PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

02. PORTFOLIOS +CASE STUDIESor, presenting your work like you know what you’re doing.

Make it easy to update.

It should only take 5 seconds tofind what they are looking for.

Unless you are planning on blowing them away with a unique experience.

(which I highly recommend)

The difference between a good and bad portfolio is usually project photography.

Quality

Quantity

Label your work.

01 Problem. Assignment. Client

02 Role. Team.

03 Methodology. Process.

04 Approach. Solution.

Keep a consistent format.

Don’t include personal art or photography.(just make a separate site for it)

No sexual or offensive work.

Tailor your portfolio to the companies you are applying for.

Proofread.

Stand out.

CASE STUDY

Clarifies the complex choices designers have to make and explain their thinking behind both UX and visual decisions.

Case studies document and communicate that knowledge clearly, helping our design community to develop a more empathetic, human-centered way of speaking about our process of design.

A good case study is not about seduction and visuals, its about how you apply your expertise to projects and the metrics your use to validate your results.

WRITING A CASE STUDY

BACKGROUND

A brief introduction of the project including the problem and the client you worked with.

TEAM was this a team project? who else did you work with?

CONTRIBUTIONS what were your specific contributions to the end result?

TIMELINE how long did this project take, from start to finish?

TASK (PROBLEM)

What problem did you set out to tackle?

CONCEPT (SOLUTION)

What was your proposed solution? This includes how you approached the problem, your strategy, etc.

PROCESS

What steps did you take to reach the final product?

BRAINSTORMING What were your methods of brainstorming concepts, ideas, and visual designs? Sketching, sticky notes, group ideations, whiteboard sessions, etc.

RESEARCH What kind of research did you conduct to immerse yourself in the project? Surveys, contextual research, competitor research, gathering of statistics/data, etc.

TARGET AUDIENCE Who is your target audience? How was it determined?

CONCEPT EVOLUTION What were other concepts or ideas you explored? Why did you choose the concept that you did?

VISUAL DESIGN What were the other design directions you explored? Show sketches, wireframes, and preliminary visual designs.

DEVELOPMENT How was the final product implemented? Was the website developed/ coded? Was the packaging implemented or was a prototype made?

OUTCOME

What was the end result?

CHALLENGES

What were the challenges you had to overcome?

REFLECTION

What did you learn from completing this project?

Stating both borad and concrete goals keeps the focus on problem solving.

TIP

Define your broad project goal early in the case study, with a focus on larger issues like, community, the environment, or empowerment.

Focus on process before artifact.

TIP

Illustrate your design process to the reader with simple steps.

Show photographs of your team working collaboratively.

Show research in clear, process-oriented chunks.

Explain the use of modular designs.

TIP

Use animations or GIFs to show different states of conditions of the modular elemens.

List any critical lessons learned.

Define the quality of the experience.

TIP

Use analytics and metrics that connect to your project’s original goals.

List quotes and testimonials.