Week 7: My UX Case Study Template for Interviews

Hi friends,

Recently, a few designer friends of mine shared that they were laid off and now have to start job hunting. Reflecting on my own interview experiences over the years and the time I’ve spent as an ADPList mentor, I realized I may not be an expert, but I do have a few insights to share about presenting design portfolios in interviews. So, here goes!

Let’s start with timing. Most portfolio interviews are about an hour long, which can be split into 45 minutes for presenting case studies and 15 minutes for Q&A. Ideally, you’ll want to cover 2-3 projects in those 45 minutes. This means you only have about 15 minutes per project. If you’re showing 20-30 slides per project, your storytelling skills and ability to focus on the most important parts will be key.

Now, let’s talk about storytelling and content. The interviewer might be hearing about your work for the first time, and they may not be familiar with the industry or context. Jumping straight into user problems or solutions can confuse them. On the other hand, if you focus too much on the research process, the key takeaways might get lost. I suggest you first organize all the project information (below, I’m sharing a simple case study template that I created using ChatGPT and input from various UX designers and experienced professionals). Use this template to organize your thoughts, then start drafting your story. I recommend beginning with the final product. Explain your role in the project, what the product is, and who was on the team. From there, work your way backward—talk about the company, its business model, the project background, the problems, the goal, your design strategy, and the solutions you developed. Finally, show the design process, the outcomes, and your reflections. Once the draft is ready, put the content into slides, add visuals, and review each slide to make sure it conveys your key points.

After you finish the first version, ask your friends to review it. It’s okay if they don’t have a design background; the goal is to make it simple enough for anyone to understand. Try to think from the interviewer’s perspective: they want to see your design thinking, the process you followed, and how you collaborated with your team. Use these key points to adjust and refine your presentation. Every interview is also a great opportunity to improve. Take note of where interviewers ask questions and think about whether anything was missing in your script or if the visuals need more clarity. In past interviews, I’ve made many versions of my presentations and used post-it notes on each slide to remind myself of questions I was asked.

Once you’ve prepared 3-4 case studies, you can also adjust the order based on the company and product type you’re interviewing for. Since you only have 15 minutes per project, you may want to lead with a project that aligns with the company’s product. Then, in the second project, you could highlight something unrelated but with strong visual impact, showing off your aesthetic style. Or, if the company focuses on project impact, but not all of your projects have impact metrics, you can adjust the content accordingly.

I hope this advice helps you! I’ve also started documenting my ongoing and past projects using the template below for future reference. After using it a few more times, I’ll probably make some adjustments and share my reflections with everyone. Until next time!

Long

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Here’s the case study template I wanted to share…

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嗨 讀者朋友：

最近有一些設計師朋友跟我分享他們被裁員了，現在需要開始找工作。這讓我回想起自己面試的經歷，還有作為 ADPList Mentor 的心得。雖然我不覺得自己特別厲害，但還是想分享一些面試作品發表的要點。

首先，來談談時間分配。作品發表的面試通常會有一個小時的時間，建議將其拆分為 45 分鐘的案子發表和 15 分鐘的問答環節。通常，能在 45 分鐘內分享 2-3 個案子是比較理想的安排。換算下來，一個案子大概只有15分鐘左右。如果按照一分鐘兩頁的速度來看，每個案子大概有 20-30 頁的簡報，這就要求簡報的內容和講故事的技巧要非常到位。

接下來談講故事的技巧。面試官可能是第一次聽這些案子，甚至對產業背景也不太熟悉。如果一開始就直接跳到使用者問題或解決方案，可能會讓他們感到困惑；而如果只講設計研究的過程，重點也容易被模糊掉。我建議可以先整理好案子的所有資訊（在上面，我提供了一個簡短的範本，這是我綜合多位 UX Designer 和前輩的建議，並結合 ChatGPT 整理出來的範例）。整理好資訊後，就可以開始編寫故事和講稿。我習慣從最終成品開始說明，介紹自己在這幾個月內的角色、產品的定義、團隊成員，然後再倒敘介紹公司背景、案子背景、遇到的問題、設計策略和解決方案，最終再回到設計過程、成果以及反思。寫完每一頁講稿之後，我才會開始做簡報，這樣可以避免一開始專注於把圖做的精美，或是太強調設計過程的盲點。

完成初版後，可以找朋友幫忙看看簡報，朋友不一定需要有設計背景，因為目的是讓內容簡單易懂到他們能理解。你也可以站在面試官的角度去想，面試官想看到的是你的設計思考、團隊合作過程，這些都是你可以著重在每頁進行修改和調整的關鍵點。每一次的面試都是一次改進簡報的機會。記住面試官在哪些頁面提了問題，反思講稿是否遺漏了什麼，圖片是否足夠清楚。我的面試經歷中，有很多次我都做了不同版本的修改，並在每一頁貼上 post-it，記錄我被問到的問題，並反思自己是否有遺漏講述的內容。甚至有一次，我修改講稿後，剛好切中了面試官的問題，讓我們在該頁進行了更深入的討論。

當你準備好三四個案子後，還可以根據面試的公司和產品類型來調整案子的順序。畢竟一個案子只有15 分鐘，可能你會想先講一個與面試公司產品相關的案子，這樣能讓面試官感到共鳴；而第二個案子則可以選擇一個視覺效果特別強烈的，來凸顯你的設計風格。或者，如果有些公司特別在意案子的影響力，而你的案子中並非每個都有這些數據，那就可以適時調整內容。

希望這個分享會對你們有所幫助！我最近也開始把我正在進行或已完成的案子，按照上面的範本記錄下來，這樣以備不時之需。用多幾次範本之後，我應該會進行一些調整，之後再跟大家分享。下次見！

Long