1. Setting the scene
As I've begun compiling my video and PDF case studies to document and showcase my project, I've spent a lot of time looking over all the research artefacts, sketches, and designs I've created and refined over the past two and a half months. I distinctly remember wondering at several points towards the start of this module how I would be able to go from a completely blank slate to a functional, realistic, user-centred prototype. Looking back now makes me feel extremely proud of (and more than a little surprised by!) what I've been able to accomplish – especially after my initial 'analysis paralysis' and my ongoing efforts to manage my perfectionist tendencies.
1.1. SMART goal: keep up regular reflections on my personal and professional development
Keeping my weekly reflective journal has allowed me to see my project come together piece by piece as I've become more familiar with the design process. Being honest with myself, I'm not sure I would have kept up my journal so regularly if it hadn't been part of this module's assessment criteria – but I'm extremely pleased to now have a full written record of both my professional design process and my personal development journey as I continue to explore the world of UX.
Travis and Hodgson (2019: 279) recommend keeping a written record of our reflective analyses as a helpful reminder of important learning moments. As I progress in my professional UX career, I plan to carve out dedicated time to reflect on the projects I work on, documenting areas of difficulty and approaches I took to overcome them – as well as their effectiveness and changes I'd make in the future.
In my day job, I already keep a basic list of all the tasks I complete each month, but I've now added a recurring 15-minute slot every Friday to spend some time reflecting on those tasks, analysing what went well, what didn't, and why, and how I can integrate my learnings into my future practice.
2. The art of storytelling
2.1. Crafting a case study
As part of my interview for my current job, I was asked to present a UX writing project and articulate the design decisions I took when crafting the copy. In preparation, I spent some time researching how to create an effective UX writing case study. I revisited some of my notes from this time while assembling my case study this week.
Perhaps the most crucial lesson I've learned is that a truly impactful case study doesn't focus solely on the deliverables – it tells a story. In the same way that we shouldn't solutionise before we've carried out research and synthesised the most relevant insights when designing products, we also shouldn't jump straight into showing off artefacts and polished prototypes in our portfolios – we need to give context, and explain how and why we took the decisions as we did.
Dahlström (2020: 355) describes storytelling as going beyond simply presenting facts, feedback, or the work we've done 'as is', and instead turning what we want to share into "an experience for our audience". When compiling my PDF case study over the past couple of weeks, I've tried to think about how each section builds on the last, providing orientation for my audience by signposting back to what's already been said, as well as forward to what comes next.
For example, I've structured each section of my case study around the phases of the design thinking process, highlighting the relevant stage while also showing both the previous and upcoming phases (see Fig. 1):
Fig. 1: Guiding my audience through my case study experience
After seeking feedback from my tutors on my initial case study draft, I've also streamlined the slides to provide more succinct explanations, using bullet points, white space, and bold to highlight the most salient points (see Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). While I was at first reluctant to remove information I felt was critical to show the depth and breadth of my design process, I do feel now that the more streamlined version of my case study makes for a more compelling reading experience, giving my story greater momentum.
Fig. 2: A wall of text – not the most compelling or readable format!
Fig. 3: Using white space, dividers, and subtle, on-brand icons to split information into digestible chunks
2.2. SMART goal: create a 10-slide version of my case study for my professional portfolio
I also need to bear these learnings in mind when crafting my own professional portfolio. While the final version of my PDF case study necessarily contains a large amount of detail to fulfil the relevant assignment criteria, allowing me to go into slightly greater depth than the video version, I recognise that employers and prospective clients are likely to spend less than one minute looking at my professional portfolio (Travis and Hodgson 2019: 269). After this module is complete, I plan to create a 5-10 slide version of my case study for inclusion in my professional portfolio, to help capture and maintain my audience's interest when presenting this piece of work alongside other projects.
3. Conclusions
I found it challenging to distil the key insights and decisions from my design process, as I have a tendency to want to provide more information over less. However, by taking the time to remove some of the detail – or at least, to streamline it or spread it out across multiple slides – I feel more confident that my audience will feel more compelled to follow my story through to its conclusion.
3.1. How satisfied do I feel with my work this week?
1 = Very satisfied , 2 = Quite satisfied, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Quite frustrated, 5 = Very frustrated
Start of week (pre-activities): 3 – slightly nervous/anxious about the end of the module – keen to finalise my case study and do all of my final checks before this week's deadline
Case study creation: 2 – really positive feedback session with my tutor – lots of feedback on how to streamline my case study. Proud to see my work come together to form a cohesive narrative
4. References
DAHLSTRÖM, Anna. 2020. Storytelling in Design: Defining, Designing, and Selling Multiservice Products. California: O’Reilly Media Inc.
TRAVIS, David and Philip HODGSON. 2019. Think Like a UX Researcher. Florida: Taylor & Francis Group LLC.
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