case study about portfolio

• mindful design
• student success
• product design
• ui/ux design
• watch me work
• design careers
• design inspiration

10 Exceptional Product Design Portfolios with Case Study Breakdowns

After working with many designers throughout my own career and helping many more build their job-ready portfolios, there are a few designers that I keep coming back to for inspiration and some that are inspiring a new generation of UI/UX and Product Designers to enter the field.

I've chosen 10 of our favorite UI/UX and Product Designers—a colorful tapestry of digital product architects that have evolved from graphic designers, marketers, architects, engineers and everything in-between. Their unique backgrounds and journey bring something special to our industry and illustrate how we can all do more meaningful, interesting and impactful work:

There are 10 things in particular that make these 10 designers really stand out:

• They have each honed their craft from the bottom up (whether having gone through a traditional academic program, an online course like DesignerUp , or being self-taught).
• They are all at different stages of their careers (some newly minted and others seasoned veterans).
• They continue to learn, grow, push the envelope, document and share their genuine experiences.
• They each hail from a different background (and sometimes non-design industry) that informs who they are and what they work on as a designer.
• Their evolution is apparent in their work.
• They are passionate about the problems they solve and find joy in connecting with the users they serve.
• They are transparent about their processes, thoughtful in their communication about it and not afraid to show what worked and what didn't.
• They have focused portfolios that reveal their unique point of view as a designer.
• They are a diverse group of designers from different cultural, gender and socio-economic backgrounds.
• They have so much to teach us all about design and how to use it to express authenticity and to understand and help others do the same.

Case Study Format:   http://simonpan.com/work/uber/

• The Challenge
• Early Insights
• Reframing the Problem
• The Redesign
• Design Strategy

“In a city as busy as San Francisco, over $1 million was wasted per week because of problematic pickups.”

Madeline Wukusick

Madeline is a graduate of our DesignerUp Product Design course. She was able to create an incredible portfolio working through our curriculum, blended with her background in graphic and data design that set her up for immediate success landing professional design roles.

Case Study Format:

• The Observed Problem
• The Research
• In the Insights
• The proposed How Might We Statements
• Lean Canvas and Product Strategy
• Business Requirements
• The Solutions and MVP Features
• Things that could be improved

"Thanks for helping me work through these iterations—it's been tremendously helpful! You have such a knack for fine-tuning and teasing out subtle themes that I hadn't noticed before. From these comments, I have a better sense of some of my growth areas to work on and ways in which to push myself. It also helped me realize that I am most interested in hybrid roles, or at least roles with a strong visual component. Really grateful to have discovered this course :-)" - Madeline

Not an Italian mobster; Johny Vino is an engineers' designer. I've been a long time admirer of his work every since his mind-blowing animations and micro-interactions arrested me mid Dribbble scroll many years ago. He is a thoughtful, meticulous designer that understands how to align user and business goals all while transmuting conventional interaction patterns into something that is altogether transcendent yet familiar.

Case Study Format: https://johnyvino.com/

Process, Goal and Task Oriented that varies with each project

• What he worked on
• What he aim to accomplish
• Business Goals
• Representation of complex data
• Integration

Humans are not perfect. I like to apply 3 principles to ever product I design to help me focus on that. Fitt's Law, Mimicry, Aesthetic Usability Effect

Steph Parrott

Steph is a product designer based in Toronto. Currently working on Plantd and most recently at Square in San Francisco.

Case Study Format: https://www.stephparrott.com/plantd/

• Roles and Process
• App Overview
• Feature proposal
• Design to Development
• Looking to the future and what's next

"As someone who hasn’t eaten meat in almost 20 years, I’m highly motivated to put in the work to find plant-based options, but for those starting to dabble, how can we except them to do the same?" - Steph

Tom is the co-founder of the community and event series Design Club , and an investor & advisor to Bricklane . He currently works  own clients, helping invent, design, and launch new ventures. Before that he held design leadership roles at fashion and fintech startups, and was as a senior designer at a global agency. Case Study Format: http://tom.pe/gc-dashboard.html

• Summary of the problem space, challenges, project and contribution
• Goal and Problem
• Design Principles applied
• Proposed solution and representation of dashboard and data
• Design frameworks used
• Future considerations

"The problem here is that by trying to create something for everyone, we risked helping no one. Avoiding the design equivelant of an identity crisis became a big focus of mine. I'd do this by finding ways to inject a point of view into the product. By knowing what it wasn't, as well as what it was." - Tom Petty

Want to create an incredible portfolio like these full of amazing case studies to get you hired? Enroll in our Product Design Course today!

Garett MacGillivray

Much like myself and other designers of a particular generation, Aussie/Canadian Garett MacGillivray has been around the block and through the evolution of graphic designer, web design, UI/UX Designers and now landed squarely as a full stack Product Designer.

Case Study Format: https://aucadian.com.au/project/goloop

• Exploration and Ideation
• Component Library
• B2B product interface

I've had many labels throughout my career in the digital industry. It's safe to say that I enjoy crafting digital experiences.

Elise is a Bay Area designer that jumped to the bay from NYU. She comes from an advertising and marketing background and has fine tuned her communication skills and processes vast knowledge of the tech and digital product industry has a whole having been on the broadcasting and marketing side of things.

Case Study Format: http://www.elisefu.com/work-komeeda/

• Impact/Metrics
• User testing
• User research
• Information Architecture
• Implementation
• Major Findings
• Formal User Testing

I was driven to design because I felt excited and rewarding to learn about people’s goals and desires, help them solve problems and make their lives easier.

Latiesha Caston

Latisha is a User Experience Designer passionate about holistic, accessible, and inclusive design, based in Seattle.

Case Study Format: https://www.latieshacaston.com/veggie-grill-online-ordering-experience

• The Problem
• The High-level Goal
• The approach
• Pain Points
• Optimizing flow and improving architecture
• Interaction model breakdown
• Looking to the future

"Our high level goal was to design a holistic order-ahead experience that keeps the core of what we've built, while delivering on opportunities, addressing pain points, and setting the stage for the future." - Latisha

Karolis Kosas

Having recently joined the amazing design team at Stripe as a Product designer, Karolis's portfolio is clean and minimal and his case studies really understand the mental model of the user, getting into their heads and revealing the friction points they are feeling and how he can insert a solution that improves on the experience with compromising the soul of the designer.

Case Study Format: http://karoliskosas.com/cinemaclub/

• prototyping
• Built the product from zero

Visual communication is a self-sufficient organism capable of adapting and evolving based on the input of multiple sources.Acting in such context, the designer is an initiator, establishing methods and boundaries for the system to establish itself as an independent entity.

Rohit Singh

One of o ur very own graduates ! Rohit Singh is an up and coming product designer with a focus on helping early-stage startups and new businesses blossom.

Rohit outlines his process for creating an MVP for his digital product from scratch, which serves as a sort of physical and virtual library for the poorest class of India.

Case Study Format: https://work.khadush.in/booksite-an-online-physical-book-sharing-platform/

• Inspiration
• User Interviews
• Lean Canvas
• Visual Design
• Final Words

I specialize in helping early stage startups validate their riskiest assumptions using leading design methods

After analyzing all of these case studies and working with 100s of designers in our product design course to get them ready for the job application process, we've created our own tried-and-true templates to make it easy for designers to replicate the successful format and structure of these top portfolios using Notion .

Each of these amazing portfolios tells the story of the product designer, their evolution, their process and shows what they bring to the world. But it's not easy doing what they do or knowing exactly how to show and tell who you are as designer. Having a solid design education and getting feedback from the design community is the best way to ensure that your work is up to par and being presented in a way the shows your skills and your worth.

Have a look at our partners' advice over at Pathrise on building a strong UX design portfolio .

The best design resources, in your inbox

Tips, tricks, articles and freebies. It's all happening in the DesignerUp Newsletter. View the archives →

We'll only send the occasional email and promise not to spam.

© Copyright 2022 DesignerUp. All Rights Reserved.

• Reading Club New

How to write project case studies for your portfolio

Writing case studies might be the most dreaded part of building a design portfolio. After all the work and time it takes curating projects, designing pages, saving out images, etc., who wants to actually sit down and EXPLAIN it all? But next to your About page, case studies are the most important pa

Aside from showing your experience and skill, case studies give your potential client or employer an idea of how you work and think. Case studies are basically the whole point of building a portfolio — which is why Semplice and Carbonmade, our portfolio tools, were built around just that. Especially with more complex work such as UX design, a case study is a must to explain your work. Of course, your case study approach depends on your personal style and goals, but I generally recommend these rules when creating your project pages.

1. Write down your case studies before you do almost anything else

I know this is not as fun as designing your website but like most things in life, it helps to get the hardest task out of the way first. Near the end of the project you will just want to press that launch button, so anything you write at that time will be rushed and lazy. Or even worse, you will hit a wall and procrastinate launching the whole thing.

Write about your projects as early as you can, even if you have to adjust the copy slightly later to fit your final page layout. I usually just put all my thoughts in Evernote or a Google Doc. Think of your project in phases and start with Phase 1, which is usually the ideation or exploration phase. Write down your thoughts, and then continue to Phase 2. Don't bother with images just yet, this is just for you to help you get it all down.

If inspiration strikes otherwise, so be it. But in most cases you will thank yourself later by doing this first.

2. Keep it brief & caption everything

People are usually scanning your projects to get a general idea of your skills and the way you work. Don't write a novel, just share a short paragraph or two that makes your project interesting and relatable to your reader.

I've read research that says one of the first things people read in a newspaper are the little captions underneath the images. Think of your case study the same way. If someone scrolls through your case study and only reads the little 1-2 sentence captions, they should still understand your project. Focus on the captions first, and then fill in any lengthier content.

3. Include the right details

It all depends on your personal style and you don’t need to literally copy/paste this format, but your case study should loosely follow this outline or provide this information:

Name of client, what they do & their location: Give your reader context and write a quick sentence about what this project or product is all about. This will show your experience and interest in specific types of clients or design work. Naming the location will also help if you want to make it clear you work with clients all over, as opposed to just your hometown.

Goal for the project: What did the client ask you to do?  What was the briefing? What was the main challenge and measure of success? Did you have a certain idea or expectation for the project when you began?

Your experience: Anything interesting to share about your process for this project? Did you take a unique angle or notice some surprising insight? Do you have some early sketches we can see? Why did you choose that approach? Ask yourself WHY WHY WHY a thousand times, and then answer those questions.

The outcome: Did you feel proud of the result? Did it exceed your expectations? Did it increase the client’s sales by 2000%? Don’t get too technical or share some crazy analytics report (and definitely do not make anything up), just include a brief sentence or two that shares how the project was successful. A case study should ideally be a success story. If it's not, tell us why the project is still valuable or meaningful (maybe the client didn't choose your favorite concept for example, but you still love the work you did) and what you learned from it.

Again, it doesn’t need to be some stiff, clinical report. Just set everything up for the reader so they can fully appreciate what went into the project and how you approach your work.

4. Give credit & explain your role

This is especially important if it was a team project. If I just see a list of names without their roles, I might be a little suspicious about what you actually did on this project. But whether or not this was a team project, it’s helpful for us to understand what role you played. This could be as simple as listing “art direction & design” beside the project summary. Forgetting this detail is crucial and can mean the difference between getting hired or not.

"We should finish reading with a sense of your personality and design process."

5. Write in your voice

You and your client might know what they mean, but acronyms and buzzwords only distance your reader. Don’t try to impress with lofty language, just share your work in your own voice and be as clear as possible. We should finish reading with a sense of your personality and design process.

Whatever you do, don’t just copy/paste words about your client’s product from their website. The shift in voice will be obvious and will only make you seem lazy.

6. Don’t image dump

I’ve seen countless portfolios that either don’t include a case study at all or just have one sentence with a bunch of photos below for the reader to sort out on their own. That doesn’t sell your work the way it deserves. (Plus no copy = bad SEO, if you care about that.)

Consider a layout that lets you include a sentence or two beside each image, so you can explain your process and give us insight into what we’re seeing. A bunch of photos on a page might look pretty, but as almost every company in our "How to Get a Job at X" series has voiced, it's not enough. Your potential employer or client needs context. We need to understand who you are, how you work and how you might contribute to our team/culture.

7. Think of each case study like a magazine feature

This goes for your content and layout. Using a similar page template for your case studies is fine, but you should at least adjust it to fit the project and look of the work.

Think of the way magazine articles are laid out. They’re designed to fully immerse you in the piece and create an experience. They include photos at specific places to illustrate a point or bring a scene to life. They use pull quotes to pique your interest or point out an especially memorable part of the story. They break up paragraphs with photos, but take care to not disrupt your reading experience.

This is why Semplice allows designers to create fully branded case studies — meaning you can design every piece of your page to fit the project’s look and feel, from the navigation down to the footer. Every project is different and your case studies should be too.

I could go on and on, but when it comes down to it, no one-size-fits-all solution works for case studies. It all depends on you, your project, style and the kind of work you do. As we say in this article about writing as a designer (good tips in there as well), just remember to write for that one person on the other side of the screen. It's one person hiring you for the job after all – and often that person is a recruiter or someone who's not necessarily a designer like you. Design your portfolio and write your case studies with your reader in mind, and you'll be one step closer to doing the work you want to do.

Read more portfolio tips here and be sure to check out the Semplice Showcase for design portfolio inspiration.

Featured article image by Liz Wells

What is quality anymore?

How to create free press for your work

My anti-New Year’s resolutions

Let's talk about AI

Most popular.

© 2021 House of van Schneider LLC All rights reserved.

MORE ABOUT TVS About DESK Curated mixtapes DESK partnerships

BECOME A FRIEND Twitter Dribbble Instagram

We're sorry, our pandas couldn't find any articles

Why don't you take a look at popular topics like Design , Productivity or Self-Improvement ?

A Space for Creative Growth

How to write case studies for your design portfolio

A good case study on your design portfolio is a great way to make it stand out. Here’s how to get it right

Illustration: Yali Ziv

• Jul 13, 2020

Putting a work process into words might cause some to break out in a light sweat, but just like the rest of a design portfolio , a case study is a chance to shine. The key to approaching such a task is by realizing that crafting the perfect case study isn’t that different from any other design work you do.

Here’s everything you need to know about writing good case studies, from how to structure them visually, to which details to include and more.

What is a design case study?

In a nutshell, the main aim of a case study is to tell the story of a specific project of yours. The text you write can put your design work into context and make it more fully understandable. Integrating images with text, a case study outlines the most important details of the process, from the brief you were given, to how you approached the task, to the final result. Incorporating case studies into your portfolio helps give potential clients or employers a look into how you work, what you’re good at and what your thought process is.

When making your online design portfolio, note that not every project requires a full case study. You can pick the projects you’re proudest of, giving you the chance to highlight your skills and explain what made the design so successful. Now that we’re on the same page, here’s our best advice:

Include the relevant details

To make sure you’ve covered all the relevant information, here’s a checklist of the main details to include. Note that these aren’t strict guidelines - it depends on how thorough you want to be and what you feel is important for your project.

1. Background info: If you were working with a client, include their name and what they do, plus the date and location in which the project took place. Also explain what your role was within the project (for example “Web Design,” “Branding” or “Art Direction”). If you worked in a team, credit the other people and list their roles. This is also the place to give a brief sentence on what the project actually is.

Example: See how designer Ariel Sun , introduces her rebranding project:

“The Human Project at NYU (THP) worked with the agency Ogilvy & Mather to redefine their brand and develop a new logomark. As THP's internal graphic designer, I applied that visual language to a variety of marketing & communications assets and fresh brand collateral.”

2. Goal: Briefly explain what the aim of the project was. You can base this on the design brief you worked with throughout the project.

Example: Design studio and Wix user, Run Wild , state the goal of their UX project:

“The challenge was to redesign a convoluted site into an action-oriented site that provides clear navigation and call to action.”

3. Design process: You can really decide how much you want to elaborate here. Keeping it short is also an option. Either way, the idea is to talk about the main stages you went through in the design process, which decisions you made and why, what your approach was, and any changes made throughout.

You can include some of the research you did and what your inspirations were. Don’t be afraid to mention any challenges you experienced or concepts that were later scrapped - as long as you keep a positive attitude and explain the reasoning behind the decisions, remember that it’s all part of the process.

4. Results: Here, present the final outcome and your main learnings. You can also write about how success was measured. For example, state whether all your client’s expectations were met (this can be in the form of client quotes if you like), or perhaps include stats you have about an increase in sales, or describe how part of your design was later used on a larger scale.

Example: In this case study about a redesign for a website, Ariel Sun explains the results:

“The result is an engaging and unexpected twist on a garden party that tells a clear story while still leaving room for the viewer’s imagination. After reviewing a set of submissions that included work from our very talented colleagues, Tattly picked this design and will elaborate it into a full-on marketing campaign.”

Make it skimmable

We all know that we live in a time of short attention spans . Even when it comes to prospective clients or employers, they want to get a feel for your design project fairly quickly. That’s why you should make your case studies accessible, inviting and easy to grasp at first glance , both in terms of the design and the text itself.

The layout of the page should serve the storytelling process, revealing information in digestible, bite-sized chunks. Combine images with text cohesively, somewhat like the structure of a magazine or book. See how designer and Wix user, Brittney Johnson , separates the parts of her case study into drop-down sections, enabling you to focus on one point at a time.

Split up your text into paragraphs and add headers that will enable visitors to navigate easily from section to section. Consider emphasizing certain words by making them bold, changing their size or opting for a different color. Additionally, caption each image with a brief description, so that even people that aren’t into reading lengthy text can comprehend the context. It will also help make your design more accessible , offering your visually impaired site visitors an alternative understanding of the image.

In terms of the writing style, keep it concise and to the point . Use short sentences that explain exactly what you want to say, without repeating themselves just for the sake of sounding sophisticated. This doesn’t mean you need to sound robotic - you should still keep it personal and remember that at the end of the day, your target audience is humans.

Write it like a (short) story

Just like in any other design project, a case study simply tells a story. And that’s exactly the way you should write it. It should have a structure, including a beginning, middle, and end, made up of all the relevant details (scroll up if you missed what those are). It’s not just random sentences placed one after the other, but rather, an outline of a process, generally written in chronological order.

Maintain your tone of voice

On a similar note, remember that your case study describes your project, so feel free to let your individual personality shine through in your writing. Keep the same tone as in the rest of your design portfolio’s copy , in order to form a clear personal brand and consistent browsing experience.

You don’t need to be overly formal or use complex jargon, as this could just end up intimidating people. On the flip side, including jokes might be taking it a little too far. Simply focus on getting the point across succinctly and in your own language. As a result, the likelihood is that you’ll give your site visitors a better idea of who you are and where your specialty lies.

The combination of text and images helps break it up into a story-like layout, resulting in a more immersive and engaging experience, which is why you should make sure not to only include visuals. Plus, text is great for your design portfolio’s SEO (search engine optimization), increasing your chance of ranking higher on search results.

Get more inspiration on how to tell a visual story through your portfolio with these 8 graphic designers’ websites .

Commentaires

More posts like this:.

Nov 3, 2021

Show and tell: sharing the story behind your creation

Apr 14, 2021

How to write your best personal statement

Feb 4, 2019

How to Write the Perfect Copy for Your Design Portfolio

How to write engaging case studies for your portfolio

We examine 5 portfolios with powerful case studies.

Project case studies are one of the most important yet overlooked parts of building a design portfolio . In our efforts to design the perfect portfolio and showcase our visual work, we often rush the copy or omit it entirely, leaving only a shallow overview of who we are and what we can do. But dumping a bunch of photos on your project pages without any context sells your work short.

Case studies are so crucial to the success of a designer's website that we built Semplice , a portfolio system for designers, entirely around them. (If you're after design portfolio and case study inspiration, check out the Semplice Showcase .) 

Your portfolio case studies are your opportunity to show prospective clients and employers how you think, how you work and what you can contribute to the world. Here are five examples of designers who do case studies well. 

01. Liz Wells

As a UX designer, Liz Wells has the unique task of making sitemaps, sketches, prototypes and user flows both visually engaging and concrete for her readers. She strikes the perfect balance in her portfolio case studies, highlighting work for brands like Google, Viceland and Spotify. 

Wells shares the project story from challenge to solution, taking care to explain her process along the way. Photos, videos – even early sketches torn from her notebooks – are thoughtfully photographed and laid out. All of it works together to not only showcase Wells' work, but also who she is and how she thinks.

On my blog, I publish a series in which I interview top companies about how to get a design job where they work. Almost every company has voiced that they want to understand how you think and see your process. 

Think about your project in phases and share your work – even the less glamorous notes and sketches, if they’re important to the story – from beginning to end, and you’ll find you have plenty to say. 

02. Melissa Deckhert

Melissa Deckert ’s case studies may be minimal but they pack a punch. Some, like her Food Quote GIFs case study for Tumblr, hook you in with a little secret that makes you look closer at the work.

“Tumblr asked me to animate a few food quotes for an internal project,” Deckert explains in the case study. “Naturally I found a way to weave Beyonce into two out of three.” Short and sweet, but the last line creates intrigue and make you want to see more.

Others case studies, like her In Every Moment We Are Alive book cover project, surprise you with a big reveal at the end. The case study works in reverse, leading with the finished product (the final book cover) and ending with a behind-the-scenes shot that makes you rethink what you saw before. 

Despite all our excuses, designers can write too . While it’s good to share your process, it also helps to remember the one person who is reading your website. They’re tired, they’re busy and they’ve probably reviewed dozens of portfolios today already. If your case study surprises them and brightens their day, it will be remembered. 

03. Naim Sheriff

Naim Sheriff breaks his case studies into sections, making the page easy to read and digest. He leads with a brief paragraph introducing the client and task at hand, then shares each project element in bite-sized pieces. 

Most importantly, he explains his visuals instead of just dumping them on the page. Sheriff’s case studies are rich in imagery but he doesn’t just show, he tells.

Just as with a newspaper or magazine article, it’s important to remember people are scanning your case studies. They may decide to read deeper if something catches their interest, or they may just skim and move on to the next project. 

Use your layout to guide them through the content and draw them deeper. Make your captions meaningful for scanners, and write easy-to-read paragraphs for the ones who stay.

04. Mackey Saturday

Mackey Saturday ’s case studies, like his whole portfolio, are clean and light. His identity designs for brands like Instagram , Oculus and Luxe stand on their own (as logos must do) but his case studies, complete with videos, polished photos and before and after GIFs, explain the nuances and decisions behind the finished product. Most notably, Saturday reveals his entire perspective on branding and design in his case studies.

“Redesigning a globally recognised logo is a polarising opportunity: Do you put your personal style on display, or stay true to what the brand’s users are familiar with?” he writes. “I believe the best designs channel a company’s culture, not the designer’s.”

Don’t be afraid to share your opinion and perspective in your case study. While you should avoid sharing opinions like, 'I really hated working with this client', you should, where relevant, express your beliefs about design and how you applied them to your work. 

Tell people what inspires you, what principles guide you, share your feelings about the final result. This adds personality and helps visitors understand who you are as a designer. Read more tips for writing case studies here.

05. Kali & Karina

Kali & Karina tee everything up for their case study readers with a strong introduction, including the project challenge, the project brief (in one sentence), as well as the partnering agency, their client and their role. They then follow through with their approach and the outcome.

On of the most common portfolio mistakes is forgetting to mention your role and give credit to your team. Giving credit doesn’t make your work on the project any less impressive. 

In fact, it shows you can work well and collaborate with a team. It also helps a potential employer or client understand where your main skills lie and how you’ll fit into their team or project.

• Inspiring redesigns of design agency portfolios
• 6 ways to power up your portfolio
• How to start a blog: 10 pro tips

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Get the Creative Bloq Newsletter

Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors.

Related articles

Limited Time Offer! Save up to 50% Off annual plans.* View Plans

Save up to 50% Now .* View Plans

How To Write A Case Study For Your Design Portfolio

Case studies are an important part of any designer’s portfolio. Read this article to learn everything you need to know to start writing the perfect case study.

When you’re putting together your online design portfolio , design case studies are a great way to showcase your experience and skills. They also give potential clients a window into how you work.

By showing off what you can do and your design process, case studies can help you land more clients and freelance design jobs —so it can be smart to dedicate an entire section of your online portfolio website to case studies.

Getting Started

So—what is a design case study and how do they fit in your portfolio.

Let’s get some definitions out of the way first, shall we? A design case study is an example of a successful project you’ve completed. The exact case study format can vary greatly depending on your style and preferences, but typically it should outline the problem or assignment, show off your solution, and explain your approach.

One of the best ways to do that is to use a case study design that’s similar to a magazine article or long-form web article with lots of images throughout. When building your case study portfolio, create a new page for each case study. Then create a listing of all your case studies with an image and link to each of them. Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of creating these case studies.

Choose Your Best Projects

To make your online portfolio the best it can be , it’s good to be picky when choosing projects for case studies. Since your portfolio will often act as your first impression with potential clients, you only want it to showcase your best work.

If you have a large collection of completed projects, you may have an urge to do a ton of case studies. There’s an argument to be made in favor of that, since it’s a way to show off your extensive experience. In addition, by including a wide variety of case studies, it’s more likely that potential clients will be able to find one that closely relates to their business or upcoming project.

But don’t let your desire to have many case studies on your portfolio lead you to include projects you’re not as proud of. Keep in mind that your potential clients are probably busy people, so you shouldn’t expect them to wade through a massive list of case studies. If you include too many, you can never be sure which ones potential clients will take a look at. As a result, they may miss out on seeing some of your best work.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how many case studies to include. It’ll depend on the amount of experience you have, and how many of your completed projects you consider to be among your best work.

Use Your Design Expertise

When creating the case study section of your portfolio, use your designer’s eye to make everything attractive and easily digestible. One important guideline is to choose a layout that will enable you to include copy and image captions throughout.

Don’t have your portfolio up and running yet and not sure which portfolio platform is best for you? Try one that offers a free trial and a variety of cool templates that you can play around with to best showcase your design case studies.

If you don’t provide context for every image you include, it can end up looking like just a (somewhat confusing) image gallery. Case studies are more than that—they should explain everything that went into what you see in the images.

Check Out Other Case Study Examples for Inspiration

Looking at case study examples from successful designers is a great way to get ideas for making your case study portfolio more effective. Pay special attention to the case study design elements, including the layout, the number of images, and amount of copy. This will give you a better idea of how the designer keeps visitors interested in the story behind their projects.

To see some great case study examples, check out these UX designer portfolios .

Try a Case Study Template

There are plenty of resources online that offer free case study templates . These templates can be helpful, as they include questions that’ll help you ensure you’ve included all the important information.

However, most of them are not tailored to designers. These general case study templates don’t have the formatting you’ll want (i.e. the ability to include lots of images). Even the ones that are aimed at designers aren’t as effective as creating your own design. That’s why case study templates are best used as a starting point to get you thinking, or as a checklist to ensure you’ve included everything.

How to Write Case Studies

Maintain your usual tone.

You should write your case studies in the same personal, authentic (yet still professional!) tone of voice as you would when creating the About Me section of your portfolio . Don’t get bogged down in too much technical detail and jargon—that will make your case studies harder to read.

Since your case studies are part of your online portfolio, changing your usual tone can be jarring to the reader.

Instead, everything on your portfolio should have a consistent style. This will help you with creating brand identity . The result will be potential clients will be more connected to your writing and get the feeling that they’re learning what makes you unique.

Provide Some Context

Case studies are more effective when you include some information at the beginning to set the stage. This can include things like the date of the project, name of the client, and what the client does. Providing some context will make the case study more relatable to potential clients.

Also, by including the date of the project, you can highlight how your work has progressed over time. However, you don’t want to bog down this part of the case study with too much information. So it only really needs to be a sentence or two.

Explain the Client’s Expectations

Another important piece of information to include near the beginning of your case study is what the client wanted to accomplish with the project. Consider the guidelines the client provided, and what they would consider a successful outcome.

Did this project involve unique requirements? Did you tailor the design to suit the client’s brand or target audience? Did you have to balance some conflicting requirements?

Establishing the client’s expectations early on in the case study will help you later when you want to explain how you made the project a success.

Document Your Design Process

As you write your case study, you should take a look at your process from an outsider’s point of view. You already know why you made the decisions you did, so it may feel like you’re explaining the obvious. But by explaining your thought process, the case study will highlight all the consideration you put into the design project.

This can include everything from your initial plan to your inspiration, and the changes you made along the way. Basically, you should think about why you took the approach you did, and then explain it.

At this point, consider mentioning any tricks you use to make your design process more efficient . That can include how you managed your time, how you communicated with clients, and how you kept things on track.

Don’t Be Afraid to Mention Challenges

When writing a case study, it can be tempting to only explain the parts that went flawlessly. But you should consider mentioning any challenges that popped up along the way.

Was this project assigned with an extremely tight deadline? Did you have to ask the client to clarify their desired outcome? Were there revisions requested?

If you have any early drafts or drawings from the project saved, it can be a good idea to include them in the case study as well—even if they show that you initially had a very different design in mind than you ended up with. This can show your flexibility and willingness to go in new directions in order to achieve the best results.

Mentioning these challenges is another opportunity to highlight your value as a designer to potential clients. It will give you a chance to explain how you overcame those challenges and made the project a success.

Show How the Project’s Success Was Measured

Case studies are most engaging when they’re written like stories. If you followed the guidelines in this article, you started by explaining the assignment. Next, you described the process you went through when working on it. Now, conclude by going over how you know the project was a success.

This can include mentioning that all of the client’s guidelines were met, and explaining how the design ended up being used.

Check if you still have any emails or communications with the client about their satisfaction with the completed project. This can help put you in the right mindset for hyping up the results. You may even want to include a quote from the client praising your work.

Start Writing Your Case Studies ASAP

Since case studies involve explaining your process, it’s best to do them while the project is still fresh in your mind. That may sound like a pain; once you put a project to bed, you’re probably not looking forward to doing more work on it. But if you get started on your case study right away, it’s easier to remember everything that went into the design project, and why you made the choices you did.

If you’re just starting writing your case studies for projects you’ve completed in the past, don’t worry. It will just require a couple more steps, as you may need to refresh your memory a bit.

Start by taking a look at any emails or assignment documents that show what the client requested. Reviewing those guidelines will make it easier to know what to include in your case study about how you met all of the client’s expectations.

Another helpful resource is preliminary drafts, drawings, or notes you may have saved. Next, go through the completed project and remind yourself of all the work that went into achieving that final design.

Draw Potential Clients to See Your Case Studies

Having a great portfolio is the key to getting hired . By adding some case studies to your design portfolio, you’ll give potential clients insight into how you work, and the value you can offer them.

But it won’t do you any good if they don’t visit your portfolio in the first place! Luckily, there are many ways you can increase your chances. One way is to add a blog to your portfolio , as that will improve your site’s SEO and draw in visitors from search results. Another is to promote your design business using social media . If you’re looking to extend your reach further, consider investing in a Facebook ad campaign , as its likely easier and less expensive than you think.

Once clients lay eyes on all your well-written, beautifully designed case studies, the work will come roaring in!

Want to learn more about creating the perfect design portfolio? 5 Designers Reveal How to Get Clients With Your Portfolio 20 Design Portfolios You Need to See for Inspiration Study: How Does the Quality of Your Portfolio Site Influence Getting Hired?

A Guide to Improving Your Photography Skills

Elevate your photography with our free resource guide. Gain exclusive access to insider tips, tricks, and tools for perfecting your craft, building your online portfolio, and growing your business.

Get the best of Format Magazine delivered to your inbox.

Get Inspired by 10 Fashion Design Portfolios That Capture the Essence of Contemporary Style

Should I Catalog My Art?

Making Your Site Design More Accessible

6 Inspiring Portfolios by Members of BWP (Black Women Photographers)

Honoring Chicana Aesthetics With Photographer Brittany Bravo

2024 Interior Design Forecast: Sustainability, Maximalism, and Smart Integration

Architectural Design Trends 2024: Innovations in Sustainability

*Offer must be redeemed by April 30, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. PST. 50% discount off the subscription price of a new annual Pro Plus plan can be applied at checkout with code PROPLUSANNUAL, 38% discount off the price of a new annual Pro plan can be applied with code PROANNUAL, and 20% discount off the price of a new Basic annual plan can be applied with code BASICANNUAL. The discount applies to the first year only. Cannot be combined with any other promotion.

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

• Reviews / Why join our community?
• For companies
• Frequently asked questions

How to Write Great Case Studies for Your UX Design Portfolio

Well, the answer is really simple: write your UX case studies like stories. You see, when you present your case study as a story, you’ll find it far easier to give it a satisfying structure and captivate your reader. What’s more, you’ll make it easy for recruiters to imagine what it’s like to work with you, as they get to understand how you work. This makes your case study powerful and increases your chances of getting your first interview. Let’s take a closer look at what makes story-based case studies so impactful.

Since your case studies first and foremost serve to help you get an interview in your job application, they should answer the following questions (grouped into three categories, based on you as a person, your skill set and the way you do things):

Who are you? What drives you and what’s your background?

What UX skills do you possess?

How do you approach and solve a problem? How do you work with others?

As it turns out, when you tell a narrative through your case studies, you answer these questions effectively. Here are the 3 main reasons why you should write your UX case studies like stories and how this helps you stand out from other applicants.

Because Stories Allow Recruiters to Imagine What it’s Like to Work with You

“Narrative imagining—story—is the fundamental instrument of thought. Rational capacities depend upon it. It is our chief means of looking into the future, of predicting, of planning, and of explaining.” —Mark Turner, cognitive scientist and author

When a recruiter reads your case study, they want to find out if you’ll be a great addition to their team. They want to know not only if you have the right skills and attitude, but also whether they’d enjoy working with you.

When you tell a story, you make it intuitive for a recruiter to imagine what it’s like to work with you . That’s because we use stories to learn and imagine all the time—in fact, people have since the dawn of human history. Therefore, recruiters will find it easier to look into the future and predict if they’d like to work with you when they read a story-based case study. They’ll find it easier to understand who you are and how you solve a problem.

Since the dawn of human history, we have used stories to imagine and learn about our world. Help recruiters understand you by telling a story about your design process .

© Mike Erskine, Fair Use

This sentiment is echoed by Sarah Bellrichard, Senior Vice President of Wholesale Internet Solutions & UX at the American bank Wells Fargo. She shared her tip on case studies and interviews:

“My tip would be, tell stories. When designers present a flat portfolio it doesn’t tell me about how they approach the work they do and how they deal with the ebbs and flows of design. Tell me how you navigate from start to end of a project.” —Sarah Bellrichard, SVP of Wholesale Internet Solutions & UX, Wells Fargo

Because Stories Give Your Case Studies Structure

“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” —Jean Luc Godard, French-Swiss film director

If you’ve worked on a design project before, then you’re painfully aware of just how messy life can be. Deadlines change, project goals shift, and new findings can fundamentally alter design specifications.

Stories will give your past experiences form and make your case studies better organized . You can re-arrange your experience into a meaningful sequence of events—i.e., progress—towards your results. Otherwise, your case study will likely seem chaotic.

The arc of a story—introduction, middle, conclusion—is the perfect order to tell your messy progress towards a project’s final results. Let’s illustrate:

In the introduction :

You set up the context of your project, for instance through a design brief.

You introduce your team’s main goals and some of the main obstacles you faced

In a classic story, this is where we meet the heroes and learn about the venture/goal they’re reaching for and why they’re not satisfied with their current lives.

In the middle :

You illustrate your approach to solving the problem.

You bring your reader through your journey of how you used industry standard practices to tackle the problem. It’s important that you describe what you did and what your team members did, so the recruiter knows what skills and knowledge you possess.

In a classic story, this is where we follow our heroes struggling to conquer the beasts, villains and problems as they strive to reach their goals.

Finally, in the conclusion :

You showcase the final product and the results you and your team achieved.

You reflect upon what you’ve learnt and recount any follow-up tweaks you’ve made to the product.

In a classic story, this is where the heroes reach their goals―they experience personal growth , reap the rewards of their hard work and live happily ever after.

See how nicely it all fits into a story arc?

When you arrange your case study in a story arc, your journey becomes more ordered and meaningful.

© Teo Yu Siang and the Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

There’s more! You’ll also find it easier to write your case study when you arrange it like a story. You see, the introduction-middle-conclusion structure of a story forms a skeleton for you to fill in the “meat” of your journey. On top of that, recruiters who read your case study will also find the familiar arc of a story satisfying. Talk about a win-win situation!

Because Stories Captivate

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” —Native American proverb

Okay, your case study will most likely not live in your recruiter’s heart forever, but your story-based case study will definitely stand out from other purely fact-based case studies, as your story will engage and captivate your recruiter. You see, a narrative is more engaging and provides a better reading experience than a dry, factual account ever could. It naturally makes the reader feel involved in the story and weaves a common thread throughout the case study.

UX recruiters are incredibly busy. They’ll typically spend only 5 minutes scanning your case studies because they have so many applicants to process. Given that, you have a much better chance if you can capture your reader’s attention for the whole 5 minutes.

And there’s no better way to captivate someone than through a story.

Let’s demonstrate that in an ultra-brief case study―yours should be more detailed and in-depth. Below, you’ll find the same journey told in two ways: first in a factual manner, then in a narrative fashion. See which version you find more engaging.

Factual : User interviews were conducted with 12 people to evaluate the effectiveness of the prototype. The main finding was that the assumption that users shopped based on their weekly nutritional needs was invalid. This finding was used to create a new iteration of the product, which was tested and found to be 50% more successful than the previous version.

Narrative : We conducted interviews with 12 people to evaluate if our prototype was effective. Our finding threw a giant spanner in the works. We realized our assumption—that users shopped based on their weekly nutritional needs—was dead wrong. Undefeated, we scrambled to create a new iteration, and ran another round of tests. This time, it worked—the success rate shot up by a whopping 50%!

You probably find the narrative version way more interesting—and so will your recruiters.

Notice in the factual version how flat and lifeless the account is? Sure, the figures are there, but it looks as if you’re reporting on what someone else did. This tells a recruiter that you’re distant and non-engaged—that you didn’t take ownership in what you’re talking about.

So, embrace the liberating and captivating format of a story. Go ahead and describe how your finding proved you dead wrong and how you scrambled upon meeting a temporary setback.

Best practice:

Convey your emotions and write in an active, engaging tone of voice .

Include the team’s frustrations, problems you faced and new insights you learnt.

Include people: write “we”, “I” and “our team”.

This way, you’ll give your case studies flavor . Furthermore, you’ll reveal who you are and how you work―and your recruiters will come back for more.

Stories naturally captivate us—use that power to captivate your recruiters, too.

© Prasanna Kumar, Fair Use

Turn Your Case Studies into Stories

Of course, we’re not saying that you should write a novel to explain what happened in your project. Your case studies should still be short and sweet, but they also should be punchy and engaging.

In fact, when we sat down with Stephen Gay, Design Lead at Google’s AdWords, to ask him about the importance of a portfolio, he explained that he sees UX case studies as stories about the applicants.

• Transcript loading…

To a recruiter like Stephen Gay, case studies are stories that tell him about the applicants. Author / copyright holder: The Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

As Stephen astutely pointed out, we UX designers regularly use the power of stories in our work. So, use this same storytelling approach in your case studies, too!

The Take Away

The best way to write a case study is to tell it like a story. This way, your case studies become a vessel through which recruiters can imagine a future working with you, since they get to experience and understand exactly how you solve a design problem. Your recruiters will also enjoy the familiarity and structure of a story arc, and they’ll find the reading experience much more engaging. So, go ahead—inject humanity, color and passion into your case studies. Be a storyteller.

References and Where to Learn More

You can find Sarah Bellrichard’s tip on case studies in this article by Justinmind, which gathers tips and insights on how to do well in interviews.

Hero image: © Rawpixel, Fair Use.

How to Create a UX Portfolio

Get Weekly Design Insights

What you should read next, 10 ui designer portfolio examples.

How to Succeed as a Designer on Agile Teams: Embrace Imperfection

Your Guide to Hamburger Menus

• 2 weeks ago

How to Design with AI: 5 Insights from the IxDF Course

Tree Testing: A Complete Guide

• 3 weeks ago

The Role of Micro-interactions in Modern UX

How to Design UI Forms in 2024: Your Best Guide

What is Eye Tracking in UX?

Bartle’s Player Types for Gamification

UX Storyboards: Ultimate Guide

Open Access—Link to us!

We believe in Open Access and the  democratization of knowledge . Unfortunately, world-class educational materials such as this page are normally hidden behind paywalls or in expensive textbooks.

If you want this to change , cite this article , link to us, or join us to help us democratize design knowledge !

Privacy Settings

Our digital services use necessary tracking technologies, including third-party cookies, for security, functionality, and to uphold user rights. Optional cookies offer enhanced features, and analytics.

Experience the full potential of our site that remembers your preferences and supports secure sign-in.

Governs the storage of data necessary for maintaining website security, user authentication, and fraud prevention mechanisms.

Enhanced Functionality

Saves your settings and preferences, like your location, for a more personalized experience.

Referral Program

We use cookies to enable our referral program, giving you and your friends discounts.

Error Reporting

We share user ID with Bugsnag and NewRelic to help us track errors and fix issues.

Optimize your experience by allowing us to monitor site usage. You’ll enjoy a smoother, more personalized journey without compromising your privacy.

Analytics Storage

Collects anonymous data on how you navigate and interact, helping us make informed improvements.

Differentiates real visitors from automated bots, ensuring accurate usage data and improving your website experience.

Lets us tailor your digital ads to match your interests, making them more relevant and useful to you.

Advertising Storage

Stores information for better-targeted advertising, enhancing your online ad experience.

Personalization Storage

Permits storing data to personalize content and ads across Google services based on user behavior, enhancing overall user experience.

Advertising Personalization

Allows for content and ad personalization across Google services based on user behavior. This consent enhances user experiences.

Enables personalizing ads based on user data and interactions, allowing for more relevant advertising experiences across Google services.

Receive more relevant advertisements by sharing your interests and behavior with our trusted advertising partners.

Enables better ad targeting and measurement on Meta platforms, making ads you see more relevant.

Allows for improved ad effectiveness and measurement through Meta’s Conversions API, ensuring privacy-compliant data sharing.

LinkedIn Insights

Tracks conversions, retargeting, and web analytics for LinkedIn ad campaigns, enhancing ad relevance and performance.

LinkedIn CAPI

Enhances LinkedIn advertising through server-side event tracking, offering more accurate measurement and personalization.

Google Ads Tag

Tracks ad performance and user engagement, helping deliver ads that are most useful to you.

Share the knowledge!

Share this content on:

or copy link

Cite according to academic standards

Simply copy and paste the text below into your bibliographic reference list, onto your blog, or anywhere else. You can also just hyperlink to this article.

New to UX Design? We’re giving you a free ebook!

Download our free ebook The Basics of User Experience Design to learn about core concepts of UX design.

In 9 chapters, we’ll cover: conducting user interviews, design thinking, interaction design, mobile UX design, usability, UX research, and many more!

New to UX Design? We’re Giving You a Free ebook!

• Portfolio Tips
• Career Tips
• Portfolio Examples
• Get UXfolio!

29 Impressive UX Portfolio Examples and a Guide for Creating Yours

Klaudia Simon

Design leads always start with portfolios when reviewing candidates. So, all UX designers – juniors and seniors alike – need an impressive  UX portfolio . Though putting one together might seem daunting, once you get an idea of what it takes, the rest will come quickly. So, let’s get started by checking out some stunning UX portfolio examples:

Kyle Kovacs

This example shows: consistency is the key to creating a stunning UX portfolio on a tight schedule. Kyle uses the same font throughout the portfolio, adjusting only its size or weight. This results in a sleek look. Also, he’s frugal with words on his portfolio’s landing page. This is in line with the newest UX portfolio trend: minimalist writing. Many designers add long sentences of eloquent introduction to their home page, and in most cases, it reads awkward or even forced. Don’t be afraid to keep it brief on your landing page! Design leads and recruiters care about design skills first. And your personality can shine on your About page, like Kyle’s.

Victoria Tu

It’s not only colors that account for consistency in a UX/UI portfolio. Check out how Victoria utilizes shapes, depth of field, and device mockups to coordinate her thumbnail layouts. The result is eye-catching. What’s more, thanks to the compositions, this UX intern portfolio looks dynamic without forcing elements to actually move around on the page.

Maxwell Marra

Maxwell’s UX portfolio website is an impressive showcase of his skills as a UI/UX designer & creative lead. The site’s design is pristine and intuitive, reflecting Marra’s commitment to user-centric design principles alongside his understanding of the latest UX portfolio trends. His projects – which range from the redesign of a budgeting app to a winter sports app – highlight his ability to translate innovative ideas into delightful digital experiences.

Max’s is the perfect example of what a UX portfolio should look like. Here’s why: it’s light and airy, with satisfying, pastel colors and soft, rounded corners. The UX of Max’s portfolio is also on point since the case studies are easy to reach, and the content is concise. And by making the case studies’ titles appear on hover, he didn’t compromise on the UI either. So, Max’s is a solid UX portfolio in all aspects.

Adrian Weber

Look no further for a portfolio to use as a basis for yours. Roland’s portfolio conforms to all UX portfolio best practices: only the basics in his hero section, 3 of the most important pages in the navigation, and 2 case studies presented matching thumbnails. It’s effortless, usable, and elegant.

Karl Ligeti

If you take a look at the best UX design portfolio examples, you’ll soon realize that the liberal use of whitespace is fundamental to all of them. Yet still, many designers – especially juniors – are frugal with it because they fear that their portfolio will look empty. If you’re unsure about whitespace, check out Karl’s portfolio: it has a minimalist design with plenty of whitespace, yet the portfolio doesn’t look empty.

Nicola Petrie

Nicola’s UX design portfolio is a love letter to minimalism. Her custom thumbnails use the same device mockup styles, yet they don’t look repetitive at all since Nicola experimented with the arrangement on each thumbnail. The result speaks for itself. Her case study titles and subtitles are effective too: The title reveals the purpose of the app/project. Meanwhile, the subtitle describes the scope of the project. This way, we open each project with some background knowledge.

Rachel Baek

Rachel B is a UX designer and researcher who translates academic research into user-friendly products. Rachel’s portfolio is easy on the eye with its refined design and a comforting color scheme that reflects her personality and style. She follows UX portfolio best practices by using a consistent layout and clear navigation through and through. Her UX case studies highlight her hard skills, such as UX research, wireframing, and prototyping, as well as her soft skills, such as communication and collaboration. Rachel’s portfolio is a great example of how to portray, promote, and showcase a wide range of design skills in a captivating manner.

Hana Nakano

Hana used UXfolio’s Norman template as her base, transforming it into something unique with the available customization options and features. The intense blue accent color creates an exciting contrast with the white background. Her thumbnails are in perfect harmony because she created them with UXfolio’s Thumbnail Designer. This feature allows you to design professional thumbnails inside UXfolio: just bring your designs and the rest is on us! Hana’s portfolio is proof that you can create a memorable UX portfolio without overdesigning it.

David Bornfirend

David’s UX portfolio website is a masterclass in clean and modern design. The homepage is pure yet attention-grabbing thanks to the large headline that sets the tone for the rest of the website. This direction, combined with the black-white-gray color palette, underlines David’s professionalism also apparent from his well-structured and stunning case studies, in which he achieves the perfect balance between copy and visuals.

Aniela Carolina

Aniela has been a designer for 10 years and her experience is obvious from the way she presents herself and her work. First of all, she chose a lovely accent color and applied it consistently throughout various elements of her pages. Furthermore, she uses icons and typography to create a sharp content hierarchy. The longer case study titles on her home page act as super-descriptive snippets into the projects. She included 3 projects in her portfolio, yet, as you scroll through her home page, it feels and looks more because of the project grid she chose in UXfolio’s editor.

Annie Nguyen

Annie’s portfolio stands out for its sharp design, fonts, and clean thumbnails. She keeps the copy minimal on her home page, which prompts us to jump right into one of her detailed UX case studies. We like the way she tagged each case study: her role, the field, and the design type. This way, if someone’s looking for a mobile designer, they can jump right into the mobile design case study. Saving time for your users is among the top 3 things you can do for them. This applies to all products, including your UX portfolio.

Kevin Hursey

An effortless and chic portfolio that’s proof: you can never go wrong by keeping your UX portfolio’s design lowkey. Here, the focus is on elegant typography and fantastic case studies. And the result is top-notch. It’s evident that Kevin’s confident in his skills and work. He doesn’t need to compensate with an overdesigned portfolio like so many designers. If you wonder why just check out the Brightminds case study. It has a solid structure, crisp visuals, and engaging storytelling that highlights UX. It’s one of the most popular UX case studies on UXfolio’s Showcase .

Since the 2020s we’ve been seeing more and more dark UX portfolio examples. As you can see from Melysia’s example, dark templates are especially beautiful when the content is kept to a minimum, and there are bright elements to break up the darkness. Melysia uses UXfolio’s password-protection feature on her case studies. This feature allows you to set up passwords for individual case studies or your entire portfolio to protect sensitive material.

Robyn Hines

Here we have a fun yet still elegant portfolio. There are a few fantastic tricks up Robyn’s sleeves that we’d like to highlight. First, check out how she uses those diffused, colorful blobs in the background of her thumbnails to tie them together. The thumbnails link to very different projects, yet they are in perfect harmony on the home page. Second, Robyn uses a layout that fills up her portfolio. By making the thumbnails bigger and presenting them in a vertical list, the portfolio doesn’t look empty. If she’d use small thumbnails on a grid layout, the perception would be quite the opposite.

Jaclyn Chao

Jaclyn describes herself as someone with “[an] eye for simplicity, keen observational skills, and obsession with organization” – traits that can be traced in her UX design portfolio. She took a minimalist portfolio template and made it her own through careful font selection, dynamic project thumbnails, and harmonizing colors. What’s more, Jaclyn wrote an engaging and memorable About page, which is a rather challenging feat.

Alyssa Ignacio

If you’re looking for the perfect, non-cliché designer statement, check out Alyssa’s: “Making a positive impact on my communities through collaboration, empathy, and endless funfetti cookies.” As simple as it is, this intro – mixed with the warm tones of her portfolio – makes her instantly likable. She keeps to this much-welcome conciseness throughout the portfolio. Though the whole UX/UI portfolio looks amazing, we’d like to highlight the type she used for the descriptions on her thumbnails: it’s small, stylish, yet still readable. Many designers are afraid of small font sizes, but with the right type, going small can create a chic effect without affecting usability or accessibility.

Madison Green

Madison mixes various colors in her portfolio – green, blue, lilac, and red – yet it looks coherent. That’s because she uses similar, dusty shades of each color. And just like that, without even reading a word, we know she has an eye for design. She features four case studies on her home page, each represented by consistently designed thumbnails, a short title, and the right amount of description. Before even opening the project, we learn what her role was and what was the project scope. So, this is an excellent example of great UX meeting good taste.

Natalie Kyle

When you hover over Natalie’s project thumbnails, you can read project subtitles like “The days of hunting your data are over” or “Show me the money! ” These are only really small details, but you can’t help but smile while reading these subtitles. Allowing your personality to shine via funny or unexpected copy is always a great direction. Recruiters and UX professionals have to look through dozens of case studies each day. Therefore, including a small but unexpected detail might just be your ticket for an  interview .

We hear many stories of researchers struggling with their UX research portfolio . Saba shows you how to tackle this challenge. Instead of going with the usual serious look, she created a playful portfolio, using bright colors and a handful of matching emojis. Emphasis on matching. This look works for Saba because the emojis on her project thumbnails are from the same source, and the colors she uses on her backgrounds are in perfect harmony.

Nuwanthi Illukkumbura

If you’re wondering what a senior UX designer portfolio looks like, check out Nuwanthi’s! With 10 years of experience under her belt, Nuwanthi knows a thing or two about curating her work. She showcases her expertise and skills in 4 impactful case studies, focusing on

• UI redesign, and
• UX overhaul.

Many designers believe that the more you’ve worked in the industry, the more case studies you need in your portfolio. This isn’t exactly the case. What’s important is that you showcase your range through your best work. Design leads or recruiters will not read through 10 case studies, so it’s better to curate your best work only like Nuwanthi does.

Benny’s portfolio is clean and professional. He saves his introduction to his About page to pull our attention toward the projects. That’s how we know we’re looking at a senior UXer’s portfolio. Experienced designers know that in UX, case studies get you the job. The reason is simple: case studies showcase your UX skills and process in action, underpinned with examples. Therefore, as our research revealed, most design leads go for case studies right away when opening a portfolio. Benny understands this, and he crafted this stunning, consistent portfolio accordingly.

Jack Bernstein

Jack uses bold colors to upset the clinical minimalism of UXfolio’s Otis template. The good thing about templates so subdued is that they work great with bold design choices as well as a serious tone. It’s up to you which route you go down. Jack went with vibrant pink, lilac, sky-blue, and mustard. Each of these colors is fantastic on its own, but they also work perfectly together. We love the inclusion of the simple “Illustration” page . When clicking it, you’d expect to see static images laid out on a page or maybe a gallery. Instead, Jack embedded an adorable video of him drawing with a baby in his lap. This small gesture makes the entire portfolio even more personal.

Otilia Pandelea

Otilia made her portfolio unique by using a stunning font pairing: Poppins with IBM Plex Mono. This pairing and the harmonious color story look wonderful throughout the entire portfolio. Her about page, with custom graphics, is another highlight. We love the two lists: one about her goals and another about her frustrations. It’s new. It’s fresh. Also, the two lists balance each other perfectly and make us feel in tune with her.

Quentin Muraz

Quentin’s UX portfolio was built according to the “less is more” principle. The look is on point, and so is the content. Using  UXfolio’s  thumbnail styles, he made sure that the case study titles appear on hover only. And it’s worth hovering for these titles and subtitles! They utilize a great formula for naming UX/UI case studies: the app’s name for the title, and a short but revealing sentence for the subtitle.

Bjorn Gulpen

Here’s proof that you don’t have to overthink your UI/UX portfolio to achieve something great. Bjorn’s hero section is simple and welcoming. The first thing we see when landing on the portfolio is a high-quality portrait, with a friendly smile on his face, alongside a short design manifesto. Bjorn’s case study thumbnails don’t follow an obvious color story, yet they work together perfectly because he used the same text styles and naming formulas on each.

Rachel Platt

Salesforce Product Designer, Rachel used  UXfolio’s  thumbnail generator to create stunning thumbnails that match the style of the case studies they’re linking to. The thumbnail generator takes your case studies’ hero section and your images (with or without device mockups) and offers you various thumbnail options. It’s up to you which one you chose. When clicking one of the thumbnails, you’ll see that most of Rachel’s case studies are password-protected. This feature allows you to build case studies based on sensitive materials while keeping control over who can view them.

With positive emojis in her bio and colorful project thumbnails, Ellen brings warmness to this otherwise strict and minimal template. By using large typography under her thumbnails, she drives attention to the copy, which describes each project in a concise style. Ellen’s Neurotime case study is also featured on our showcase since it’s the textbook example of how it should be done: clear structure, plenty of visuals, and descriptive but not overlong. She uses UXfolio’s built-in device mockups to present her examples, ensuring that the case study looks visually consistent.

Dae Hyun Baek

Dae Hyun’s portfolio is simple yet appealing. While the project thumbnails are quite large, their contents are perfectly sized. This gives the whole portfolio a light and modern feel. When you are designing your own portfolio homepage, pay attention to whitespace and margins. Nobody wants to look at a cramped portfolio, and as much as you want to squeeze everything into a thumbnail, you need to make some cuts to keep it simple.

Alexander Kirov

Alexander’s portfolio has some password-protected projects, which is a great way to protect sensitive data or case studies that are not strictly public. What is even better is that he still shows some final UIs or design elements on the thumbnails, so you can get a sense of his overall work even though you can’t peek further. It’s also an option to present more information about the projects right on your own portfolio home page.

Takeaways from the best UX portfolios

Now that you’ve seen some of the best UX/UI portfolios out there, you’ve probably realized that they share many similarities. That’s because they use a portfolio formula that works; a structure which the industry is familiar and comfortable with:

Your home page is your visitors’ first touchpoint with your portfolio. It’s the starting point and the first impression you make. Therefore, it has to

• look great -> so your visitors want to see more.
• help with orientation -> make it easy for them to see more.

Content on your home page:

• Occupation/title,
• Designer statement,
• Links/thumbnails to case studies,
• Navigation (to various pages, like About me, Resume, and Contact).

Case study thumbnails

All things considered, your thumbnails are the most important part of your portfolio’s home page. Even more important than your navigation, for example. If you think about it, the point of a portfolio is to showcase your skills and process through case studies. Therefore, you need to get your visitors to open your case studies. The best way to do this is by creating enticing case study thumbnails and featuring them right on your home page.

The 4 golden rules of case study thumbnails:

• Your thumbnails must look good individually and together since they’ll be laid out close to each other.
• Use the same device mockup style for every thumbnail.
• Make sure that the thumbnails’ backgrounds are identical or harmonizing.
• The thumbnails have to match the home page, not the case study.

UX case studies

We all know that UX goes beyond pretty screens. Therefore it’s understandable that UX leads and recruiters want to see your approach and process. And through case studies, you can show it to them. Great case studies combine the following ingredients:

• Logical thought processes.
• Communication,
• Ability to work independently,
• Decision-making based on research and data,
• Ability to learn from mistakes, and
• Problem-solving.
• Design process.
• Knowledge of UX methods and their application.
• Openness to feedback.
• Desire to improve.

Nice-to-haves in a UX portfolio

While your home page and case studies are the most important elements of your portfolio, you should take it a step further. Adding pages like About/Bio, Contact, UX designer resumé , and social links can make your portfolio more usable, revealing, and personal.

How to showcase skills in your UX portfolio?

Our job at UXfolio includes talking to world-renowned design leaders to find out what they’re looking for in portfolios. We had to pleasure of talking to some of the most innovative and influential UX designers in the industry, such as

• Design Spring inventor Jake Knapp ,
• behavioral scientist Susan Weinschenk ,
• UX industry veteran Jared Spool , and
• InVision lead designer Pablo Stanley .

They all mentioned that the best UX portfolios show the design process and decisions. Of course the final design is important too, but they want to see how you’ve arrived there. They want you to explain your decisions and to tell why you decided to go with those specific solutions.You need to share design stories. Present your design process step-by-step, from the beginning to the end.

Tell your design story with UXfolio!

In case you need a tool to help build your portfolio quickly and easily, we made a great one: UXfolio . We created it specifically for UX professionals, so it’s packed with powerful features that’ll help you through the portfolio-building process. These features include text ideas and guiding questions for copywriting, prototype embedding, scrollable mockups, galleries, statistics section and many, many more. Give it a try!

• Top Courses
• Online Degrees
• Find your New Career
• Join for Free

7 UX Designer Portfolio Examples: A Beginner's Guide

Get inspiration for your entry-level UX portfolio with real world examples.

How do you build a UX design portfolio with no experience? This is a common problem for beginning UX designers looking for their first paying job. Luckily, crafting a stellar portfolio that shows off your skills before you’ve ever had a paying client is possible.

In this article, we’ll walk through seven types of portfolio case studies you can add to your portfolio that doesn’t require you already have a job. We’ll also look at how working UX designers present these types of case studies in their portfolios and offer some takeaways and tips for making your portfolio shine.

To get started, let's look at some general guidelines and best practices for your UX design portfolio.

UX case studies for your entry-level portfolio

Just because you’ve never completed UX design work for a paying client doesn’t mean you have to apply for your first job with an empty portfolio. These seven types of UX case studies make excellent portfolio material for UX designers looking to get their start in the industry.

1. The course assignment

Sometimes, the first project to go into your portfolio will be a UX project you worked on as part of a design course , UX bootcamp , or degree program. These types of projects often simulate real-world situations by giving you the constraints of a brief to work from, as well as teammates to collaborate with.

Including a course assignment or capstone project in your portfolio can demonstrate your ability to:

Work with the constraints and challenges of a brief

Design on a fixed timeline

Collaborate with a team

Incorporate feedback into design iterations

Portfolio example: Phyllis Liu - Autonomous Ridesharing

Courtesy of Phyllis Liu

Phyllis Liu, a Seattle-based UX designer who has worked for Facebook and Shopify, designed an autonomous car ridesharing experience as part of a project for a course at the University of Washington. In her case study, Phyllis is upfront about the constraints of the project, as well as what her team chose to focus on and why. 

Scope of work chart for the Autonomous Ridesharing case study

For example, the team decided to focus their efforts on solving two specific user pain points—namely finding the car and starting the ride without a driver. The case study walks through the project’s user research, product design iterations, validation through user testing, and user journey map before wrapping up with key takeaways and lessons learned.  

Best practices:  

Outline your role in the project and who else contributed. Mention what tasks you worked on.

Be clear about the scope and limitations of your project. What isn’t in the design, and why? Include a section outlining next steps if you were to continue the work.

Choose student projects with realistic constraints and real business value. Acknowledge any unrealistic elements in your case study. 

Upon completion of the Google UX Design Professional Certificate from Coursera, you’ll have three end-to-end projects for your portfolio: a mobile app, a responsive website, and a cross-platform experience. Follow the link to get started for free. 

2. The unsolicited redesign

An unsolicited redesign (sometimes called an uninvited redesign) is an excellent way to show off your skills before you ever land your first job as a UX designer. Pick an app or website that you’re familiar with, and make it better through your design process. 

An unsolicited redesign gives you the structure of an existing product to start with—including an established target user base—while allowing you to put your user experience skills to work. This type of project is great for:

Developing UX skills for new designers

Establishing familiarity with the design process

Building your first portfolio case study

Portfolio example: Shu Jiang - Houzz

Courtesy of Shu Jiang

Shu Jiang, a product designer at Google, includes an excellent example of an unsolicited redesign of the app Houzz in her portfolio. She starts by outlining the challenge she set for herself, then walks through the steps of her design process, with plenty of images to document her work. 

She includes affinity maps, a user persona, task flow chart, and low-fidelity, high-fidelity, animated, and clickable prototypes. She even validates her design decisions by testing her clickable prototype with users.

High-fidelity prototypes from an unsolicited redesign of Houzz

Best practices: 

Clearly indicate that this is an unsolicited redesign and that you have no affiliation with the company.

Work through the entire process, including user research (your friends and family can be your first test subjects). Resist the urge to simply redesign the interface.

Be respectful of the original designers, and try not to insult their work. Remember, they were working with a brief and real-world constraints. 

3. The passion project

Another option for a case study you can complete without any formal UX design experience is to build a concept app or website from scratch. Think about a problem in your own life you wish had a solution, or an app you’d love to have on your phone. Then design it.

This can be more challenging than an unsolicited redesign, as it lacks the inherent structure and constraints of an existing product. But it’s also an opportunity to let your creativity shine. 

Portfolio example: Jeremy Stokes - Cultivate

Courtesy of Jeremy Stokes

Jeremy Stokes is a former Google UX intern and current product designer at Duolingo. His passion project, Cultivate, lays out a clear problem to solve: there’s a stigma around talking about mental health, particularly within the Black community. His solution? A service that uses plant care as a method to empower users to cultivate (and talk about) their own mental health. 

User journey map from the Cultivate case study

Jeremy begins his case study by introducing the service, then takes you behind the scenes to see his design process. His case study includes his research methods, market analysis, detailed user persona, user journey map, and lots of early sketches and website iterations.

Jeremy also highlights his visual design strengths with a full brand guide that highlights the meaning behind his design choices. (including typography, color palettes, logos, and visuals).   

Best practice:  

Focus on solving a real problem. Outline that problem and how you went about solving it in your case study.

You may not have a huge budget (or any budget at all) when working on a passion project. Be sure to mention what you would have done differently if you did. 

Choose a project you care about. It’ll make the time and effort you put into it much more worthwhile.

4. The hackathon

During a hackathon, a group of designers and programmers get together to collaborate on a project. The idea is to have a functioning piece of software by the end of the competitive event, usually constrained to 24 to 72 hours. 

Attending a hackathon allows you to design a real app while collaborating with a real team of other designers, developers, and engineers. A hackathon project in your portfolio can demonstrate that you can:

Think critically and solve problems under pressure

Be a team player

Prioritize important features and tasks

Example portfolio: Yang Qian - Matchy

Courtesy of Yang Qian

Yang Qian, a product designer at Palantir Technologies, presents a case study from a three-day LinkedIn hackathon for design and engineering students. Her team’s challenge was to design an app to help college students better connect with their classmates. The result? Matchy. 

Yang presents the challenge, team, project duration, her role, and the skills she used to get it done in a clear and easy-to-read format. This case study does an excellent job of laying out user research findings. Short videos present user task flows in a way that doesn’t rely on big blocks of text.

Taskflow chart for Matchy case study

After the event, Yang even added an illustration showing how the app would bridge the gap between user experience and business value based on feedback from hackathon judges. 

Polish your hackathon project before presenting it as a case study (and acknowledge that you did so).

Focus on process over finished product. This is your opportunity to show hiring managers how you think under pressure.

Include any positive feedback from the judges, even if your project didn’t ultimately win.

5. The volunteer project

Another way to add real client work to your UX portfolio is to complete one or two small projects pro bono. Perhaps there’s a non-profit organization, school, or small business in your community that could use a website or app redesign. 

Keep in mind that many nonprofits and small businesses may need more than just design. They may also need help with development and implementation (and the resources that go with it). In these cases, consider volunteering as a team or doing pro bono work as part of a nonprofit hackathon.

Portfolio example: Clayton Hopkins - #DullesJustice

Courtesy of Clayton Hopkins

Clayton Hopkins includes a few pro bono case studies in his portfolio in the form of Medium articles. A particularly interesting example is the website design he did for a group of lawyers offering free legal aid to travelers at Dulles Airport in response to the Muslim travel ban in 2017. 

Homepage concepts for #DullesJustice project

In addition to walking through the entire UX design process step by step, Clayton offers insights into how he and his team responded to the urgency of the process, lessons learned along the way, and the results: three days after launch, the number of volunteers had increased from 100 to 1,200.

Best practices:

Choose projects that are fun or interesting to you and that you’d be proud to display in your portfolio.

Avoid signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for unpaid work.

At the end of the project, ask for a letter of recommendation for future jobs.

Looking for a way to volunteer your UX design skills ? Check out these sites for opportunities:

-Get matched with a nonprofit project on Catchafire .

-Join a Code for America brigade to help design new tools for local communities.

-Lend your graphic design skills to a worthy cause with donate:code .

6. The UX design internship

Sometimes the path toward becoming a UX designer starts with an internship. Companies like Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon, and AirBnB are known to hire interns on their UX teams. You’ll find plenty of benefits to working as an intern—even if you’re unpaid—including:

Mentorship from experienced UX designers

Real-world experience

Behind-the-scenes industry insight

Networking opportunities

Projects for your portfolio

If you have to sign an NDA, make your case study password protected or keep it general, focusing on the early ideation.

Tie your project to business results if possible.

Include a positive testimonial from your manager, supervisor, or peers from your time at the company.

7. The interview design challenge

You’ve landed your first interview for a UX designer role. But that doesn’t mean you can’t keep working on your portfolio. Many interviews include a design challenge—an interactive test meant to show how you think. With a bit of iteration and polish after the fact, you can transform these challenges (especially the take-home ones) into fresh material for your portfolio.

Portfolio example: Tammy Taabassum - Wish Design Challenge

Courtesy of Tammy Taabassum

During an interview with the e-commerce platform Wish, Tammy Taabassum completed a four-day design challenge where she was asked to improve the app in some way. Her project got her an internship, as well as a stellar portfolio piece.

Usability testing results chart for a Wish design challenge

Tammy presents her case study as a slidedeck that lays out the challenge and the four steps of her design process. She digs into the insights and challenges uncovered during her user research, points back to other apps where she found inspiration and ideas, redefines the Wish app’s information architecture, and validates her design with usability testing. She also discusses how she would test and iterate with more resources, giving her interviewers a preview of the value she’d bring to the company.

If you received feedback during your challenge, include it in your case study. Show how you incorporated it into your design.

Be sure to take photos of your work when completing a whiteboard challenge during an interview. 

Make clear that this was a design challenge so recruiters are aware of the limitations, such as time constraints.

What should be in a UX design portfolio?

In most cases, your UX design portfolio should have three sections, a Home Page, an About page, and a collection of case studies (this page is often labeled Work).

Your homepage should include a compelling headline introducing who you are and what you do. Sometimes one sentence, an image, and a clear navigational menu is enough. 

Your About page is the place to go into a bit more detail about who you are and how you got started in UX, especially if you’ve switched from another career. 

Early on in your UX journey, you may not have a ton of design work to include in your portfolio. But as you take classes, participate in hackathons, and work through passion projects, your collection of materials will start to grow. 

While there’s no hard and fast rule about the number of projects to include in your portfolio, consider featuring three to five in-depth case studies . These should be your best work, and you can always swap them out for new case studies as you gain experience.

For each, consider including:

Project context, scope, and timeline

Your role and list of collaborators

Problem you set out to solve

Method or hypothesis for solving the problem

Primary and secondary research

User research and findings

User persona and user journey map

Design iterations (sketches, wireframes, low and high-fidelity prototypes)

Final product

Conclusion and metrics of success

Lessons learned

Optional sections

Depending on your amount of experience and personal preferences, you may also choose to include the following pages:

Resume : Give it its own page on the site or link to it.

Side projects or other work: If you have case studies or graphic design work beyond your few highlighted projects, give them a separate section where those who would like to see more can find them.

Contact: This doesn’t have to be its own page, but be sure to give recruiters a way to get in touch after you’ve wowed them with your work.

UX portfolios: Choosing a platform

Having your own hosted website can often be worth the extra expense. But if you’d like to get started building a portfolio for free, these platforms can help you showcase your work:

1. Behance offers a free online portfolio platform for creative work, including UI, UX, and graphic design.

2. Dribbble , another popular UX portfolio platform, lets you share screenshots of your sketches, prototypes, and design concepts.

3. Adobe Portfolio is free with most Adobe Creative Cloud plans and allows you to create a customized site that synchronizes with Behance.

How do I make my portfolio stand out?

Now that we’ve gone through the must-have sections of a UX portfolio and some examples of effective case studies, let’s take a look at some additional tips and best practices to refer to when building your portfolio.

Showcase your process, not just the finished product. Don’t skip steps.

Document your process and include visuals in your case studies. Show your design process in action through photos, sketches, and screenshots.

Use emotive language to show empathy. This is particularly important when giving background on the problem you set out to solve.

Tie great UX back to business value (how does solving a user problem impact the business in a positive way?).

Highlight your specialty. If you aim to be a generalist, choose projects where you worked on all elements of the design process. If you’re more interested in user research or user interface (UI) design , prioritize these elements in your case studies.

Make sure your portfolio provides a good UX. Your portfolio website is itself a demonstration of your skills.

Try to include at least one live case study. Some work may need to be password-protected due to NDAs, but you want to give recruiters something to look at without having to email you for a password first.

How to enhance your UX designer portfolio

If you still need projects to fill the gaps in your portfolio, you have plenty of options. The list below outlines a few 100-percent online, self-paced programs that you can use to expand your UX design skills and bulk up your portfolio.

Google UX Design Professional Certificate : In addition to earning a Professional Certificate from an industry leader, this online course can be used to add three different end-to-end projects to your portfolio:

A mobile application

A responsive website

A cross-platform experience

Meta Front-end Developer Professional Certificate : Throughout this program, you'll manage a project in GitHub using version control, Git repositories, and the Linux terminal. You'll also have the opportunity to participate in a Capstone project to build the front end of a web application. By the end, you'll have completed nine projects in a lab environment or web application and earned a Professional Certificate from Meta.

Build your UX design portfolio today

Take the next step in your UX design career by creating projects you can add to your portfolio. Coursera offers top-rated courses and specializations to help you achieve your career goals:

To design an app for your portfolio, take our guided project Design a mobile app interface with Moqups . You'll create a flow and wireframes for all the app's stages, and then transform those wireframes into mockups that you can add to your UX portfolio.

To get a crash course in web design, take CalArts' Web Design: Wireframes to Prototypes . With this 40-hour course, you'll apply UX research to actual user interfaces by creating wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and clickable prototypes. The course is a continuation of Web Design: Strategy and Information Architecture , so if you also need skills in research, planning, and content design, you can develop a complex website by taking the two courses together.

To gain foundational UX design skills, take Google's UX Design Professional Certificate . This popular series of courses is designed to get you ready for an entry-level UX design role in six months or less.

Keep reading

Coursera staff.

Editorial Team

Coursera’s editorial team is comprised of highly experienced professional editors, writers, and fact...

This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

The Best UX Designer Portfolios: Inspiring Case Studies and Examples

What makes a winning UX portfolio? More than a showcase of skills, a UX designer’s portfolio is an opportunity for them to create an enjoyable user experience as well as demonstrate their UX mastery.

By Miklos Philips

Miklos is a UX designer, product design strategist, author, and speaker with more than 18 years of experience in the design field.

PREVIOUSLY AT

A considerable amount of time and effort goes into building a stellar UX designer portfolio. If the right type of content is chosen with great UX, it will be a worthy investment.

What makes a winning UX design portfolio? As outlined in a previous article “ UX Portfolio Tips and Best Practices ,” telling a compelling story is key. Recruiters and others who may be evaluating your work are busy—you only have a few minutes to engage them before they decide whether or not you made the cut.

A long list of relevant skills, the tools you use, and how many years of experience you have is of no real benefit to your visitors, or to your presentation. The best UX portfolios outline the user-centered design process —how the problem was solved.

Be explicit about your skills , the process you use, and the kinds of projects you specialize in, but be mindful of presenting too much information. User experience portfolios should not be a retrospective of ALL past work. Choose projects that are specific, recent, and outstanding, and present them as a design process.

Hiring/UX managers want to see: user research, research reports, sketches, wireframes, user flows, wireflows, user stories, customer journey maps, prototypes, user-testing, and the final product. If possible, it’s also good to include analytics tools used to see how successful the product was.

Here are a few other points to remember:

• Beware of technical jargon and splashy imagery—simple project descriptions and visuals are more effective.
• Wireframes are not pretty, so emphasize your structural ability. Share the process!
• Write clear project summaries. Make them easy to read—not too much text!
• If there are confidentiality issues blot out company logos and/or blur areas of the images. There is no bigger turn-off than encountering a page that is password protected. That is bad UX.
• Include a few stakeholder testimonials.
• Conclude each project case study with what you learned.

If you’re a UX designer, your UX portfolio should demonstrate exceptional UX.

A UX designer’s portfolio is more than a showcase of skills, it’s an opportunity to create an enjoyable user experience so designers need to prioritize good work, tell an engaging story, and demonstrate their UX mastery! Let’s take a look at some exceptional UX design portfolio examples.

Ten Inspiring UX Designer Portfolios

Karolis kosas.

Karolis grew up in Vilnius, Lithuania and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where he is a product designer at Stripe . Aside from many other interesting, self-initiated projects, he is the co-founder of Anchovy , a free, extremely simple iPhone app that turns your words into beautiful color gradients that can be sent as real paper postcards to anywhere in the world or shared with friends on Facebook Messenger.

What’s Great About This UX Designer Portfolio

This is a nice-looking, well-designed UX designer portfolio. Clearly, Karolis spent time considering its UX. Apart from the sparse, clean layout and great UI designs, a lot of detail is provided on his design process. For example, on the CUJO project, he describes how he interacted with the user base while doing his research, identified the biggest user pain points, and worked out where they could add more value. On all of his projects, UX research takes center stage as the primary driver of design decisions, and he wraps up his projects by describing how successful they were.

His UX designer portfolio site is at: http://karoliskosas.com

Originally from Washington, D.C., Alex is an illustrator turned UX designer. As well as co-founding a business focused on B2B products, he has worked with the Local Search Team on Google Maps and on eCommerce and social gaming projects. He continues to put users first while considering simultaneous and future efforts, ensuring pixel perfection and a delightful user experience.

Taking one of his projects as an example—Google Live Popular Times—Alex clearly spells out what the project was about, what he did, and how he got there. He presents the problem and the UX research performed in order to dig deep and define the design problem statement . He also mentions design constraints on an existing product, and how he took user research insights to come up with a simple solution.

Taking back a few brownie points because among all of the great UX process case studies, he has a project thumbnail that links to a Dribble shot and offers no detail whatsoever about the project. It’s best for UX designers to demonstrate a consistency of design in their UX portfolios as it conveys professionalism and respect for the visitor.

His UX designer portfolio site is at: https://www.alexlakas.com

Hailing from a small town in Australia, Simon is a product designer currently based in San Francisco and has worked on projects for some major brands such as Uber, Amazon, Google, Medium, and Barclays (bicycle rental).

Simon’s case studies are very detailed and take visitors through his design process in a thoughtful way. His example of the London By Bike app for the Barclays bike rental system is especially thorough. He really researched potential users and came up with detailed personas that he uses throughout the project to guide design decisions, priorities, and to create empathy between the client and his team. He went out for a ride himself to “walk a mile in the user’s shoes;” in this case “ride a mile.” - :)

His UX designer portfolio site is at: http://simonpan.com

Niya Watkins

Niya is a freelance UX designer based in Washington, DC. She previously worked in international affairs and says that her time in the civil service is where she learned what a hindrance inefficient, poorly-designed websites were to productivity. She often found herself using creative solutions to save time, energy, and money, and was subsequently ‘accidentally’ pushed into user-centered design, ergo: UX.

What’s Great About Her UX Designer Portfolio

To kick things off, Niya gives us the background of each project, her role, and research process. She then goes into her process for: personas, card sort, information architecture, sitemap, interaction design, wireframes, prototypes, user testing and all the other typical steps a great UX designer takes to arrive at the best designs. She even includes a link to the InVision prototype for all to check out. Very comprehensive.

As with Rahul a few reviews down, we’re taking back a few brownie points because of site navigation issues (this could be a Squarespace template limitation—nevertheless, it’s poor design). Also, the “latest projects” section has four projects on her homepage, and when she invites visitors to “see all” we see the same four projects, nothing more. That’s not what was expected and it’s bad UX.

Her UX portfolio site is at: https://www.niyawatkins.com

Pendar Yousefi

Pendar didn’t grow up in 60s America, and never went to the moon, but has always done things because they were hard. Today, he finds himself leading the design team at Google Translate , with a mission to help the 10% of the world’s population who use their products every month.

Really juicy UX case studies. Pendar goes into great detail about his UX design process on every one of his projects, presenting the problem and the challenges each presented. Looking through his UX design case studies and the hypotheses the team came up with around the product problem, make for a fascinating and educational read. Often the product team assumed a bunch of reasons why a problem existed, only to find out after user research that those assumptions were completely wrong.

The UX design process case studies are very detailed—almost too much—but despite their volume are easy to read because there is just the right balance between illustrative images and text as he walks us through the process. When user testing shows the design is heading in the wrong direction, it’s fascinating to see how the team took a sharp turn and corrected course.

His UX portfolio site is at: https://mahimoto.com/projects

Rahul is a freshly-minted UX/product designer who interned at Google in the summer of 2018. He writes about his experience and what he learned in a detailed and self-reflective manner. Prior to his UX internship, he worked for 3 years as a UI and UX designer in both enterprise and start-up environments. His UX portfolio includes case studies of work for Amazon Go Plus, GE Appliances and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Rahul’s case studies are very detailed and walk people through his design process in an easily consumable way. Some designers make the mistake of adding way too much text to their case studies—most reviewers/ recruiters are busy and simply don’t have the time to go through that much detail. Use graphics and charts, they get to the heart of the process and speed up readability.

We’re taking back a few brownie points due to some site navigation issues and for using a general goal description. His designer goal statement: “ My goal as a designer is to create engaging, functional and accessible user experiences that delight people and solve complex business problems ” doesn’t differentiate him from fifty thousand other UX designers out there. UX designers need to make themselves stand out by sharing something that is unique about them.

The site’s navigation is not great. “Work” and the homepage are exactly the same. If you click on “About” it reloads the same page into a new browser tab over and over again.

A lot of UX designers use portfolio templates from Squarespace , Wix , etc. which is fine—nevertheless, it’s important to remember that your UX portfolio has its own UX, and you will be judged on the usability—the UX design of your portfolio.

His UX designer portfolio site is at: https://rahuljain.co

Samuel Medvedowsky

Samuel is a French UX & Interaction designer based in Paris currently working at Metalab . He has designed for both large and small companies and enjoys finding innovative ways to create useful, usable and engaging products as well as delightful user experiences.

In line with other successful UX designer portfolios, Samuel provides visitors with a given project’s background, his role, and the challenges he faced. When going through a project, he tells us how deep user research showed him where the user pain points were, and helped him define clear objectives and scope. His UX design process is demonstrated clearly throughout the project walkthroughs.

As with a couple of other UX portfolio examples included in this review, we’re taking back a few brownie points because of site navigation issues. When we’re on the homepage the “Case Studies” navigation link just reloads the page. Also missing is something that would have been the icing on the cake: there are no takeaways about what he learned at the end of each project.

His UX portfolio site is at: http://www.samuel-medvedowsky.com

Kristian Tumangan

Kristian is a California native with several years of in-house and agency experience. A self-motivated designer, he especially enjoys understanding user behavior and being able to use that information to design delightful experiences.

Kristian’s UX design process is demonstrated clearly throughout the project walkthroughs. The typical UX design methods and subsequent UX artifacts are shown step-by-step—discovery, personas, storyboarding , sketches, wireframes, prototypes, sitemaps, user testing and so on. And he finishes up with the key learnings he took away from the project. He addresses the problem, the solution, his role, the tools he used throughout the process, as well as providing a link to his live Marvel prototype.

Again, as with other UX designer portfolios included in this review, we’re taking back a few brownie points because of site navigation issues and silly stuff under his “About” page: “infrequent golfer, gamer, internet surfer, napper, sporadic traveler, and decent cook.” UX designers must pay attention to the UX of their site.

His UX designer portfolio site is at: http://www.ktumangan.com

Adithya Holehonnur

Adi is a software engineer turned UX designer who grew up in Kudremukh , a small town in the heart of the western ghats in India where he spent most of his childhood wandering around in jungles or playing cricket. He currently works as a UX design lead for Honeywell, Bangalore.

Replete with animated GIFs of final app designs, this UX designer portfolio stands out, not only because of the detailed case studies but also for the “reflections” section at the bottom of each project—as UX designers we continue to learn from every project we engage. Adithya also presents the results that were achieved at the end of his case studies so visitors can see for themselves what design goal was accomplished—the successful fruits of his product design process.

His UX designer portfolio site is at: https://www.adithyaholehonnur.com

Dora trained as an industrial designer at two of the world’s leading design schools. Fascinated by beautiful environments, creatures, and objects, she is also interested in the philosophy of design and in examining the social implications of product-making. She enjoys the complexity and fast pace of UX design and ‍likes to explore the possibilities of commercializing new product ideas because she believes that profitability and business success can ensure that artists and designers not only survive but also thrive.

Dora is a recent grad of Springboard ’s UX Course. Her UX designer portfolio case study for her capstone project “Five-to-Eight” is exemplary. It goes into great, step-by-step detail about her user-centered design process and how she arrived at her final designs.

Her UX portfolio case study can be found here: https://www.daorongfang.com/5-to-8

Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

• UX Portfolio Tips and Best Practices
• Presenting Design Work: The Right Way
• The Best UX Tools (with Infographic)
• The Tried and True Laws of UX (with Infographic)

Understanding the basics

What is a ux portfolio.

A UX designer portfolio is designed to showcase a UX designer’s work. It typically contains detailed case studies of UX design projects, demonstrating skill and approach.

What is the work of a UX designer?

A UX designer is an advocate for the end-users of a website or product. Key areas of focus include information architecture, user research, branding, visual design, and content. They need to empathize with their subjects, tell a story well, and possess strong creative, technical and problem-solving skills.

What are UX methods?

Some UX design methods include service blueprints, customer journey maps, personas, use cases & scenarios, wireframes, user research & usability studies, prototyping, sketches, accessibility analysis, heuristic analysis, brainstorming, mood & storyboards, KPIs, competitive audit, stakeholder interviews.

What is a UX process?

There is overlap in the UX design process, but the key phases are UX strategy, research, analysis, and design.

What does a user experience researcher do?

A UX researcher engages user experience research which is used to communicate what is needed from the end user’s perspective to UX designers and product teams and includes a wide range of methods, eg. usability testing, interviews, surveys, card sorting, tree testing, heat maps, field testing, etc.

• Product Design

Miklos Philips

London, United Kingdom

Member since May 20, 2016

About the author

World-class articles, delivered weekly.

Subscription implies consent to our privacy policy

Toptal Designers

• Adobe Creative Suite Experts
• Agile Designers
• AI Designers
• Art Direction Experts
• Augmented Reality Designers
• Axure Experts
• Brand Designers
• Creative Directors
• Dashboard Designers
• Digital Product Designers
• E-commerce Website Designers
• Full-Stack Designers
• Information Architecture Experts
• Interactive Designers
• Mobile App Designers
• Mockup Designers
• Presentation Designers
• Prototype Designers
• SaaS Designers
• Sketch Experts
• Squarespace Designers
• User Flow Designers
• User Research Designers
• Virtual Reality Designers
• Visual Designers
• Wireframing Experts
• View More Freelance Designers

Join the Toptal ® community.

• AI Content Shield
• AI KW Research
• AI Assistant
• SEO Optimizer
• AI KW Clustering
• Customer reviews
• The NLO Revolution
• Press Center
• Help Center
• Content Resources
• Facebook Group

How to Write a Case Study for Your Portfolio

Table of Contents

Are you ready to showcase your design skills and move your career to the next level? Crafting a compelling case study portfolio is an art form that can set you apart from the competition. This guide provides tips on how to write a case study for your portfolio that will reflect your experience and make you stand out. A well-crafted portfolio covering the key aspects of a professional case study might help you win that big project. So, start writing your case study portfolio today and care for the final results that will lead you to success.

What Is a Case Study Portfolio?

A case study for a portfolio is a compilation of diverse evidence showcasing the analytical and creative skills of an individual . It includes detailed case studies demonstrating their ability to think critically, analyze problems, devise solutions, and present results effectively. This type of portfolio usually involves research and analysis, presenting quantitative and qualitative data for review. Ultimately, it provides employers with a snapshot of a potential hire’s capabilities in practice.

Why Is a Case Study Important for Your Design Portfolio?

A case study is crucial to your design portfolio. It offers insight into your unique ability to solve problems and create meaningful solutions . By sharing an example of how you approached a challenge, you can demonstrate your skills in user experience (UX) design, problem-solving, and creativity. Additionally, a well-written case study provides inspiration and interesting insights into the design process that may prove valuable to potential employers. When writing a case study, it’s important to highlight the key factors that made your solution successful. Be sure to show rather than tell by using visuals such as sketches or prototypes to illustrate your thought process.

Tip on How to Write a Case Study for Your Portfolio

Follow the tips to create a compelling case study portfolio with the proper structure and design. It must showcase your abilities and highlight your value as a designer.

Give Background Information on the Project

It is essential to provide an overview and background information on your project. This will help readers understand why this particular work was needed and what it hoped to achieve. Focus on providing context for the reader to understand your work better. This will also help you explain how you used your skills, knowledge, and experience to create a successful outcome.

Define the Goal of the Project

When writing a case study for your portfolio, define the project’s goals, so people know what outcomes were expected. Include details such as why the client wanted the work done, any time constraints, budget restrictions, or other considerations they had.

Mention Your Process and Experience

Describe how you approached the project and how your previous experiences allowed you to complete the work. Share the different challenges you have encountered during the process. Also, showcase your expertise by providing insight into your thought processes, problem-solving strategies, and workflow throughout the project.

State the Outcome of the Project

Explain clearly how your project benefited the client or solved their problem. Include information about how you measured success (e.g., increased website traffic or improved customer satisfaction). Highlight any feedback from the client or praise for the finished product if available.

Explain Your Role and Give Credit

Remember to give credit where it’s due! Detail who else contributed to the project, such as a team of writers, developers, and graphic designers. And make sure to explain what each person did during the process. Also, state your specific role in the project and how you used your unique set of skills to deliver great results.

Include Images With Captions

Visuals help bring a case study to life and make it more memorable. Images can illustrate key points in the text and make it easy for the reader to understand the project better. Add pictures of your work and brief captions describing the image. Otherwise, it would look just like an image gallery.

A great case study portfolio is one of the best opportunities for businesses to create and design a visual story that outlines their successes. Let your client know what you want them to learn from the case study and what they must know to make informed decisions. This article provides some valuable tips on how to write a case study for your portfolio . This will help you convey your expertise to the client and make your business stand out from the rest.

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

Explore All Write A Case Study Articles

How to write a leadership case study (sample) .

Writing a case study isn’t as straightforward as writing essays. But it has proven to be an effective way of…

• Write A Case Study

Top 5 Online Expert Case Study Writing Services 

It’s a few hours to your deadline — and your case study college assignment is still a mystery to you.…

Examples Of Business Case Study In Research

A business case study can prevent an imminent mistake in business. How? It’s an effective teaching technique that teaches students…

How to Write a Multiple Case Study Effectively

Have you ever been assigned to write a multiple case study but don’t know where to begin? Are you intimidated…

How to Write a Case Study Presentation: 6 Key Steps

Case studies are an essential element of the business world. Understanding how to write a case study presentation will give…

Are you ready to showcase your design skills and move your career to the next level? Crafting a compelling case…

How to Build a UX Research Portfolio (Step-by-Step Guide)

So you’ve heard about UX research , but you’re not sure how to build your own research-focused portfolio?

Whether you’re new to the field of UX research , or experienced and looking to make your portfolio more specialized, we’ve got you covered!

This guide will cover what a UX researcher does, and how a UX research portfolio is different from a UX design portfolio. We’ll also give you a step-by-step guide (with examples!) to follow as you build your own portfolio.

• What is a UX researcher and what do they do?
• What goes into a UX research portfolio?
• What’s the difference between a UX design portfolio and a UX research portfolio?
• Five steps to creating your UX research portfolio
• Five of our favorite UX research portfolios

1. What is a UX researcher and what do they do?

While UX research falls under the umbrella of UX design , there is an increasing demand for UX professionals with a specialized focus in key areas of the design process —and research is one of these rising stars.

A UX researcher conducts qualitative and quantitative research to inform the design process and keep the user at the center of every design decision.

In broad strokes, a UX researcher is the person on the product team whose job lives closest to the end user.

From user interviews and usability tests to data analytics and deliverables (customer journey maps, for instance), a UX researcher is the most active and vocal advocate for the user’s needs. As such, the work of a UX researcher has arguably the most humanizing influence on the design work that goes into a product.

If you look at what a UX researcher actually does , it’s easy to see that they exercise a skillset that reaches from research strategy and data analysis, to understanding human behavior and effectively carrying on conversations with users and stakeholders alike. That’s an incredibly broad skillset for a portfolio to effectively highlight.

It’s no wonder, then, that there are many UX research bootcamps available now if you want to specialize in this discipline.

2. What goes into a UX research portfolio?

Because UX research is a subset of the broader field of UX, a research-focused portfolio should adopt the general formatting, structure, and content that hiring managers are accustomed to seeing. Your portfolio should include:

• Information about you, your process, and your work experience. A short bio section will usually do the trick.
• Ways to contact and connect with you. Make it easy for potential employers to find you on social media like LinkedIn and Twitter (naturally, it’s best if these accounts are kept up to date and carefully curated).
• Demonstrations of your work. This typically takes the form of powerful case studies and supplemental artifacts showing the work you’ve done. Limit yourself to no more than 3-5 of your best projects that highlight as many of the core skills you see featured in your top UX research job postings.
• Testimonials or references. Show that you’re proud of the work you’ve done and that former clients and colleagues are happy to voice their appreciation of your UX research.

Most, if not all, of these components are included in the portfolios you’ll find in collections like UX Collective’s 50 Essential UX Portfolios .

3. What’s the difference between a UX design portfolio and a UX research portfolio?

Many of the UX portfolios you’ll find online are design-focused, featuring work that is quite visual in nature—prototypes, wireframes, and fully operational websites and apps. Since these are not the direct focus of UX research, the difference will be in the work and skills you showcase.

Gather artifacts related to the conversations you’ve had with users, responses to the surveys you’ve written, and outcomes of the tests you’ve conducted—and get ready to highlight the context, process, and impact of your work. A UX research portfolio is naturally less visual in nature than its UX design counterparts, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be every bit as engaging!

4. Five steps to creating your UX research portfolio

Step 1: do your research..

The first step in the process is to do what a UX researcher does best: research.

Scour job boards for positions that you find intriguing—not only with the job title you’re looking for, but with the kinds of companies you’re truly interested in. Then dig a little—look up the companies and hiring managers, and see what you can learn. Here are some questions to guide your observations:

• What skills and qualities are explicitly stated?
• Which ones are implicit (read between the lines)?
• What are the companies’ values?
• What are the hiring managers’ values and priorities?
• What soft skills or other qualities are they looking for in a colleague?

Now, take what you’ve learned and make a list of the skills, values, and qualities they’re looking for. Then, whether you check off, underline, or cross them out—whatever system comes naturally to you—mark which of these items you feel most confident about, which ones you’re excited to learn or get better at, and which ones you don’t feel confident in or that you really don’t care to learn.

The important thing to accomplish in this step is to understand who your target reader is and where you stand in relation to what they’re looking for.

Note: Save yourself some time later (in Step 3) and pay attention to how these potential employers ask for portfolios/work samples to be submitted.

Step 2: Select the work to feature in your case studies.

Review the research-related work you’ve done. Pick out the best work samples and artifacts (customer journey maps, usability tests, participant screeners, etc.). Here are questions to guide your determination of which ones are the “best”:

• What have been my favorite projects?
• Which ones best demonstrate my approach to design problems?
• Which ones showcase my research process?
• Where have I made mistakes or had to adjust my process?

Shortlist these projects and artifacts (it’s okay if it’s a longer list at this point), then come back to your list from Step 1. Take one project or artifact at a time and compare them to your list.

Your goal: Find the three projects that best exemplify the skills and qualities you’re confident in and/or excited about learning. Ideally, these will be projects that can be built into a full, narrative case study, with related artifacts included along the way.

Step 3: Decide where your portfolio will live.

You understand the skills and qualities you want to highlight, and you know which of your projects you want to feature in your portfolio. Fantastic! Now, you need to decide what format your UX portfolio should be in .

Will you host your portfolio on WordPress or Squarespace? Set it up in Keynote (or a similar application) and convert it to PDF? Will you code a website yourself? Whatever you decide, you want to look before you leap. Consider:

• How do most of your potential employers request that work samples be submitted?
• What are your actual skills in coding and design? No need to start a crash course in coding or pretend to be a designer if that’s not your strong suit.
• What platforms and programs are you already familiar with?
• What method will best adapt itself to the projects you want to feature?
• Do you anticipate changing your portfolio regularly to adapt to the requirements of individual employers/job postings? If so, PDF format might work best for you.

If you’d like a good starting point, check out this article: 9 Free Websites for Your UX/UI Portfolio .

Step 4: Tell engaging stories.

Once you’ve decided where you’ll build your portfolio, it’s time to get down to it. Your portfolio is really just a collection of stories. These fall under two broad categories:

• Your bio: Who you are as a person and as a UX researcher
• Case studies: Specific work you’ve done, with a focus on context, process, outcome, and impact

Let’s have a closer look at each of these.

This typically goes on the first page or is easily accessible from there. As a general rule, keep this portion under 150 words and cover who you are, what you specialize in, and what your overall approach and processes are. No need to go overboard, but don’t shy away from showing your personality here. Hiring managers are looking for the right skillset, to be sure, but they are also looking for the person who will be the best fit for the team.

Don’t forget that a complete bio includes a way for potential employers to contact and connect with you (don’t forget social media), and any references or testimonials you’ve collected over time (specifically relevant to your work as a UX researcher, if possible).

Case studies.

First: What is a case study? Think of each case study as an individual storybook in a series that will give your reader a well-rounded look at your work. A case study tells a concise story with a beginning, middle, and end, and it give illustrations where possible (but only where they’re needed).

You   know the full range of your skills and experience; your case studies are where you show potential employers that you know how to conduct UX research like a pro .

Take these one project at a time. Look at the project and consider:

• The design problem or question that created the need for UX research in the first place
• Your approach to that problem or question
• The process you followed to define your objectives, conduct studies, create deliverables, etc.
• The artifacts you produced along the way
• What impact your work had on the project—be as specific as possible
• What learnings you gathered on the way

Build these points out into a concise but engaging narrative. Don’t underestimate the importance of giving your reader context, revealing your process, and showing the direct results and impact of your work!

The goal with each case study is it to present a good—but brief—story that highlights what skills you possess, what you learned, and what you accomplished.

Step 5: Test your portfolio.

You’ve got your bio and case studies written. You’ve made it easy for potential employers to connect with you and to see what others have said about your work. Well done!

But you’re not ready to send your portfolio out into the world just yet. Once again, it’s time to do your research. See how your product (portfolio) does with members of your target readership.

If you know people in the field, see if any of these colleagues are willing to look over it. Offer free pizza to friends who can exercise a critical eye in exchange. There are many experienced professionals—such as David Travis , Sarah Doody , and Ran Segall —who share portfolio reviews. These can be incredibly helpful as they give an unbiased glimpse into the approaches and perceptions of hiring managers.

Test it. Improve on it. Update it. Your portfolio isn’t a one-and-done project! It should evolve just as you and your work evolve over time.

5. Five of our favorite UX research portfolios

Finally, here are five excellent example portfolios for you to peruse.

• CareerFoundry graduate and senior UX researcher Lina Žigelytė’s portfolio is packed with great work, presented excellently.
• Jason Lipshin’s portfolio is a great example of one created in PDF or “slides” format and still easily accessible online.
• In her “New cancer patient orientation guide” case study, Katie McCurdy achieves an engaging narrative and includes visual elements that are directly relevant to her work.
• We especially like the concision and visual elements in Carl Pearson’s “Videogame HUD Redesign” case study.
• Emily Alter’s portfolio is structured simply, and presents case studies that are concise and provide just enough relevant visual elements to break up the text and keep the reader’s eye engaged.

Have a look at these and note what you like, what you think will work well for your projects and skills, and what will most appeal to your ideal employers.

If you’d like to learn more about UX research and UX portfolios, check out these articles:

• What Does a UX Researcher Actually Do? The Ultimate Career Guide
• Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your UX Research Portfolio
• Interview Toolkit: Top 5 UX Research Questions to Prepare For

CÅSE STUDIËS

Case studies are the foundation of your portfolio. But writing great case studies is as daunting as assembling that Swedish shelf that’s also a bed that’s also a bicycle. The Semplice guide to case studies makes it easy.

Jot down your main points – before you do anything else.

• Rather than writing content to fit your design, start with it.
• Don't bother with images or layout yet. Simply put down your thoughts in a doc.
• Think of your project in phases. Start with Phase 1 (usually the ideation or exploration phase).  Write it all down and continue to Phase 2.

Keep it brief & caption everything.

People scan, they don’t read. If we scroll through and only read your 1-2 sentence captions, we should still understand the project. The whole thing should take three minutes to read, tops.

Mackey Saturday 's case studies are scannable with short paragraphs between images.

Mackey Saturday's case studies are scannable with short paragraphs between images.

If you are reading this, it is because your browser does not support the HTML5 video element.

Do make your case study scannable with headlines, short paragraphs and captions.

Don’t write a novel, Dickens. We don’t get extra points for word count anymore.

Don’t write a novel. We don’t get extra points for word count anymore.

Give credit & explain your role.

This could be as simple as listing “Role: art direction & design” or including a full list of team credits (if you’re nice). Understanding what part you played is crucial and can mean the difference between getting hired or not.

Christina Michelitsch lists credits on each project just like a film would. It's classy.

Do include team members and your role on the project.

Don’t be shady about what part you played in the work.

Write in your voice.

Acronyms and buzzwords only distance your reader. Don’t try to impress with lofty language. Just share your work in your own voice and be as clear as possible.

We should finish reading with a sense of your personality.

Provide context to the project and your design process.

Think about what your reader needs to know to appreciate this project. As concisely as possible, explain how you approached the problem and how you worked through it.

Caroline Lewandowski 's case studies share the project challenge and how she solved it.

Do share how you approached a project from concept to solution.

Don’t drop a bunch of photos on the page without context and call it done.

Don’t add a bunch of photos to the page without context.

Think of each case study like a magazine feature.

Magazine spreads are designed to fully immerse you in the piece. They include photos at specific places to illustrate a point or bring a scene to life. They use pull quotes to pique your interest or point out a compelling part of the story. They break up paragraphs with photos, but take care to not disrupt your reading experience.

Think about the story you want to tell with your case study. Each story is unique, and your case studies should be too.

Instead of using the same template for every project,  Noemie Le Coz   customizes each page to fit the brand and tell a story.

Instead of using the same template for every project, customize it to fit the project. Semplice allows you to use unique navigations, footers and more to fit the work.

Do design each page uniquely to fit the work and put your project in the best light. 

Do design every piece of your project page to best set up your work.

Don't use the exact same template for every project, if you can avoid it.

Do you have all the right details in your case study?

1. Title of project

Consider including the type of work in the title so we can easily see your specialities at a glance. 

For example, instead of “Nike Air Max” say “Nike Air Max ecommerce experience.”

2. Introduction & goal

Set the scene for your reader with a quick sentence explaining what this project is all about.

What’s the product? What was the briefing? What challenge did you set out to solve? Did you have a certain idea or expectation for the project when you began?

3. Process & experience

In a paragraph or two, explain how you worked through the project. Why did you choose that approach? Did you take a unique angle or notice some surprising insight? Ask yourself “why” a thousand times, and then answer those questions.

4. The outcome

What happened? Did you feel proud of the result? Did it increase the client’s sales by 2000%? 

A case study should ideally be a success story. If it's not, tell us why it's meaningful and what you learned from it.

5. Credits & your role

This could be as simple as listing “art direction & design” beside the project summary or listing the full team like a film.

6. Images with captions

If someone scrolls through your case study and only reads the headlines and captions, they should still understand your project. 

Join the Semplice family & launch your portfolio

Available only with Semplice 6 Studio edition

Available only with Semplice 6 Studio edition

Semplice 6 is a new paid product, not a free update. Already an owner of Semplice 3, 4 or 5? Please read here.

Semplice 6 is a new paid product, not a free update.  Already an owner of Semplice 3, 4 or 5? Please read here.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions Imprint

Need help with your license key? Write us at [email protected]

• Get started Get started for free

Figma design

Design and prototype in one place

Collaborate with a digital whiteboard

Translate designs into code

Get the desktop, mobile, and font installer apps

See the latest features and releases

• Prototyping
• Design systems
• Wireframing
• Online whiteboard
• Team meetings
• Strategic planning
• Brainstorming
• Diagramming
• Product development
• Web development
• Design handoff
• Product managers

Organizations

Config 2024

Register to attend in person or online — June 26–27

Creator fund

Build and sell what you love

User groups

Join a local Friends of Figma group

Learn best practices at virtual events

Customer stories

Read about leading product teams

Stories about bringing new ideas to life

Get started

• Developer docs
• Best practices
• Reports & insights
• Resource library
• Help center

Figma Case study templates

Present your project in pre-built editable templates to get you started.

UX Case study template

UX Case Study Template made to help UX Designers create and organize their case study without any struggle.

Case study presentation template

Case study presentation to frame key insights and outcomes.

Long form research case study template with customizable styles.

Design presentation deck

Modern design deck template with multiple sections.

Visual portfolio template

Modern visual portfolio template with 12 column grid and light and dark themes.

Behance Presentation Template

Case study template with multiple components, visual styles and frame sizes.

Case study template

Case study template with pastel style coloring.

Holistic Case Study Template

Case study presentation template complete with project overview, wireframes and key journey insights.

Case study presentation layout for interview

Case study template with multiple app UI screens.

Portfolio UI - Web & Mobile

A portfolio UI for designers and developers which has 4 unique pages includes blog, case study.

Apple device mockups

Complete Apple device mockup screens for iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple Watch.

Explore 1,000+ templates on the Figma community

Explore even more templates, widgets, and plugins—all built by the Figma community.

The New Equation

Executive leadership hub - What’s important to the C-suite?

Tech Effect

Shared success benefits

Loading Results

No Match Found

Rigorous portfolio review reveals a better opportunity for PwC’s Public Sector business

Proactive portfolio management helps PwC grow responsibly

• April 02, 2024

Conventional business wisdom tends to prize growth above all: Bigger is better, yet divestitures often play a key part in a successful business strategy. PwC understands that a more thoughtful approach to portfolio management can better serve both a company and its employees. Through its own portfolio review process, PwC realized its Public Sector business would have more opportunity to thrive under a different owner. The firm successfully navigated the divestiture process with vigorous preparation, creating a positive outcome for the business and the future prosperity and well-being of its partners, principals and employees.

CLIENT  

Professional services

Divestiture strategy Portfolio management

value reinvested in other priority areas of PwC’s business as a result of the divestiture

employees retained under new ownership during the divestiture, from announcement through closing

Prioritizing the well-being of employees while building trust in the divestiture process

Cultivating a responsible growth mindset

Managing a business portfolio is like tending a garden. Without active, intentional cultivation, growth might happen, but not to its overall potential. As PwC considered its own business portfolio, it realized that achieving its long-term growth objectives required an active hand. PwC knew from experience advising clients that a proactive review process to help identify incompatible business units could double the chances of delivering a positive return to shareholders. With the CFO and Head of Portfolio Strategy in the lead, the organization applied a formal process for portfolio review and analysis to help inform better strategic decision-making.

For decades, the company’s approach had been to build or acquire businesses and hold them. But as PwC reevaluated its portfolio with a critical eye, it decided that increasing shareholder return meant wielding the options at its disposal — including divestitures. PwC reframed its thinking around the concept of divestitures: a proactive choice to sell an attractive asset to a buyer who could grow it, while freeing time and capital to invest in other priority areas of its business. Good business and good stewardship.

It’s about potential 

During its regular, rigorous portfolio review, PwC concluded that its Public Sector division might be a candidate for a divestiture. PwC asked itself, is our firm the right owner for this business? Perhaps not: PwC’s position in the market and obligation to adhere to certain regulatory requirements were likely holding back its Public Sector business. But under a different owner, one who could invest more into the business and whose capabilities aligned more closely with its needs, the business would have a greater chance of achieving its overall potential. With those goals in mind, PwC set about finding a qualified buyer.

Though PwC considers a divestiture an option in portfolio management, it’s not the only one. The goal of the portfolio review process is to better understand the performance of each business unit and how to shepherd it to success. PwC’s process categorized its portfolio holdings and set thresholds for action, including when to invest for growth, maintain the same level of investment, restructure, wind down or divest. Based on these guidelines, the company committed to divesting only if the deal was favorable for all parties, especially the employees retained in the sale.

Get more on this topic

Explore our divestiture solution

 C-suite executive insights and strategies

Preparing for success

As in other divestitures, a key to executing the divestiture with positive outcomes for all was preparation. To do right by its partners, principals and employees, PwC took care to factor emotional and cultural impact into its plans alongside logistical considerations. A small executive team, including the CFO and the head of the departing Public Sector business, began consulting investment bankers about the possibility of selling. The head of the Public Sector group compiled a plan to showcase the value of the business to potential investors. At the same time, the leadership team invested heavily in resources to prepare for the sale. In addition to facilitating the divestiture itself by confirming financial readiness, completing the requisite sell-side due diligence and meticulously carving out the business from the rest of its holdings, PwC also took the time to form a plan for clearly communicating its intention to the board and its employees.

Time was of the essence. PwC needed to maintain confidentiality to make sure that employees did not hear of the divestiture prematurely from an outside party, which could severely damage internal trust. That meant the leadership team had to balance speed and quality, moving as swiftly as possible to secure a suitable buyer. PwC carefully laid the groundwork to carve out its Public Sector business before approaching its employees. Months of diligent work on a communication plan were not in vain. PwC quickly and clearly explained the opportunity to its partners, principals and employees — demonstrating how a divestiture would benefit all shareholders.

Managing change with integrity

Navigating the transition with sensitivity was crucial to maintaining the trust of employees. Once its plan was solidified and communicated, PwC addressed concerns with care. It assured its Public Sector employees that the goal was to find them a better opportunity; short of that, there would be no deal. As part of that promise, PwC dedicated itself to fostering an environment where employees felt not only secure in their jobs, but eager for the future. It committed to finding a buyer who could better invest in the future of the acquired business and offer employees a greater chance of growth. 

With the employees’ buy-in and the board’s go-ahead, PwC was ready to divest. In the end, the company identified Veritas Capital as the right-fit buyer, a private equity firm with a resume of relevant experience in the public sector and a strategic vision to move the business forward. Just three months later, the deal was complete.

Success in a large-scale business transformation relies on speed and certainty. Moving quickly reduces the amount of time required to keep confidentiality — essential for maintaining trust and reducing disruption — and builds momentum toward the deal. Competitive tension drives investors to come to the table with a final bid, making sure that the deal closes without the risk of value leakage. Both speed and certainty are the result of careful preparation. The tighter the deal, the shorter the time between signing and closing, and the greater the deal’s value and shareholder return. 

Read our full report: The power of portfolio renewal and the value in divestitures

Reinvesting for future growth

Divesting its Public Sector business provided PwC with an influx of capital to distribute among its shareholders and reinvest in other priority services and solutions. Over $200 million of the proceeds went toward incremental capital for growing the company’s Cloud and Digital and Cyber, Risk and Regulatory businesses. What is PwC most proud of? Doing right by its employees. PwC would only move forward with a deal if the outcome was fair to its partners, principals and employees. The business retained nearly all 1,500 employees in the transition, thanks to PwC’s commitment to making a mutually beneficial deal and helping people see its value.

A playbook for proper portfolio divestiture

One of the most valuable outcomes of divesting is experience. In the process of divesting its Public Sector business, PwC applied years of experience and a well-honed set of leading practices. These included the directive to continuously evaluate its portfolio, prepare resources ahead of a deal, communicate clearly with employees and shareholders, and move quickly to maintain confidentiality. From initial analysis to final closing, the company navigated the process with care and consideration for its partners, principals and employees. Executing its own divestiture left PwC with an even more refined playbook to help advise its clients and partners through the same process.

By applying its proven process for rigorous portfolio management, PwC was able to make proactive, strategic decisions toward its long-term goals, fast. Regular, detailed analysis gave the company insight into how to move forward, and a cultural mindset shift opened new possibilities for responsible growth. Thanks to agile, data-driven decision making, PwC emerged ready to grow — not necessarily bigger, but better.

Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter; a one-stop-shop for new thought leadership

“Divestitures are not about cutting losses. They are about identifying whether a better owner exists who could prioritize and focus investments and see opportunities for synergies to increase value.” Martyn Curragh | CFO & Head of Portfolio Strategy, PwC US

“A successful divestiture takes careful preparation. In divesting our own Public Sector business, we knew how to manage the process properly.” Marina Shvartsman | Head of FP&A & Corporate Development, PwC US

EXPLORE PwC’s DEALS INSIGHTS LIBRARY

Check out the latest thought leadership and upcoming events from our Deals specialists. Learn more

EXPLORE PwC’s CASE STUDY LIBRARY 

See how we're helping clients build trust and become outcomes obsessed in our case study library. Learn more

Michael Niland

US Divestitures Services Leader, PwC US

Elizabeth Crego

Deals Partner, PwC US

© 2017 - 2024 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

• Data Privacy Framework
• Cookie info
• Terms and conditions
• Site provider
• Your Privacy Choices

UK and OECD.AI come together to give AI actors a valuable resource for trustworthy AI

Luis Aranda , James Scott

Enhancing AI assurance with real-world applications

In a digital era where AI permeates every facet of life, trust is not just a value—it’s an imperative. Recognising this, the UK government launched a Portfolio of AI Assurance Techniques through its Responsible Technology Adoption Unit (RTA), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). It comprises a suite of practical case studies demonstrating AI assurance in action across diverse sectors. At the same time, the OECD Catalogue of Tools and Metrics for Trustworthy AI has become a central hub for sharing and finding AI tools and good practices for developing and using AI responsibly. Case studies from the Portfolio will be featured in the Catalogue to enhance international cooperation and promote good AI assurance practices. This collaboration marks a significant step toward operationalising trust in AI technologies.

The UK’s Portfolio is an essential resource for trustworthy AI

The United Kingdom plays a crucial role in global AI safety, including the recent AI Safety Summit , an AI Standards Hub , the new AI Safety Institute and its commitment to building an effective AI assurance ecosystem. A key part of this commitment is the UK’s Portfolio of AI Assurance Techniques, launched in June 2023, which serves as a practical guide for industries, including burgeoning start-ups and SMEs, to navigate the complexities of AI assurance. It showcases real-world examples of AI assurance mechanisms effectively applied, ensuring that AI systems are trustworthy and compliant with the UK’s AI governance framework. The Portfolio is designed to evolve, with ongoing updates reflecting the latest in good practice and technological advancements.

OECD.AI’s catalogue: A global exchange for AI tools and metrics

The OECD’s Catalogue, in turn, aggregates a wealth of technical, procedural, and educational tools aimed at fostering AI systems that uphold democratic values and individual rights. This platform facilitates a global exchange, allowing practitioners to contribute their tools and metrics and share use cases. The OECD’s effort complements the UK’s by providing a broader stage for these case studies to inform international standards and practices, while the UK’s Portfolio provides the OECD with high-quality use cases. This partnership illustrates the high value that international cooperation brings to AI governance at all levels.

New global reach for the UK’s use cases

The partnership between the UK’s Portfolio and the OECD’s Catalogue is a strategic alignment to accelerate the development of trustworthy AI worldwide through high-quality resources. By contributing vetted use cases to the OECD.AI Catalogue of Tools, the UK government allows its hands-on AI assurance experiences to resonate more widely. This collaboration is a vital step to bridge the gap between policy and practice, offering a more straightforward path for organisations and individuals to develop and use AI responsibly.

Be part of a future where AI is grounded in trust

This collaboration underscores the critical role of international cooperation in AI governance. The UK’s case studies enrich the OECD’s repository and exemplify the practical application of the OECD AI Principles, transforming abstract concepts into actionable insights. Together, these projects cultivate a future where AI’s potential is harnessed in ways that earn public trust and inspire confidence, laying a foundation for sustainable innovation and economic growth that benefits all.

OECD.AI is always looking for valuable and new tools, metrics and case studies to add to its catalogue. If you have high-quality resources to contribute, please contact us at [email protected].

Policy Analyst - -

• See all posts

James Scott

DSIT, Responsible Technology Adoption Unit

Senior Policy Advisor

• See profile

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD or its member countries. The Organisation cannot be held responsible for possible violations of copyright resulting from the posting of any written material on this website/blog.

From the AI Wonk

Deliberate, inclusive AI policies to empower women in Africa 

For International Women’s Day, we share highlights from a discussion on how AI can empower women in Africa.

A new expert group at the OECD for policy synergies in AI, data, and privacy

Governments worldwide can benefit from AI and privacy communities working together to achieve common goals.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

Case Study: How Aggressively Should a Bank Pursue AI?

• Thomas H. Davenport
• George Westerman

A Malaysia-based CEO weighs the risks and potential benefits of turning a traditional bank into an AI-first institution.

Siti Rahman, the CEO of Malaysia-based NVF Bank, faces a pivotal decision. Her head of AI innovation, a recent recruit from Google, has a bold plan. It requires a substantial investment but aims to transform the traditional bank into an AI-first institution, substantially reducing head count and the number of branches. The bank’s CFO worries they are chasing the next hype cycle and cautions against valuing efficiency above all else. Siti must weigh the bank’s mixed history with AI, the resistance to losing the human touch in banking services, and the risks of falling behind in technology against the need for a prudent, incremental approach to innovation.

Two experts offer advice: Noemie Ellezam-Danielo, the chief digital and AI strategy at Société Générale, and Sastry Durvasula, the chief information and client services officer at TIAA.

Siti Rahman, the CEO of Malaysia-headquartered NVF Bank, hurried through the corridors of the university’s computer engineering department. She had directed her driver to the wrong building—thinking of her usual talent-recruitment appearances in the finance department—and now she was running late. As she approached the room, she could hear her head of AI innovation, Michael Lim, who had joined NVF from Google 18 months earlier, breaking the ice with the students. “You know, NVF used to stand for Never Very Fast,” he said to a few giggles. “But the bank is crawling into the 21st century.”

• Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, a visiting scholar at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and a senior adviser to Deloitte’s AI practice. He is a coauthor of All-in on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Business Review Press, 2023).
• George Westerman is a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and a coauthor of Leading Digital (HBR Press, 2014).

Partner Center

Donald Trump could face prison time if he is convicted in upcoming NY hush money trial

If former President Donald Trump is convicted on all counts in his New York criminal hush money trial that begins April 15, he could theoretically face more than a decade in prison.

But most legal experts who spoke to USA TODAY said such a dramatic outcome is unlikely. Instead, he would likely be sentenced to something between probation and four years in prison. And he would probably still be out, free to campaign for president as the presumptive or actual 2024 Republican nominee, while his all-but-certain appeal was pending.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Each count carries a maximum sentence of four years.

While Trump could in principle be sentenced to serve multiple counts consecutively, several experts said that is unlikely because he has no felony criminal record and the charges don't involve allegations of physical violence.

On the other hand, Trump has tested boundaries and feuded with the judge who may determine his fate.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Trump has antagonized Judge Juan Merchan

Trump's sentence would be decided by Judge Juan Merchan, who has grown exasperated by the former president's pretrial behavior. Merchan expanded a gag order this month after Trump attacked the judge's daughter on social media over her marketing work with Democratic candidates, including posting a photo of her. Merchan said Trump has a history of attacking the family members of judges and lawyers in his legal cases.

"The average observer, must now, after hearing Defendant's recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves,  but for their loved ones as well ," Merchan wrote in his gag order decision .

John Moscow, a New York lawyer who spent 30 years in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, told USA TODAY that type of behavior could worsen any sentence Trump faces.

"If I were representing somebody in (Trump's) position, I would suggest to him that the judge is the one who imposes sentence and he ought to be careful," Moscow said.

If Merchan did consider a hefty sentence, it wouldn't be the first time he has taken a harsh view about behavior in Trump's orbit.

In 2023, Merchan was forced to sentence former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to only five months in jail because Merchan had previously accepted a plea bargain agreement between Weisselberg and prosecutors specifying that jail term. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to tax and record falsification charges and agreed to testify against the Trump Organization at trial in order to get that sentence.

The judge said, however, that he "would be imposing a sentence much greater than that" had he not accepted the plea bargain before hearing all the evidence at the trial. Without the plea deal, Weisselberg could have faced many years in prison.

What is Trump charged with?

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts in the case, which focuses on whether he falsified business records to cover up reimbursements to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump soon after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron Trump. Trump denies the claim.

In order to secure felony convictions, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office must convince a 12-person jury that Trump falsified the records in order to commit or conceal another crime. In this case, Bragg argues Trump was trying to conceal a federal campaign finance law violation by falsely recording his reimbursements to Cohen as payments for legal services. The federal violation was a limit-exceeding contribution to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, as the payment was allegedly designed to keep Daniels' story from hurting the then-Republican nominee's election prospects. Bragg also alleges Trump was trying to conceal a plan to violate New York tax and election laws.

Nothing in the Constitution prevents Trump from becoming president even if he is convicted or sentenced to prison. If he won the election, however, courts may delay any prison time until after his term in office expires .

What is the maximum possible sentence?

The 34 felony counts Trump faces are classified as "Class E felonies" under New York law – the lowest level felony in the state. The maximum penalty on each count is four years of prison, and a judge would have discretion over whether to order Trump to serve sentences on each count at the same time or one after the other. However, New York caps such sentencing for Class E felonies at 20 years .

In addition, New York judges often impose sentencing ranges, where an incarcerated person becomes eligible for parole at the low end of the range. For Class E felonies, the lowest end of a range would be one-and-a-third years per count, while the highest would be four years. Good behavior in jail or prison can speed things up even more.

A sentence limited to probation?

Merchan would also have discretion to order a fixed sentence of less than those ranges, including probation.

That's what Mitchell Epner, a New York lawyer with decades of criminal law experience, expects would happen even if Trump were convicted on all counts. Epner noted the felony charges aren't violent and don't involve drugs.

"With a defendant who has no prior criminal record, my absolute expectation would be a sentence of probation," Epner told USA TODAY.

Epner wasn't alone in thinking that could be the sentencing outcome.

"This is a case that does not involve any physical violence, and it doesn't – there's not sort of a 'named victim,' so to speak – and so the court is going to take that into consideration," Anna Cominsky, who directs the Criminal Defense Clinic at New York Law School, told USA TODAY.

"In addition, I think it is unlikely that he would be sent to prison given who he is, given both the fact that he has no criminal record, and there is no getting around the fact that he is a former president of the United States," Cominsky said.

Incarceration a real possibility

Norman Eisen, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump's first impeachment, thought a sentence that includes some incarceration is likely.

Eisen co-authored a report looking at sentencing for other defendants with no criminal history who were convicted of falsifying business records in New York. There, he noted one construction executive was sentenced in 2015 to spend two days each week in jail for a year for falsifying records to conceal payments in a bribery scheme. In 2013, two corporate executives were ordered to spend four to six months in jail for falsifying records to misclassify their salaries as expenses under their employer's larger bribery and fraud scheme.

"I think he's likely to face a sentence of incarceration if he's convicted," Eisen told USA TODAY.

Cominsky said the evidence Merchan hears at trial could also influence his thinking when it comes to sentencing.

"Often you'll hear judges refer to testimony at trial, evidence that was presented at trial, and say, 'This is why I'm imposing this sentence, because I heard from this particular witness or I saw this particular piece of evidence,'" Cominsky said.

Moscow pushed back against the assumption that Trump's sentences on each count would run simultaneously, instead of being stacked on top of each other. Just as a judge may take into account that a defendant has won a Nobel Peace Prize or lifted orphans from poverty, the judge may look at significant evidence of bad acts, Moscow said.

"When you start attacking the judge's daughter, and making her out to be a target, you have just breached the normal rules," Moscow said.

Trump has also posted a photo of himself wielding a bat, with his eyes directed toward an adjacent photo of Bragg, among other attacks on the district attorney. Bragg's office has received thousands of harassing emails, calls, and texts – including death threats – after Trump's social media attacks, it said in a court filing .

Diana Florence, a New York lawyer who spent decades in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, said Merchan's sentence would need to have some relation to what other white-collar defendants in similar cases have received, and she would be surprised if someone had ever gotten a sentencing range for falsifying business records with a minimum of 10 years or more.

Such a long sentence "would be very, very, very, very unusual, and if Judge Merchan wanted to make a point and do that, I highly doubt the appellate division would allow that to stand," she said. "It's just too much time for the conduct."

However, Florence added that a reasonable sentencing range could include a minimum period of more than a year incarcerated.

Sentencing someone with Secret Service protection?

Contemplating any jail or prison sentence would take Merchan into unchartered territory: Trump is the first former president ever criminally charged, and the Secret Service provides him with around-the-clock security.

But avoiding a sentence of incarceration on that basis risks undermining the idea of equal treatment under the law, Moscow suggested.

"If I were the judge − and I don't know what a judge would do in this case − I would reject out of hand the concept that because he was once president, and because as a matter of policy the Secret Service guards former presidents, that therefore he can't go to jail," Moscow said.

The question would then become how to reconcile equal treatment with ensuring a former president's security, according to Moscow. The judge could get creative, for example by ordering the former president to stay in a hotel wing or at a military base, where he is isolated just like any other prisoner but still has Secret Service protection.

"You can structure things to achieve the proper result without conceding that the defendant has the upper hand," Moscow said.

Chances of immediate prison? 'Less than 1%'

Many convicted defendants are "remanded" pending sentencing, a process in which they are taken into custody while they await their sentence, Florence said.

But Florence didn't expect Merchan to give that order when it comes to Trump, and even if Merchan did, Trump would likely be able to get bail set by an appeals court in the thousands of dollars to stay free during his appeal. That's all the more likely if Trump receives a low sentence, since the appeal could take longer than his actual sentence, she said.

"The chances of him going to prison immediately, even if he's convicted in whatever, six weeks from now or whenever, are I would say less than 1% because he would immediately be released on bail pending appeal," according to Florence.

Eisen agreed Trump probably wouldn't be incarcerated by Election Day, even if he's convicted on all counts.

"I think he's extremely unlikely to be forced to serve that sentence pending appeal," Eisen said.

Customer Case Study: DataStax and Semantic Kernel

Sophia Lagerkrans-Pandey

Greg stachnick.

April 4th, 2024 0 0

Today we’ll dive into a customer case study from Datastax and their recent press release and announcement on the DataStax and Microsoft collaboration on RAG capabilities on DataStax Astra DB Thanks again to the DataStax team for their amazing partnership!

Microsoft and DataStax Simplify Building AI Agents with Legacy Apps and Data

In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) development, bridging the gap between legacy applications and cutting-edge AI technologies is a challenge for many enterprises. Companies often have hundreds or even thousands of existing applications that they want to bring into the AI world. Recognizing this challenge, Microsoft and DataStax have joined forces to simplify the process of building AI agents with legacy apps and data. Their latest partnership announcement combines AI development by enabling seamless integration of DataStax Astra DB with Microsoft’s Semantic Kernel.

Microsoft’s Semantic Kernel is an open-source SDK that helps solve this challenge, by making it easy to build generative AI agents that can call existing code. We’re excited to announce the new integration of Semantic Kernel and DataStax Astra DB that enables developers to build upon their current codebase more easily, vectorize the data, and build production-grade GenAI apps and AI agents that utilize the relevance and precision provided by retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).

 What’s so cool about Semantic Kernel – shared by DataStax

Semantic Kernel  is a GenAI/RAG application and agent orchestration framework in Microsoft’s stack of AI copilots and models. In many ways, it’s similar to LangChain and LlamaIndex, but with more focus on enabling intelligent agents. Semantic Kernel provides capabilities for managing contextual conversations including previous chats, prompt history, and conversations, as well as planners for multi-step functions and connections (plug-ins) for third-party APIs to enable RAG grounded in enterprise data (learn more about why RAG is critical to generating responses that aren’t only contextually accurate but also information-rich  here ).

Another cool thing about Semantic Kernel is that prompts written for a Python version during app iteration can be used by the C# version for much faster execution at runtime. Semantic Kernel is also proven on Microsoft Azure for Copilot and has reference frameworks for developers to build their own scalable copilots with Azure.

Introducing the Astra DB Connector

DataStax has contributed the Astra DB connector in Python. This connector enables Astra DB to function as a vector database within Semantic Kernel. It’s a game-changer for developers building RAG applications that want to use Semantic Kernel’s unique framework features for contextual conversations or intelligent agents, or for those targeting the Microsoft AI and Azure ecosystem. The integration allows for the storage of embeddings and the performance of semantic searches with unprecedented ease.

By combining Semantic Kernel with Astra DB, developers can build powerful RAG applications with extended contextual conversation capabilities (such as managing chat and prompt histories) and multi-function or planner capabilities, on a globally scalable vector database proven to give more relevant and faster query responses.

A performance booster for Python developers

While this release will benefit a broad swath of the GenAI developer community, it’s of particular interest to those who work in the Microsoft/Azure ecosystem. By integrating Astra DB directly into Semantic Kernel, developers can now leverage Astra DB as a data source in their existing applications, streamlining the development process and enhancing application performance.

To add Astra DB support to a Semantic Kernel application, simply import the module and register the memory store:

The integration of Semantic Kernel and Astra DB extends beyond technical enhancements, paving the way for a range of business use cases from personalized customer service to intelligent product recommendations and beyond. It’s not just about making development easier; it’s about enabling the creation of more intelligent, responsive, and personalized AI applications that can transform industries.

For more information about this collaboration, visit the following links from DataStax:

• DataStax and Microsoft Collaborate to Make it Easier to Build Enterprise Generative AI and RAG Applications with Legacy Data | DataStax
• Announcing the New Astra DB and Microsoft Semantic Kernel Integration: Elevating Retrieval Augmented Generation | DataStax

Please reach out if you have any questions or feedback through our  Semantic Kernel GitHub Discussion Channel . We look forward to hearing from you! We would also love your support, if you’ve enjoyed using Semantic Kernel, give us a star on  GitHub .

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Log in to start the discussion.

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

Main Navigation

• Accept offer and enrol
• Current Students

Personalise your experience

Did you mean..., diploma of arts and social sciences, art/science collaboration wins waterhouse natural science art prize, unit of study musc3008 the portfolio career musician (2025).

Future students: T: 1800 626 481 E: Email your enquiry here

Current students: Contact: Faculty of Business, Law and Arts

Students studying at an education collaboration: Please contact your relevant institution

updated - DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINE 6:05 AM on Fri, 12 April

Show me unit information for year

Unit snapshot.

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

Faculty & college.

Faculty of Business, Law and Arts

Pre-requisites

Students enrolling in this unit should have completed units equivalent to 144 credit points (typically 12 units) in MUS code units.

Enrolment information

This is a capstone unit that integrates the knowledge you have developed during your degree. The focus of the assessment is to prepare you for a career in music.

Unit description

Interrogates the portfolio career model for contemporary musicians. Students examine case studies of career pathways, theoretical underpinnings and provides an opportunity for students to develop strategies for the transition into their preferred career area. This is an advanced level core capstone unit for students completing the Bachelor of Contemporary Music degree.  

Unit content

•  Musician Careers.  
•  Professional Capabilities, Networks and Communities of Practice.  
•  Case Studies: Freelance musician and music educator.  
•  Business mindset and planning.  
•  Marketing, promotion and funding.  
•  Building a portfolio.

Availabilities

Learning outcomes.

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes . The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Identify and analyse current career pathways for musicians and contextualise in relation to broader employment patterns.

Design and develop a business proposal related to students' own area of expertise and career aspiration

Design, create and evaluate a portfolio presentation relevant to the students' own career trajectory

Teaching and assessment

Coomera (term), lismore (term), prescribed learning resources.

• Prescribed text information is not currently available.
• Prescribed resources/equipment information is not currently available.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.

Fee information

Commonwealth Supported courses For information regarding Student Contribution Amounts please visit the Student Contribution Amounts .

Fee paying courses For postgraduate or undergraduate full-fee paying courses please check Domestic Postgraduate Fees OR Domestic Undergraduate Fees .

International

Please check the international course and fee list to determine the relevant fees.

Courses that offer this unit

Bachelor of contemporary music (2024), bachelor of contemporary music (2025), any questions we'd love to help.