Write About UX Case Studies Without the Confidential Details
It’s like wireframes, but for sharing your design process
You want to write a case study for your portfolio, but you can’t because the content is confidential. What do you do?
The first thing is to step back and think about what do people want to learn from reading your case study. It’s probably not about the actual project details. It is a hiring manager who wants to learn about how you approach problems, or a UX peer who wants to to learn about a method to try to apply themselves.
Example Method Case Study
A few years ago I wanted to share a methodology that I put together for a specific work challenge that came up. I couldn’t share the specifics of the project, but I felt the method would be useful for someone else who faces the same challenge at their work. Here’s a link to full article: How Do You Transfer Ownership of User Research Insights?
Step 1: Up-level the Challenge, Omit the Project Details
Here’s how I framed the problem statement for this case study in disguise:
When a user researcher came to me asking for help on transferring ownership of insights, we first had to figure out what that meant. For her, a transfer of ownership meant that other people, other teams would take action based on the insights from the user research. Ideally, at the other end of a successful project, they would be able to trace back in time and recognize that the user research was the guiding light that gave them direction for where to spend their time and energy.
You’ll notice that I didn’t say anything about the project or what insights were involved. I just focused on the challenge the researcher was having, and that the reader might recognize from their own project experience.
Step 2: Create “Wireframe” Thumbnails, Not Blurred Images
Let’s face it, blurred photos of whiteboards and sticky notes do not look good. Full stop. You blur them to hide the confidential information, but the qualities of the photo that made it pleasing to look at are gone. The texture of the handwriting and little scribbles that create a human connection is gone. In the worst case scenario, the blurred image looks like your website is having trouble loading the image.
Now think about wireframes. When you create wireframes, you abstract away from the details, and focus on the structure and flow.
Focusing on the structure and flow of how you work through a design problem is what you want to do in a case study too. A wireframe thumbnail can also look much cleaner than a messy real life photo of process work.
Below is another example of a wireframe thumbnail. I’m currently in the middle of creating templates at work as part of my Design Ops initiative. (Template, process. Process, template. Tomayto, tomahto.) I needed to have a way to review process and templates from a big picture level, and not get stuck in the weeds of reviewing specific project details. I started creating thumbnails like the one below, and even annotating them to aid the conversation.
Compare this to an example of this design document that I have in my Immersive Shopping case study. This project is not confidential as we announced and shared it at CES in 2016.
If the project information was still confidential, I might be tempted to blur or redact it like so:
Yikes. Now that blurred image is way less useful and interesting to look at than the original image, even if the reader chooses not the read the content. Once again, step back and think about what is important to convey in a case study. It is the process. The fact that you created a design document such as this one, and what that design document’s purpose is and what type of information it conveys to it’s original audience.
Compare these two side by side: a blurred real document or a fresh wireframe thumbnail. Which would you prefer to see in a case study that needs to abstract from the confidential project details?
One visual doesn’t tell you very much at all, the other guides and focuses your attention to the structure and thought process behind the design artifact.
Step 3: Get a Quote From a Peer
My last bit of advice is to ask for feedback from a peer, and their permission to share their feedback as a quote in your case study article.
I am not a UX person by trade. I found the exercise to be fascinating and considered it to be a refreshing way to look at what I do here. At first, admittedly, I was a bit confused by the whole operation but as I gave it time, I came around and saw a lot of utility in the whole thing. As an engineer, it’s kind of difficult to pull our heads out of the problem we are trying to solve and see who we are trying to solve it for. Bryan Pawlowski
The easiest way to solicit quotes is through email, because then it will already be in a written format. First ask people individually for feedback about your approach (which is a good practice even if you’re not writing up a case study), and then if there’s a quote worth sharing, ask them for permission before you share their quote.
Share Your Tips For Writing a Case Study in Disguise
Do you have any tips for writing case studies that involve confidential information? Add them in the comments below! My main advice is to focus on communicating your problem solving methodology and let go of the project details.
Saara Kamppari-Miller
Design Strategy, User Experience Design, Interaction Design
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