, you’ll provide context for the project. This is often the part of the case study that readers will pay especially close attention to, so it should be brief but informative. You’ll start with an overview of the project, including the company it was for and the product that you were tasked with designing. 

You’ll then articulate your role and responsibilities on the project. Be honest about what you did and how you contributed. If the case study is about something other than a client project, such as a project for a class, you should mention that too.

You can also include details about the project that you’ll expand on later — such as the problem you were presented with, how you and your team began to approach the project, and some information about the results of the design you ultimately delivered.

For visuals, you can include anything from the logo of the company you were designing for, a picture of the “before” state of the product if you’re detailing a redesign, or an image of the final product you designed. 

A good example of a case study introduction can be seen in Yi Tang’s case study for a game discovery experience , designed for the gaming company EA.

Source: Yi Tang’s portfolio 

In the introduction, he provides a good overview of the project, including the client and the goals of the project, and his role and responsibilities are clearly articulated. Most importantly, the information is easy to scan and understand.

This is where you’ll start to get into the specifics of the project by explaining the design problem you were tasked with solving. Why was this project valuable to both the product’s users and the company’s business goals? Include any research or competitive analysis data that helps explain why the project was important, including any surveys of users or usage data.

Source: Helen W. Bentley’s portfolio

Meanwhile, in her case study for Udemy’s online quiz experience , Frances Tung uses a combination of text and images to explain the problem and why a redesign of the experience was necessary for both the company and Udemy’s users.

Source: Frances Tung’s portfolio

[GET CERTIFIED IN UI DESIGN]

In this section, you’ll go into more detail about who your users are. This section is the place to showcase any user research that was done for the project, and is especially important if you’re applying for a position as a UX researcher . If that’s the case, you might want to include images of transcripts or other documents that specify how you used research to better understand your users. 

This section should also describe any findings about users’ goals and needs when it comes to the product, and include deliverables such as user personas and journey maps.

For one example, check out Simon Pan’s redesign of the Uber app’s pickup experience . 

Source: Simon Pan’s portfolio

User research was conducted to understand users’ pain points with the current app. In just a couple of sentences, Pan explains the study that was performed to capture how users were thinking about the app experience. Pan then describes the findings that came out of it.

For UX designers, this is the most important part of the case study because it’s a chance to demonstrate your design thinking skills, including how you make design decisions and how you respond to challenges and setbacks. 

Here you’ll explain the steps you took to solve the problem and why different design decisions were made. Don’t be shy about detailing several iterations of the project as you got closer and closer to the final design solution. If you worked within specific constraints, encountered setbacks, or had to make compromises during the design process, describe those as well. They’ll help hiring managers understand how you respond to adversity. 

You can include a range of deliverables in this section, including:

• Whiteboard or paper sketches
• Low or medium fidelity wireframes and prototypes

Of course, you can’t include every document showing every iteration the design went through. So choose some good representative examples to give hiring managers an idea of how the project progressed over time.

Source: Emily Yeh’s portfolio

This section is reserved for revealing the final design solution you arrived at. You should explain what went into any final design decisions, and include images of the final product (or high-fidelity mockups), as well as the final UX documents that you created, such as prototypes or wireframes. 

One good example comes from Ariel Verber’s case study of a redesign for a movie ticket booking app. 

Source: Medium 

He uses both text and images of the final product mockup to clearly explain how his solution arose from his user research. 

After you’ve presented the final design solution, it can be tempting to call it a day. But don’t! This final section will make a strong conclusion to your case study by explaining the impacts of your design solution (if you’re aware of them) and what you learned from the project.

For projects that have been launched, you should detail any results that demonstrate how the product improved the user experience and helped meet business goals. This could be analytics that show an increase in the number of users visiting or the average time spent with the product, metrics that demonstrate an increase in sign ups or purchases, or any data about improved user satisfaction you might have access to. 

It’s also worthwhile to include a retrospective of the project that describes any learnings you took away from the experience. After all, no project is perfect. This is an opportunity to explain how working on the project helped you grow and evolve as a UX designer, including the next steps you’d like to take to make further improvements to the product,  and anything that will influence how you approach other UX projects.

Source: Helen Bentley’s portfolio

Creating a UX design case study can feel overwhelming. But remember: you know your project best and should be able to clearly articulate it, both in writing and through images. While the focus in UX is often on designing deliverables, written and visual communication is also an important part of the job. A UX case study not only shows off your design thinking skills;  it’s also a chance to demonstrate your communication abilities. If you can combine the two into a stellar case study, you’ll be all the more likely to get a hiring manager’s attention.

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Home - UX Portfolio - How to write a UX case study

How to write a UX case study

Case studies are an essential part of any UX designer’s portfolio. They fill up the main part of your portfolio and are a must-have when you want to get hired in UX. But how to write a UX case study? That’s what you’ll learn in this article.

• Updated on December 3, 2022

When you’re looking for  UX design jobs , it is very important to have a  UX portfolio  that is on point. Case studies show your next client or employer how you go about your UX work.

Here’s everything you need to know about UX case studies. We’ll discuss everything from structure to content and the number of case studies you need in your portfolio. I’ll also share my  UX case study template  below.

Table of Contents

What is a ux case study.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is a UX case study exactly? If you bring it down to the core, a case study examines your design process around a particular project or job.

In the case of a UX designer ,  this will most likely be a project you’ve completed previously at a company or client.

Your case study can be an individual document or be part of a more extensive document like a pitch, proposal, or UX portfolio. The goal of a case study is always to show your process, skill, and, most importantly, your impact as a designer.

We’ve created a video on The Designer’s Toolbox YouTube channel that can help you write better UX case studies. It compares the case studies you’re taught at a UX bootcamp with actual real-world case studies and teaches you how to get started. Take a look here.

How to structure a UX case study

A good UX case study showing your skills, process, and impact as a UX designer requires a clear structure.

Did you know recruiters and hiring managers only take a very short time to look at your work? Yet another reason why a solid UX case study structure is essential.

It gives your readers something to hold on to. Good case studies make your work scannable and easy to digest.

If you look at it like that, creating a thorough case study that is easy to read is the perfect job for any UX designer. I mean, isn’t that what we do?

Structure your case study using the ‘STAR’ method. STAR stands for situation, tasks, activities, and results.

If you follow this method, your case studies will be a breeze to go through. Let’s take a closer look at this case study structure.

First up is the situation. This part of your case study is also known as your project’s challenge or problem statement.

In this part of the UX case study, you mention the business goal your client wants to achieve or a problem your users keep running into.

You’re hired or assigned to work on that business goal or problem. State your role and responsibilities in this part of the case study.

Second, we have your tasks.   What tasks did you do to address the challenges mentioned in the first section of the UX case study? This is the place to name them.

As a UX designer, these could be anything from conducting user research to delivering a state-of-the-art visual design concept. Make sure you mention skills and tools relevant to your role and the role you’re looking for. 

Activities   show what you have done to complete the tasks mentioned above. Tasks are abstract. Activities are detailed and together make up a bigger task.

If we stick to the user research example, activities might include recruiting participants, conducting user interviews, and presenting your findings to stakeholders.

Again, mention relevant activities here by connecting this and the previous section together.

In this final section of your UX case study, you link your results to the challenges mentioned at the beginning of your case study.

What was the original problem or goal, and what was the result of your work? Make this as specific as possible. Then, focus on the impact you have made as a UX designer.

If the challenge was to increase a low conversion rate, mention the new and improved rate that was only possible by your work. It is okay to exaggerate a bit here, as long as you don’t lie.

Best practices

If you put this all together, you will get a nice case study of about five to eight paragraphs. That’s one or two paragraphs for each of the sections mentioned above.

Once this is all in place, it is time to look at best practices to enhance your UX case studies. Here’s a list.

Headers for your case study

You do not have to name the title of every paragraph after the ‘STAR’ method.

Instead, you can use headers that fit your personal style or branding. Or even better, do not name your paragraphs at all. Go for a fluent story. That is better and more fun to read.

I recommend adding relevant pictures to specific paragraphs to make an even stronger UX case study. These could be images of your progress, photos of workshops, or pixel-perfect visual design mockups.

There’s no good or bad in this case as long as the pictures are relevant to your case study.

Highlighting your UX skills

You can add extra paragraphs to zoom in on a particular skill you want to highlight.

Let’s say you mention design thinking as a task you worked on for a particular case study. You’re super proud of the workshops you’ve facilitated and are eager to do more workshops in the future.

This is an excellent example of a skill to which you can dedicate a paragraph or two. You can also add images here, as I mentioned before.

UX case study resources

Let’s be honest for a moment. Even when using all the information above, creating a UX case study is much work.

This gets even worse when you want to make multiple case studies showcasing projects you completed a while ago.

Here’s a list of recommended resources to help you write better UX case studies.

UX case study template

Learn how to create a UX case study within 24 hours.  

• How to make your case study stand out.
• Step-by-step guide to write your case study.
• Includes examples.

That’s the theory behind case studies in the field of UX. If you follow the structure and best practices outlined in this article, you will get a UX case study example that looks like this.

A UX case study example

The UX Bank has a mortgage calculation tool that does not reach the targets set by the bank. Furthermore, there are delays in customer service due to the increase in demand.

As an entry-level designer, I have designed a new version of the mortgage tool. In addition, I completed a design thinking project with the calculation tool at its center to determine why the bank didn’t meet the set targets.

After completing my user interviews, I discovered that users didn’t like the level of detail found on the results page of the tool. They found the results to be unclear. Users flooded customer service with questions about the unclear results.

Finally, I’ve designed a high-fidelity prototype to validate a new version of the mortgage calculation tool. After testing and refining the prototype, I did a handoff for development.

Since the release of the new calculation tool, users have been much happier with the test.

As a result, the UX Bank has seen an increase in mortgage requests of 8%. The customer service delays are decreasing as well.

This is an excellent example of a UX case study. It is short, to the point, and focuses on the impact you made as a designer.

All you have to do from here is add your visuals, like the featured image and a stunning mockup.

Once that’s done, it is time to add your case study to your portfolio. I recommend hosting it on your website, but  Dribbble or Behance  is also fine.

And finally, some frequently asked questions on the topic of UX case studies. I will answer as much as possible based on my UX design experience.

How many case studies should I put in my UX portfolio?

Add at least one excellent case study to your UX portfolio that showcases a relevant project.

I’m not going to mention a specific number. Many other UX designers will say you need three or five case studies, for example. However, it’ll hurt the quality of your work when you force yourself to hit that number.

Instead, show what you want to do more of. Do you want to create stunning UI design mockups? Pick a case study that shows just that!

Is it okay to only have student case studies in my portfolio?

Yes, it is perfectly fine to have case studies you made in school or during a bootcamp in your portfolio.

Your portfolio would be stronger if you had some real-life case studies as well, but we all have to start somewhere.

To make that happen, you need to work to get some work experience. Luckily, there are many ways to get hired in UX without experience .

How do I present my UX case study?

For most companies, you have to present your case studies during the second interview. That’s scary! Make sure you have the basics right. In doing so, you will most likely beat a few of your competitors already.

The biggest tip I can give you is to keep it short first. That way, you can focus more on questions and having a good discussion.

Where can I share my case study?

You can share case studies on platforms like  Dribbble  and  Behance  or your website. Be visible! It’ll help you reach a larger audience full of recruiters and potential clients.

You can also share your case study on Medium and LinkedIn. Both are excellent platforms to share your work and build a professional network.

Further reading

I can’t stress enough how critical case studies are for a UX designer. You write your case studies by sharing the business challenge, what you did to tackle that challenge, and how your work has impacted your client.

Case studies are the foundation of your  UX portfolio . You need that portfolio to get a job in UX. You can read about your portfolio next.

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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7 Best UX Case Study Generators (and how to use them)

If you're looking for UX case study ideas, topics or challenges, these UX case study generators can help you create portfolio pieces and improve your UX/UI skills. Here are some of the best ones and the pros and cons of using them.

What is a case study generator?

A UX Case Study Generator is a tool that serves up hypothetical UX design project ideas, problems, challenges or exercises that you can complete on your own to practice your UX skills or use to create UX Case studies and projects for UX/UI portfolio.

UX Case Study Generators

1. UX Challenge

UX challenge provides prompts and exercises that allows you to practice your problem-solving skills and create one-off projects for your portfolio. The Challenges presented here have been created by UX Designer Yachin and are based on real-world problems.

You can browse through a few different industries or categories on the homepage and then view the details of the project brief.

With more than 15 millions prompts available, there are lots of UX/Product Design prompts to choose from. To start, click on 'Product/UX' and then Click ‘New Challenge’. If you like certain elements of the brief you can lock those in place and then click New Challenge again to regenerate the unlocked parts until you find something you like.

3. Designercize

This fun arcade game-like interface lets you choose the level of difficulty and gives you a timer so that you can test your speed. While this tool doesn’t allow you to select a specific category, you can regenerate exercises until you find one that appeals to you.

4. UX Tools Challenges

If you need practice creating specific UX deliverables or applying certain user research methods this is a great option. You can browse through a number of UX prompt cards and click on a UX challenge to view a hypothetical scenario, instructions and tutorials on how to approach the challenges.

5. Uplabs Challenges

Uplabs hosts open design challenges that you can enter for prizes. They have deadlines in place and submissions are reviewed via voting. Check out their active listings to see on-going challenges and see the submission details and requirements. You can also view past challenges and try using them as practice on your for use as UX case study ideas.

6. 100Daysofproductdesign

100 Days of Product is a series of design challenges that help you learn to tackle specific problems that arise in UX and product design roles (such as running a design sprint) and prompts you to create deliverables around them. There is also a separate set of whiteboarding challenges that you can take in preparation for interviews.

7. DesignerUp

Our Product Design course is home to one the best UX and Product Design case study creators you can find...yourself! You get to ideate on original concepts yourself from scratch, is completely unique, perfectly suited to who you are as a designer, shows your process and ensures you stand out from the crowd. You also get free access to our portfolio builder for Notion that has helped our students easily create product design case studies and land their dream roles!

UX Case Study Usage

There are 4 main ways we recommend applying these generator prompts and challenges based on your goals:

Option 1: Self-Practice - Use these as practice for yourself to develop your problem-solving skills, thinking on your toes, learning to manage your time and refining your workflow. You don’t need to show it in your portfolio but you can share it on social media and other places to get some feedback and get into the hang of doing projects and getting to know your own timing and process.

Option 2: UX Case Study Creation - Use these for your UX portfolio to create UX case studies . Give yourself a deadline, deliberately choose a project and document the process as you go. Be mindful of the projects you choose and make sure that they align with your own unique positioning as a designer and with the opportunities you want to attract.

Option 3: Whiteboard Challenge - Work on the prompts in 45 min sessions using a whiteboard like Figjam to show and tell your process. Record your screen so that you can replay it and share it with others for critique. This video could even be an incredible addition to your portfolio to showcase how you think and solve problems on the fly.

Option 4: Take-home Exercise - To simulate an interview take-home challenge or test, you can tackle a prompt or brief over the course of 8-10 hours.

Pros and Cons of Using UX Case Study Generators

There a few pros and cons about using case study generators that you should know about:

If you can do them, so can everyone else

Firstly, remember that if you have access to these design challenges and briefs so do all the other designers. That means that there is a good chance your work might end up looking similar to their work if you’re not careful. If you want to stand out, try customizing the prompts and challenges and adding your own unique spin.

Treat them as real UX projects

If you plan to feature these UX case studies in your portfolio, make sure to treat them as real UX projects; not just hypothetical exercises. Conduct actual research, analyze your findings and document your process. This will go a long way in helping you differentiate yourself from those that simply complete the challenge at face value.

Not consider real-world experience

Keep in mind that these generated UX case study projects and prompts are not considered 'real-world or ‘real- work experience’ by employers, but rather self-directed projects. They are a good first step for new UX designers to start practicing their problem solving skills on their own and refining their UX design process, but you'll have to go the extra mile if you want to use them in your portfolio to impress during interviews.  

Choose the right one

If you are looking to use these ideas as UX Case studies in your portfolio, I reccomend reading this article on how to choose which case studies you should do and how to Create a Magnetic UX Case Study that will actually get you noticed and hired.

Move into doing real projects

These projects are also no substitute for doing real-world projects such as things you design and build yourself, freelance jobs, client work or open-source projects. Generated prompts and challenges cannot introduce the ambiguity of business requirements, changing stakeholder needs and team dynamics that are most sought after in a hirable UX designer. So think of these as a stepping to help you jump into the real thing as soon as possible. Here are some examples of stellar UX/UI and Product Design portfolios that we love!

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How to Create Case Studies for Your UX Design Portfolio When You Have No Past Projects and Experience

If you’re new to UX and want to get your first job, you might find yourself stuck in a paradox. You see, to apply for your first job, you’ll need to have a UX design portfolio which contains around 3 case studies. But without prior UX experience or projects, how could you create these case studies? You’re thus stuck in a loop: to get a job, you’ll need a portfolio; but to build a portfolio, you’ll need a job. How do you solve this paradox? Well, the good news is there is no paradox, not really. You see, even though you have no prior experience, you can still create case studies for your portfolio. We’ll show you how—in concrete, practical steps.

First, let’s start with what you’ll need to create your UX case studies . We’ll get into the details later; however, to start building your portfolio, you’ll need:

Some fundamental design knowledge and skills . This means you’ll need to know some design methodologies—for example, design thinking —as well as key UX deliverables such as personas , usability reports and prototypes.

A project to work on —don’t worry, this is simpler than it sounds.

Finally, you’ll have to apply your design knowledge and skills to a design project you choose.

To create your case study, you have to start with a solid understanding of UX, find a project to work on and then apply your design knowledge to the project. Author / copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and the Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

The good news? At the Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF), we can help you in each and every step! That’s right, with our online courses, you can gain essential design knowledge and skills, get access to great design project briefs and apply your newfound skills to the projects. We think you’ll enjoy how efficient and effective we’ll make your portfolio-building process.

Here’s a quick summary of how we can help you (we’ll dive into more details later):

You can learn key design knowledge and skills in our popular beginner courses such as:

Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide , where you’ll learn how to apply the design thinking process to a project;

Become a UX Designer from Scratch , which gives you an overview of UX design and how to create key UX deliverables;

Mobile User Experience (UX) Design , where you’ll gain key knowledge and skills to design ideal solutions for mobile devices;

Conducting Usability Testing , which equips you with everything you need to know to start conducting usability tests.

You’ll find realistic UX project briefs in our courses which contain Build Your Portfolio projects, where you’ll be guided to create your UX case studies:

Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide , where you’ll help build a fitness app to encourage people to be active through applying the design thinking process;

Conducting Usability Testing , where you’ll plan and run your own usability test of an online shop;

User Research – Methods and Best Practices , where you’ll apply your skills to conduct user interviews , contextual inquiries and user observations.

As you take our courses, you’ll also work on our Build Your Portfolio exercises , which means by the end of your courses, you’ll not only have gained industry-recognized Course Certificates but also have UX case studies!

At the IxDF, you’ll get access to over 25 UX courses with a flat membership fee, and you’ll learn from courses taught by leading design experts.

Learn these courses and more at the Interaction Design Foundation for a flat fee. Author / copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and the Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Through these courses, we’ll guide you every step of the way , from acquiring knowledge to applying them in your own projects.

In all of our courses, we give you PDF templates which you can download and print to use in your projects. For example, if you’re going to do user interviews, we help you cover the basic questions and you just have to gear the questions towards your users.

In our online courses, you’ll find a wide collection of templates which will help you apply design methods. Author / copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and the Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Ready to dive into the details of how to build your UX case studies from scratch? Let’s go!

Step 1: Get Foundational Knowledge and Skills in UX Design

The most demanding part of creating your first case study is getting your design basics right. It can make or break your case studies. That’s because if your design knowledge and skills are inadequate, even the most interesting project will not lead to a great case study. After all, if you’re not qualified enough, you might apply the wrong design processes . Doing that will lead to, at best, mediocre results.

There are no shortcuts here: to create your case studies, you have to have a solid understanding of UX design. This means you should know how to execute some design methodologies and how to carry out design methods to produce UX deliverables . Let’s break down what these terms mean, and how you can master them to build your UX case studies.

Best Practice Design Methodologies to Help You Create Case Studies

Design methodologies are approaches towards how to solve a design problem. They consist of a design workflow that contains techniques, procedures and tools required to craft solutions that work.

Some popular design methodologies you should know include:

Design thinking . This popular methodology is about how you design solutions by first empathizing with people, defining their problems, then coming up with ideas, prototyping solutions and testing them with users. Our design thinking course is one of our most popular, and for good reason. If you’re new to UX design, we recommend that you start with design thinking for a holistic approach towards designing solutions.

Agile design , where you’ll design continuous, iterative improvements, while getting frequent feedback from users. As opposed to a traditional “waterfall” approach, where you hand over fixed designs to developers, in the agile method you’ll work closely with developers and evolve your designs constantly. Among other things, you can learn agile design in our course Interaction Design for Usability .

These methodologies are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are different angles of looking at the same problem. You’re good to get started with just one methodology such as design thinking, but knowing more will help you think better as a designer

Design Methods You’ll Use to Create Your Case Studies

In contrast to design methodologies, design methods are techniques, procedures and activities that you’ll perform in order to solve the design problem. Design methods are used in isolation (i.e., they’re not necessarily part of a grand overall process). Thus, two design methodologies can share the same design method—for instance, the design method “user interview” is commonly used in design thinking as well as in agile design.

Some popular design methods are card sorting , field studies, usability testing and personas. All our courses include practical design methods, but you should take these courses in particular to learn more about design methods:

User Research – Methods and Best Practices will teach you how to plan and execute qualitative user research and present your findings. You’ll learn how to conduct design methods such as user interviews and usability tests.

Conducting Usability Testing , where you’ll learn about the techniques and procedures involved in planning and conducting usability tests, as well as analyzing your results.

UX Deliverables You’ll Create for Your Case Studies

UX deliverables are tangible records and results of the work you’ve done. They’re the natural end result of a design method. For example, after you’ve conducted a user interview, you’d produce the UX deliverable of a user interview report. Essential UX deliverables include storyboards , customer journey maps , user flow diagrams, prototypes and usability reports .

All our courses are practical-oriented and thus will equip you to create UX deliverables. These courses especially will help you:

Mobile User Experience (UX) Design will provide you with all the design knowledge and skills you need to create prototypes for mobile devices that work great.

Become a UX Designer from Scratch introduces you to UX design and practical exercises to create key deliverables. One of our most popular courses, it also guides you through common UX deliverables—journey maps, personas, paper prototypes and heuristic evaluation reports, just to name a few.

UI Design Patterns for Successful Software will provide you with knowledge and exercises on how to implement design patterns to support various user needs . You’ll be able to produce best-in-class prototypes that contain excellent UI components such as top navigation menus, site footers and input fields.

As you can see, you need to equip yourself with design knowledge and skills so you can begin creating your first case study. That’s why we said earlier that this is the most demanding part of the process.

Once you’ve learnt the basics of design, you’re ready to move to the next step of creating your case study.

Step 2: Find a Project to Work On

There are two ways you can find a project: you either work on a hypothetical project for a product or service that you know, or work for a real client on a real project.

Work on Hypothetical Projects to Create Your Case Studies

Hypothetical projects refer to unsolicited work for a product or service you know or use. This is common among people starting out in UX, and we recommend this approach because you can get started right away without having to find a real client.

You can go ahead and take some of our online courses which are tailor-made to give you both the knowledge and skills you need. They guide you through a design project where you apply UX design tools and methods, and you end up with a case study for your portfolio.

You can also do hypothetical projects on something you use daily: an app, your local government’s website, etc. For example, you can analyze the usability of your local cinema’s website and prototype an improved design. Or you can study the experience of commuting on your local subway system and make suggestions on how to make it more pleasant. Everything is designed, so you’ll never run out of things to analyze and improve.

As a rule of thumb, you should think twice before picking products or services by major companies like Apple or Google. You might think the big brand name will sound impressive on your portfolio. But because these companies have large design teams and well-established practices, you’ll be hard-pressed to find genuine, well-founded UX problems and create better solutions. If you’re up for it, you should definitely do it, but be warned that few people manage to pull it off.

Volunteer Your Services or Find Freelance Projects to Create Your Case Studies

You might have a hard time finding projects from real clients if you have no prior experience. You can volunteer your services for free to increase your chances. Whether or not you’re charging your client, you should tell them that you’re new to UX and that you’re taking on the project to grow your skills. To make your services more attractive, highlight to your client that you’re eager to learn and willing to spend lots of time and effort.

If you choose to charge your clients for your first few UX jobs, do make sure to set a reasonably low price so that both parties can calibrate expectations. You won’t undersell yourself if you remember that great feedback is essential for building up your reputation and that the day will come when you can charge more.

Step 3: Apply Your Design Methodology and Techniques to Your Project

Once you’ve learned one or two design methodologies and the related key UX deliverables, you’re ready to apply your knowledge to your first project. This is the final step to create your first case study. Exciting!

You should use the design methodology and techniques most relevant to the role you want to apply for. If you want to be a user researcher, you should apply user research techniques such as user interviews. If you’re looking for a general UX role, you might want to go through the design thinking process to identify flaws in the current design and create alternative solutions.

If you’re aiming for a general UX role, you can apply the design thinking process to your project to create your case study. Author / copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and the Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

At this step, the most important thing is to do, do, do ! Want to conduct user interviews? Get your friends’ help and ask them your questions. Need to do user testing of an app? Sit down with your friends or neighbors, or even with strangers at a cafe. Start sketching your ideas on paper. Create a journey map based on your friend’s day as a commuter on the subway. Start small, use what you have access to… and do .

How to Find Design Projects and Apply Your Design Skills and Knowledge

One of the best ways to create your case studies is to apply your newly learned knowledge to a project, just as you learn it . This way, you’ll not only create your portfolio faster but also reinforce and better remember what you’ve just learned.

The great news is we have courses specifically tailored to help you do just that. Think of these as supercharged portfolio-building courses : we’ve created a realistic project brief and added tailored exercises throughout these courses to guide you to build a case study. When you take these courses, you’ll not only have a perfect project to work on—you can also create your case studies as you learn. We think they’re perfect for you.

The supercharged portfolio-building courses are:

Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide , which will let you apply the entire design thinking process to a project.

Conducting Usability Testing , which will enable you to plan and run your own usability test, and then analyze your results.

User Research – Methods and Best Practices , which will guide you through the different user research methods to craft a solid case study.

These courses will guide you step by step to help you apply your knowledge within your own design projects in the easiest way possible. That means that once you’ve taken one of these courses, you’d also have a case study for your portfolio . Yes, it can be that simple!

For each course you complete with the Interaction Design Foundation you’ll also get a Course Certificate to prove that you’ve gained new skills and you can insert your Course Certificate(s) right into your portfolio. It’s essential that you also include the unique link you get for each Course Certificate so recruiters can verify each of them.

If you want to stand out from the crowd as a candidate with solid UX skills and knowledge you can also show and link to each Course Certificate on your resume, CV and LinkedIn profile.

Interaction Design Foundation Course Certificates are trusted by industry leaders such as Adobe, Accenture, Philips and IBM who’ve taken up company memberships with the IxDF.

We wish you all the best in your exciting journey of creating your case studies!

The Take Away

Creating your first case studies for your UX design portfolio can seem challenging, but that’s not the case. You can start creating case studies from scratch by following these steps:

Get foundational knowledge in UX : through learning (from books, the IxDF or elsewhere) design methodologies and common UX activities. This is the most demanding step.

Find a project to work on : either a real project for a client (which can be difficult to find) or a hypothetical project on a product you know (which you can find easily).

Apply your knowledge to the chosen project : when you’re starting out, doing is the best way of learning. In “real UX work” you might need well-selected samples for user research, but you can use whatever you have access to when you’re starting out. Do, do, do !

If you take one of our portfolio-building courses mentioned just above, you’ll have covered all three steps and be ready to start applying for your first job in UX—because you’ll have the fundamental knowledge, you’ll have a bit of experience with a project, and you’ll have a case study for your portfolio.

We’re here to guide you along the way. By taking one of these courses, you can find your feet on the right track and turbo-charge your progress as your knowledge base snowballs:

Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide

Become a UX Designer from Scratch

User Research – Methods and Best Practices

UI Design Patterns for Successful Software

Mobile User Experience (UX) Design

References and Where to Learn More

You can find our entire UX course catalog here .

You’ll also find Don Norman ’s seminal book The Design of Everyday Things useful for gaining design knowledge. You can find it on Amazon here .

Hero image: Author / copyright holder: Thomas Quaritsch. Copyright terms and license: Unsplash License.

How to Create a UX Portfolio

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11 Inspiring UX Case Studies That Every Designer Should Study

A UX case study is a sort of detailed overview of a designer's work. They are often part of a UX designer's portfolio and showcase the designer's skill in managing tasks and problems. From a recruiter's perspective, such a UX portfolio shows the skill, insights, knowledge, and talent of the designer.

Therefore, UX case studies play an important role in the recruitment and demand for designers.

What Makes a Powerful Case Study

Building a UX case study includes showing the design process through compelling stories. They will use plain language to demonstrate how they handled key design issues, offering a comprehensive view of their process. Well done case studies often include:

• A  problem statement and solutions with real applications.
• Relevant numbers, data, or testimonials to demonstrate the work and efforts.
• A story that directly connects the problem to the solution.

Any competent UX professional will know that creating a stunning UX case study is about the little details.

11 Best UX Case Studies for Designers

The best way to understand what a good case study looks like is to go over other examples. Each of these UX case study examples shows a designer's insights, basic skills, and other designers' lessons learned through their experience.

1. Promo.com web editor

For this video-creation platform , UX designer Sascha was brought on to revamp v2.0, adding new features that could work alongside the existing UX design. The point was to work on interface details that would help create a user friendly platform, and that users could find simple enough to use.

User personas mapped by the UX designer revealed the most common confusion to be the process of inserting particular features into the video, such as subtitles. The designer's goal, therefore, was to create a platform with improved editor controls.

The designer then used a common text-editor layout to include top and side navigation bars that made it easy to access and implement text editing.

Key Learnings from Promo.com

This case study focuses on addressing a particular problem that customers were currently facing. Its main theme is to show a problem, and how the product designer addressed this problem. Its strength points include:

• clearly highlighting the problem (i.e. inaccessible and limited video-text editor options)
• conduction research to understand the nature of the problem and the kind of solutions customers want
• implementing research insights into the redesign to create a platform that actively served customer needs

2. Productivity tracker app

The main concept behind this UX case study is to address a pre-existing problem through the design of the app. Immediately from the start, the study highlights a common pain point among users: that of a lack of productivity due to device usage.

This UX case study example addressed some of the main problems within existing productivity apps included:a poor UI and UX that made navigation difficult

• a poorly-built information architecture
• limited functions on the mobile application

Key Learnings from the Productivity app case study

The case study highlights the simple design process that was then used to build the app. Wireframes were created, a moldboard developed, and finally, individual pages of the app were designed in line with the initial goals.

3. Postmates Unlimited

This case study clearly identifies the improvements made to the Postmates app in a simple overview before jumping into greater detail. The redesign goal, which it achieved, was to improve the experience and other interface details of the app.

The problems identified included:

• usability that led to high support ticket volume.
• technical app infrastructure issues that prevented scalability.
• lack of efficient product management, such as batching orders.

A UX research course can help understand the kind of research needed for a case study. The app redesign involved bringing couriers in and running usability testing on improvements. The final model, therefore, had input from real users on what worked and what caused issues.

Key Learnings from Postmates

The Postmates redesign works as a great UX case study for the simple way it approaches problem-solving. Following an overview of the work, it addresses the problems faced by users of the app. It then establishes research processes and highlights how changes were made to reduce these issues.

4. TV Guide

Addressing the fragmentation of content across channels, this case study sought to redesign how people consume media. The key problems identified included:

• the overabundance of content across various TV and streaming platforms
• the difficulty in discovering and managing content across all platforms

To deliver on the key goals of content personalization, smart recommendations, and offering cross-platform content search, the design process included conducting interviews, surveys, and checking customer reviews.

The design of TV Guide enables users to get custom recommendations sourced from friends' and family's watchlists.

Key Learnings from TV Guide

Like previous UX design case studies, this one tackled the issue head-on. Describing the research process, it goes into detail regarding the approach used by the UX designers to create the app. It takes readers on a journey, from identifying pain points, to testing solutions, and implementing the final version.

5. The FlexBox Inspector

Designer Victoria discusses how she developed the investigator tool for the Mozilla Firefox browser. Surveys into understanding the problems with the existing CSS Flexbox tool revealed a need for a user-friendly design. Interviews with a senior designer and other designers helped developers understand the features design-focused tools ought to have. A feature analysis revealed what most users look for in such tools.

The final result of the development process was a design that incorporated several new features, including:

• a new layout
• color-coded design
• multiple entry points to make workflow management efficient

Key Learnings from the Flexbox

This UX design case study starts with a clear goal, then addresses multiple user needs. It clearly defines the design process behind each feature developed by the time, and the reasoning for including that feature. To give a complete picture, it also discusses why certain features or processes were excluded.

6. The Current State of Checkouts

This Baymard UX design case study looks into the checkout process in over 70 e-commerce websites. Through competitive analysis, it isolates problem points in the UX design, which, if addressed, could improve the customer's checkout process.

The study found at least 31 common issues that were easily preventable. The study was designed and conducted on a large scale, over 12 years, to incorporate changing design patterns into the review.

Recommendations based on findings include:

• prominent guest checkout option
• simple password requirements
• specific delivery period
• price comparison tool for shipping vs store pickup

Key Learnings from Checkout Case Study

Each identified issue is backed up by data and research to highlight its importance. Further research backs up each recommendation made within the case study, with usability testing to support the idea. As far as UX case studies go, this one provides practical insight into an existing, widely used e-commerce feature, and offers practical solutions.

7. New York Times App

Using a creative illustration website, the designers proposed a landing page feature "Timely" that could counter the problems faced by the NYT app . Its major issues included too much irrelevant content, low usage, and undesirable coverage of content.

The goal behind Timely was to improve user incentives, build long-term loyalty, and encourage reading. Design mapping for the app covered:

• identifying the problem
• understanding audience needs
• creating wireframes
• designing and prototyping

The end result was an app that could help readers get notifications regarding news of interest at convenient moments (at breakfast, before bed). This encouraged interaction and improved readability with short-form articles.

Key Learnings from NYT App

The UX case study proposes a problem solution that works with an existing information architecture, instead adding custom graphics to the mobile app. It leads from a simple problem statement to discuss the project that could address these issues without changing was customers already loved.

UX case studies focused on redesign include the FitBit redesign, which started off by understanding personas and what users expect from a fitness tracker. Developing use cases and personas, Guerilla usability testing was employed to assess pain points.

These pain points were then ranked based on their importance to users and to app performance. They were addressed through:

• Highlighting essential parts and features of the app
• Changing easily missed icons to more recognizable icons
• relabelling tracking options to guide users better to its usage

Key Learnings from Fitbit

While the case study maps user experiences and offers solutions, it does not begin with an intensive research-based approach. The prototype is successful in testing, but problem factors are not identified with research-based statistics, meaning key factors could have been ignored.

9. Rating System UX

The designer behind the rating system UX redesign sought to solve issues with the 5-star rating system. Highlighted issues included:

• the lack of subjective accuracy of a 5-point rating system
• the issue of calculating the average of a zero-star rating
• average ratings are misleading

Better alternatives include:

• 5-star emoticon rating that relates the user experience
• Like/dislike buttons that make approval/disapproval simple

The final design incorporated both these styles to make full use of the rating system.

Key Learnings from Rating System UX

The UX case study stemmed from insight into the limitations of the existing rating system. The new design addressed old issues and incorporated better efficiencies.

The Intuit redesign was focused on making content readable, more engaging, and accessible. Looking into product personalization, the content was found to be lacking aesthetic value, as well as being hard to find. The goal was to create content that was easy to find, clear, and consistent.

The implemented solutions included:

• increased readability with increased body text and header spacing
• table of contents on the sidebar for easier navigation
• visible and prominent search bar
• illustrations and designs for pretty visuals

Key Learnings from Intuit

The Intuit case study approaches the problem from a practical point of view. It begins with isolating problems with the interface, in particular with the content. This is an example of a case study that breaks down problems into broader categories, and solves each problem with a practical solution.

This UX case study about a social platform tackles a commonly-faced problem from existing platforms. It addresses the issue of recognizing non-monetary user engagement, to help creators identify their user base.

The case study addresses the problem statement and establishes the design process (building wireframes and prototypes) as well as conducting user testing. The final result is to develop "Discover" pages, engaging layouts, and animated interactions to increase usability.

Key Learnings from Jambb

The study goes into detail regarding problem identification, then moves on to propose solutions that take into account the perspective of all stakeholders involved. It then explains why each design decision was made, and proves its efficacy through testing and prototyping.

Key Takeaways

Developing good UX case studies examples is as much about the details you include as the ones you leave out. Going over UX courses can give you a better understanding of what your case study should look like. A good case study should provide an overview of the problem, include numbers and statistics, and offer practical solutions that directly address the problem. The above-discussed UX case studies provide a good example of the dos and don'ts of a well-structured UX design case study that should be part of every UX portfolio .

Additional Resources

Check out these resources to learn more about UX case studies:

8 UX Case Studies to Read

UX Design Case Study

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Object to analyze

I will analyze a pick-up food website. YiFan is a Chinese food restaurant nestled in the heart of Johns Creek in Atlanta that offers fusion cuisine. It offers a pick-up food ordering service through the website https://qmenu.us/#/yifan/menu/1645135062215 .

Hypothesis to test

• What elements should be improved and changed in this food website in terms of usability and user-friendliness?

Data needed

I want to record the process of how Chinese food lovers order their favorite 5 dishes from Yi Fan’s website and conduct face-to-face interviews with them using 13 questions in 20 minutes.

What I did:

• I added two background questions before the formal interviews to test if the potential participants are the targeted customers for YiFan’s restaurant and if the dishes in the restaurant can meet their ideal taste.
• I revised the former 16 interview questions to 13 ones and broke them into 4 sections for the competitor analysis.

Dr. Pullman, I am wondering if these 2 background questions and 13 interview questions make sense.

Background questions:

• What is your preferred flavor (You could choose multiple options: Sweet, Spicy, Savory, Other)?
• How often do you order Chinese food online? (Options: Once a month, Once two weeks, Once a week, Twice a week, Three or Four Times a week, More than four times a week, Others.）

A. Overall website aesthetic

• Do you think the main color of the food website is visually appealing?
• Do you think the fonts are big enough to see?
• Is each photo large enough to see?
• Do you think it is well-organized？

B ． Item selection

• Could you tell from each title what the ingredients of the dish would be? How spicy, sweet, or savory it would be?
• How did you choose the dishes you chose? (Options: Image, Title, Description, Other.)
• Can you find your or your family member’s favorite dish quickly？

C ． Checkout process

• Do you think it is easy for you to put the dishes in the cart and be ready to check out？
• What do you care about most in the checkout process?

 D. Overall evaluation

• Could you rate it on a scale from 1 to 10? How much do you like the food delivery website?
• Do you think it is user-friendly?
• What challenges do you face in the ordering process? How does this make you feel?
• How do you think the website can be improved in web design and interaction?   

What I learned:  

Since the interviewees are mostly some of my friends or classmates I am familiar with in Atlanta, I need to talk with them before UX interviews not to hide their negative feelings about the website and try to minimize the risk of underreporting and gather more accurate and comprehensive insights from the interviews.

• Build rapport and trust: Establish a comfortable and non-judgmental environment where participants feel safe to share their honest thoughts and experiences. Assure them that there are no right or wrong answers and that I  value their candid feedback.
• Don’t lead respondents towards my own opinions: Encourage participants to elaborate on their experiences, thoughts, and feelings without leading them in a particular direction. Avoid leading questions that suggest a desired answer or impose my own assumptions. Let participants express their perspectives freely.
• Probe for details: Follow up on vague or brief responses by probing for more details, examples, or clarification. Encourage participants to provide specific instances or scenarios.
• Observe nonverbal cues: Pay attention to their body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, as these can sometimes reveal discomfort or hesitation that may indicate underreporting.
• Provide anonymity and confidentiality: Assure participants that their responses will be kept anonymous and confidential, which can encourage them to be more open and honest.
• Provide opportunities for follow-up: Allow participants the opportunity to provide additional feedback or clarification after the initial interview, as they may feel more comfortable sharing certain information later.

What I am going to do next:

• 4/6: Find 2 interviewees (1 Chinese and 1 American who love ordering Chinese food online). Conduct 2 face to face interviews about their opinions about YiFan’s restaurant website.
• 4/13:  Do a competitor analysis between YiFan and Uber Eats using qualitative data. Do the first draft of the wireframe of the improved app using Figma, since I have no capacity to develop and change YiFan’s food ordering website.
• 4/20: Seek feedback on the wireframe and revise accordingly. Publish the final version wireframe of improved YiFan’s food website.
• 4/22: Write up a final case study.

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