How to Write a UX Case Study That Gets You Interviews in 2025
14 June 2025 | by Soroush Toloue | UX Portfolio Tips
Great design doesn’t just show what you made, it shows how you think.
A polished portfolio isn’t enough anymore. The strongest designers lead with clarity, not just visuals. A great case study breaks down the problem, your process, and the decisions that shaped the outcome. It doesn’t just tell your story, it proves you know how to design for real-world impact.
What to include in a standout case study
Start with a specific challenge. Share your research insights, show how you mapped problems to design opportunities, and explain key trade-offs. Highlight outcomes: metrics, team wins, accessibility gains. Show that you understand users, systems, and business goals.
What to avoid in 2025
Don’t rely on surface-level visuals or cookie-cutter process slides. Avoid fluff, jargon, and timelines with no substance. If your case study doesn’t explain your decisions or your impact, it’s just decoration. Real stories resonate. Everything else is noise.
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When done right, a UX case study is more than a portfolio artifact. It’s evidence of how you think, collaborate, and solve problems. Start with a clear challenge: What wasn’t working? Who was impacted? What were the stakes? Focus on specifics that show your grasp of both user needs and business context. Great design starts with great framing.
There’s no perfect template — but strong case studies always have structure. They’re focused, human, and grounded in outcomes. Highlight the research that guided your decisions, the constraints you worked within, and the moments that shaped the solution. What matters most is how you think through ambiguity; and how clearly you can explain it.
The best portfolios don’t just show what you’ve built — they show how you think under pressure.
Many portfolios stop at visuals, but great case studies reveal your judgment. It’s not just what you made, it’s why you made it. What shaped your decisions? What trade-offs did you make? Where did your thinking evolve? These moments show how you work, and that’s what hiring managers remember.
Strong design begins with strong decisions.
A UX case study isn’t a summary — it’s proof that you can navigate complexity with purpose. The best ones guide the reader through a focused journey: defining the problem, uncovering insights, designing with intent, and reflecting with clarity. It’s not about showing everything. It’s about showing what mattered. A tough trade-off, a surprising user insight, a conversation that changed your direction — these moments reveal your process. And that’s what turns curiosity into a callback.
Great case studies don’t just tell — they resonate.
Plenty of designers can show polished screens. But the ones who stand out explain their thinking with honesty and clarity. When you share the story behind your work — the research, the turning points, the trade-offs — you show more than skill. You show leadership. A strong case study builds trust before the first interview. Make it real. Make it clear. And let it speak for you.
I help organizations design inclusive, scalable products and I teach the next generation of designers how to do the same.
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