ep. 58: Storytelling for Design Case Studies, Portfolios, and Interviews
5 min read
Welcome back to our two-part series on storytelling in design, inspired by the recent Communicating Design module from my Intro to UX Design course at UC Berkeley.
Last week, we discussed the importance of storytelling in elevating design communication. We explored how to make presentations more engaging by structuring your narrative with Freytag’s Pyramid (exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), focusing on 1-3 key messages or actions for your audience, and balancing user needs with business impact.
Today’s episode builds on that foundation, exploring how storytelling can enhance design case studies, portfolios, and interviews. I’ll share three actionable tips for each, along with bonus insights on improving everyday cross-functional communication, inspired by guest lecturers from Meta. Whether you’re an early-career practitioner entering the job market or a seasoned professional seeking a fresh perspective, this episode has takeaways for you.
Case Studies: Building the Narrative
A case study offers an in-depth exploration of a specific project, process, or scenario, used to highlight key insights, strategies, and outcomes. In design, it serves as a detailed narrative that outlines the steps you took to address a problem, including research, ideation, prototyping, and implementation. A well-crafted case study not only showcases the impact and effectiveness of the work but also reflects on lessons learned. It acts as a storytelling tool to communicate expertise, demonstrate decision-making processes, and provide valuable context for the design's successes or challenges.
Case Study Tips:
Document as You Go: Don’t wait until the end of a project to look for documentation of your work. Capture insights, sketches, and iterations as you go - it saves you from scrambling later and ensures your story stays accurate and authentic.
Big Deliverable, Small Wins: Describe the “big deliverable” (e.g., workshop outcomes) and bring it to life with concise, illustrative “small wins” (e.g., photo of workshop activity). Another example: an overview of research findings (big deliverable) with key participant quotes (small wins).
Connect Back to the Bigger Picture: Always tie your work back to the core problem you set out to solve, emphasizing its impact on both users and the business. Provide enough context to help your audience understand the broader significance, and take a step back to offer a high-level perspective - they haven’t been immersed in the details like you have.
Portfolios: Stories Within a Story
A design portfolio is a collection of your work that showcases your skills, experience, and creativity. A strong portfolio doesn’t just show what you did - it explains why you did it, what impact it had, and what you learned. Think about your portfolio on two levels: The macro story of your brand as a design practitioner, and the micro stories of case studies you choose to include to bring the macro to life.
Portfolio Tips:
Highlight What Makes You, You: Defining your macro story is an exercise in branding. Reflect on the values that consistently underpin your projects and the unique perspectives you bring to your work. This could include subject matter expertise from past roles, even if they aren’t directly related to design. For example, my background in cognitive neuroscience and music informs my approach to design research through a commitment to research rigor, a neuroscience perspective on UX, and expertise in multisensory design and embodiment.
Practice Prioritization: The micro stories (that is, case studies) you include in your portfolio are intentionally chosen to tell a story about your skills and experience. They should also ladder up to your macro story. Don’t try to show everything you’ve done. Instead, highlight 3-5 high-quality projects that make the points you want your audience to hear.
Tell the Story of What You Learned: Especially early in your career, you’re not expected to know everything. However, demonstrating a growth mindset shows your commitment to continuous learning. This signals to a prospective manager, collaborator or client that you’re self-aware, adaptable, and take ownership of your development. Jared Spool points out how early-career UX portfolios often miss the story of what you’ve learned from projects. For each case study you include, explain what you didn’t know at the start, and what you learned during the project.
Interviews: Storytelling in Real-Time
Interviews are live opportunities to demonstrate your storytelling skills. More than just answering questions, they allow you to frame your experiences and insights into stories that resonate with interviewers. Some of the key aspects I look for in candidates is a growth mindset, adaptability and proactivity.
Interview Tips:
Showcase a Growth Mindset: Be prepared to discuss what you learned from past projects, especially failures or challenges, and how you follow up on those learnings. For instance, if you learned you needed more time for recruiting for a study, how did you adjust your recruiting strategy for the next study?
Demonstrate Adaptability: Employers value flexibility. Share examples of how you pivoted or evolved your approach when circumstances changed.
Read Up on the Company: Research the company’s vision, mission and products. Come prepared to connect your work back to their vision and mission, and offer thoughtful critiques or ideas for improvement. To get started, search for the latest press releases from a company, or the watch keynotes from a recent conference (e.g., applying for Adobe roles? Watch highlights from Adobe MAX).
Bonus Round: Cross-Functional Communication
In class, we also covered day-to-day cross-functional communication that is core to any design role. This looks like design practitioners collaborating with product managers, engineers, marketers and beyond. Best practices were illustrated by our industry guest lecturers from product design (Sun Dai) and product management (Meeree Yai, Jason Kwok). Here are the highlights:
Show, Don’t Tell: Instead of wordy explanations, use sketches, prototypes, or other tangible methods to convey ideas. In other words, demo wins debates.
Communicate Often but Keep it Brief: Regular updates keep stakeholders aligned, but brevity ensures they stay engaged.
Know Your Audience: Tailor your communication to fit your audience, whether it's executives, engineers, or end-users.
Focus on User Value: Ground conversations in the value proposition you’re offering the user. (This assumes you regularly test your assumptions about your value proposition through design research, but that’s for another episode).
Demonstrate Systems Thinking: Effective designer practitioners consider how different components of a problem space are interconnected and interdependent. This systems thinking approach helps you “see around the corner”, to identify risks and opportunities. Tools like stakeholder ecosystem mapping can help you get started.
What’s your favorite tip for communicating your design work? Drop me a line a hello@sendfull.com Stay tuned for next week, where we share the final newsletter of 2024!
Human-Computer Interaction News
Future AR/VR Controllers Could Be the Palm of Your Hand: Imagine controlling AR/VR interfaces by swiping or tapping on your own skin. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have developed this technology, called EgoTouch, which uses cameras and AI to interpret touch gestures on your skin.
Understanding Color Constancy in VR Design: Achieving realistic VR experiences hinges on color constancy - the perception of consistent object colors under varying conditions (e.g., a red apple appears red, whether in sunlight or shade). This article explores the challenges and opportunities around achieving color consistency in VR.
Researchers Highlight Nobel-winning AI Breakthroughs and Call for Interdisciplinary Innovation: This article examines the convergence of physics, chemistry, and AI, highlighted by recent Nobel Prizes. It traces the historical development of neural networks, emphasizing interdisciplinary research’s role in advancing AI. The authors advocate for nurturing AI-enabled polymaths to bridge the gap between theoretical advancements and practical applications, driving progress toward artificial general intelligence.
Designing emerging technology products? Sendfull can help you find product-market fit. Reach out at hello@sendfull.com
That’s a wrap 🌯 . More human-computer interaction news from Sendfull next week.