Case studies: content
Last updated
Last updated
Create a Google Doc with all of your case studies typed out for easy copy-pasting when you create your website.
Once you have that Google Doc, either create a duplicate of it or copy-paste the text into a different section.
The biggest problem that I see with design portfolios is that there is way too much text on the page.
Your portfolio is a piece of marketing for recruiters who likely aren't familiar with UX design — adding many paragraphs of text doesn't help your case.
Worst of all, it makes them focus on the overwhelming amount of text rather than your ability as a designer.
Any text more than two sentences long should most likely be cut or rephrased.
Take time to make sure that your FigJam flows or sticky notes or user research diagrams look polished.
I think there's some value to showing your hand drawn sketches (a slowly dying art!) or a wall completely filled with Post-It notes, but beyond that anything that you've created and ideated on that isn't a wireframe should look good visually.
's design artifacts for Slack are an incredible example of how attention to detail, even in these small assets, prove your ability as a designer.
Make sure your design artifacts pass colour contrast checks.
If there are background colours in design artifacts that clash with the colours of your portfolio, redo them.
Avoid overly annotated screenshots. If you're trying to point to a specific part of a design, add an arrow or circle to it on the screenshot and then explain it in a text paragraph on your website. Don't add text on a screenshot.
I've noticed that designers trying to break in tend to not show their different explorations or ideation at all, and instead go straight to their final design.
You want to show proof that you've done multiple different iterations and that you're willing to push the limits; once you settle on a final direction, you should explain why.
What kind of constraints did you operate within? Did it affect your final product?
In a world of static wireframes, adding a video of your prototype can make you stand out.
It shows that you've paid attention to how that product or feature can actually exist, and the interactions and constraints that it operates within.
This can be difficult to do with a Figma prototype, given that recording the prototype on MacOS sometimes can result in unintended black shadows or bars.
Make sure to crop or edit videos in recording software accordingly.
Make sure that videos aren't too large, don't take too long to load, and aren't low quality. GIFs often run into this problem; I'd recommend .webm or .webp if needed.
How would you brand your project if you had to display it as a downloadable product on the App Store?
Strong branding is really important when you need to get the message across quickly.
If one of my case studies was redesigning the HUD for Valve's Deadlock, I might write something like:
Deadlock
Balancing immersion and information.
Why should the reader care? What's actually interesting about this project? Have you had any results with it? Are you trying to do something new and innovative?
This should be two sentences max.
For Deadlock, it might look like:
Deadlock is an upcoming multiplayer game from Valve that aims to merge the MOBA and third person shooter genres.
Bullet point these directly underneath the introduction. Save the in-depth explanations for your design interviews.