Crafting an effective start for your UX case study: Strategies for engaging introductions
In the world of User Experience (UX), crafting a compelling case study is crucial for showcasing your skills and demonstrating your ability to tackle real-world challenges. A well-written case study begins with a concise and effective introduction that sets the stage for the rest of the story.
A common pitfall in writing UX case study introductions is neglecting to provide enough context about the challenges or barriers that were overcome, the importance of the work, or the payoff if the project was successful. To avoid this, it's essential to start with a clear project overview. This opening should summarise the context, your role, the problem you aimed to solve, and the project scope.
The introduction should be concise, focusing on providing context about the work done on the project. It should be no longer than 4-5 sentences in length, making it easy for recruiters to understand the problem space immediately. Essential components to include are the project context and background, your role and responsibilities, the core problem or challenge addressed, and the goals or success criteria.
Using active voice, reducing adverbs and adjectives, and keeping sentences to 25-30 words are tips for writing concise case study beginnings. Storytelling frameworks like Problem – Action – Result (PAR) can quickly establish the stakes. Highlighting any key contextual constraints like timeline or collaboration for completeness is also important.
For example, a brief intro might say: "In this project, I led the redesign of an e-commerce app struggling with high cart abandonment. My goal was to improve the checkout flow by simplifying steps and enhancing trust signals, targeting busy online shoppers."
A well-written UX case study tells a story based on an idea or problem. It should not jump straight into the design details without giving a clear overview of the project's scope. Instead, it should explain the project's context to recruiters, show why the case study is included in the portfolio, and demonstrate the writer's ability to tackle problems and find results that benefit both the recruiters and the users.
In conclusion, a concise and effective beginning for a UX case study in a portfolio is crucial for orienting the reader without overwhelming them with detail upfront. By following these tips, you can ensure your case study makes a strong first impression and effectively communicates the value of your work.
This article was authored by Teo Yu Siang and published by [Organization Name] under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. It references a course titled "User Experience: The Beginner's Guide" and an article by Katherine Firth titled "10 tips for more concise writing."
[1] Firth, K. (2019). 10 tips for more concise writing. [Online]. Available: https://katherinefirth.com/2019/01/14/10-tips-for-more-concise-writing/
[2] User Experience: The Beginner's Guide. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: https://www.lynda.com/User-Experience-tutorials/User-Experience--The-Beginners-Guide/93514-2.html
[4] Siang, T. Y. (2020). Writing Concise and Impactful UX Case Study Introductions. [Online]. Available: https://uxdesign.cc/writing-concise-and-impactful-ux-case-study-introductions-2138e9d6d2f7
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