How to present a UX case study

A case study is one project, told as a story. Not a gallery of final screens. A story.

The reviewer wants to know three things. What was wrong. What you did. What changed.

Everything below serves those three.

The shape

A dependable running order:

1. The project in one line. What it is, who it’s for.
2. The problem. What wasn’t working, and for whom.
3. Your role. What you did, and what others did.
4. The process. Research, sketches, the turns you took.
5. The design. The final screens, explained.
6. The outcome. What happened after it shipped, or what you learned.
7. Reflection. What you’d do differently.

Seven parts. Some take one slide. The process might take five. If you’d like those parts set out as slides already, a UX case study template is a starting point you can adapt.

Open with the problem, not the pixels

It’s tempting to lead with your best screen. Resist, for a moment.

Start with the situation. For example: “Shop owners in smaller towns were abandoning the order form halfway, on patchy mobile connections.” Now the audience cares how you solved it.

Then show a before shot. A plain, honest screenshot of how things were. No device frame needed. This is evidence, not decoration.

Be clear about your role

Design is rarely solo. Say who did what.

• “I led the research and the checkout redesign.”
• “A developer and a product manager worked with me throughout.”

It’s honest, and it lets the reviewer judge your part fairly.

Show the messy middle

This is where case studies win or lose. Reviewers want to see how you think.

Good material:

• a page of rough sketches
• an early wireframe next to the later version
• a sticky-note cluster from user interviews
• the idea you dropped, and why

Keep each slide to one step. One picture, one sentence on what it taught you.

When a step is about the people you designed for, a layout from these people and product slides can sit a persona beside the screen they used.

Label everything

A wireframe without a caption is a puzzle. Add a short line: “Version two: moved the address step earlier.”

The final design, framed

Now the screens. This is where device mockups earn their place.

• Frame the key screens. A phone frame says “this is a mobile product” before you speak.
• One screen per slide for the important moments.
• Zoom into details you want to discuss, beside the full screen.
• Same frame, same angle, same background across the set.

Before and after side by side is often the strongest slide in the deck. Same frame, same size, two states. The change speaks for itself.

For staging and capture tips, see how to present product screenshots.

The outcome, honestly

Say what happened. If you have real results that you’re allowed to share, show them plainly. If the project never shipped, or you can’t share figures, say so and describe what you learned instead.

Never invent numbers. Reviewers can tell, and it undoes everything before it.

Reflection

End with a short, thoughtful slide.

• What would you change with more time?
• What surprised you?
• What will you do differently next project?

This shows maturity. It’s often what people remember.

Live or async?

Case studies get presented two ways.

Live, in an interview	Sent, to read alone
Fewer words, more pictures	Short captions on every slide
You narrate the process	The captions narrate it
Twenty to thirty minutes	Readable in a few minutes
Leave time for questions	End with a contact or a link to more

If you’ll do both, build the live version first. Then add captions for the read-alone copy.

Timing a live presentation

A rough split for a half-hour slot, as an example:

• a few minutes on the problem and your role
• the biggest share on process
• a few minutes on final design and outcome
• the rest for questions

Rehearse with a timer. Process always runs long.

Small things that help

• Blur sensitive data in client work, or recreate the screen with sample content.
• Keep the client’s permission in mind. If you can’t show the work, show the process with the details removed.
• One accent colour across your slides, so the product’s colours stay the star.
• Number your slides. Interviewers like to say “go back to slide nine”.

This case study will probably sit inside a bigger portfolio. For choosing and ordering the whole set, see how to build a design portfolio presentation. And for framing the final screens, Mockups is ready when you are.