Case Studies

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  • tasty

    I'm interested in mastering the art of creating a compelling case study.

    Any examples of effective case study presentation on a website?

  • mg330

    I wrote case studies for legal work when I worked at a law firm previously. The format I devised is:

    <strong>Client Background</strong>
    Briefly introduce the client, their business, industry, etc.

    <strong>Client Situation</strong>
    In a few paragraphs, discuss the client's situation in terms of why they were seeking work from you. Describe what they were seeking to achieve, if they had a tight budget and/or turnaround time, and any technical concerns for completing the project.

    <u>Primary Goals</u>
    Bulleted list identifying the major goals of the project. It is important that these be easily tied to the results listed at the end of the case study.

    <u>Anticipated Problems</u>
    Bulleted list identifying any roadblocks, risks, hurdles, and complexities you knew of going into the project. You should always have something listed here to show, in your results, how you managed these problems and what was done to work around them.

    <strong>Service Summary</strong>
    In a few paragraphs, describe the work you did and the major steps in the process; be sure to discuss how you worked around anything identified above in Anticipated Problems.

    <strong>Results</strong>
    Describe the overall results of the project, the client's level of satisfaction, and what your work allows them to accomplish. You should ideally show that your primary goals were met, and that the project was completed on time, within budget, etc.

    <strong>Client Testimonial</strong>
    Not required, but very beneficial. Anything you can get a client to say about the work you did, and their level of satisfaction with you and the entire project is a great way to close out a case study.

    If you want to see actual examples of this in action, please email me.

  • ismith0

    http://www.wolffolins.com/

    They have case studies on a lot (all?) of their projects.

    • I hesitate to call those "case studies." they're more like simple recaps.mg33
    • I haven't looked at them in a long time but the one for the Tate was really good. Several pages...ismith
    • Oh shit, seems like all the ones up now are just 1p... hmph. Too bad.ismith
  • mg330

    http://inkcommunications.wordpre…

    I just found that, it's a pretty good look at what makes an effective case study.

  • vaxorcist0

    Consider the audience... Case studies are generally meant for people who fear or distrust designers, so they need a business reason to pay for something creative.... You can include charts and such, but it's all about the warm fuzzy quotes and the hard business facts.

    Avoid all mentions of anything like an industry award for your firm.... the joke at one place I worked was "win the award, lose the client" because they think you only care about your peers, not their customers....

  • tasty0

    so if i'm working toward being an art director or a creative lead as my next job position. Would case studies be an effective route?

    I feel like just presenting my design work will make me just seem like a designer...when ideally i want to be moving up the ladder.

  • JazX0