I'm a Product Design intern tasked with a project that is very exploratory research based, with little opportunity for design (maybe low fidelity designs, but not much more). As a new grad who will be interviewing soon, I'm concerned that the parameters for this project make it a poor case study for product design/UX Design roles. From a hiring manager POV, do you think a case study presentation can be strong if it focuses on exploratory insights in a cutting edge field, with those insights informing design? Is an emphasis on designing screens still super important, if the exploration/research phase is the value prop of the project? There would still be real industry constraints & tangibles - just fewer high fidelity designs than a traditional product design project. #design #ui/ux #interviews
Yes it can be strong and actually most hiring managers want to know more about the process than the final outcome. They are more concerned about your thought process, ability to draw insights and how you articulate your work and value. Also not every case study has to be high fidelity “portfolio piece” outcomes. Some designers focus more on the research part and others are better the execution and product part. Position yourself well and sell the research part of this role.
I’ll be curious how you feel at the end of your project. You might find you learned a lot and had a lot of impact. TBH many designers would kill for the opportunity to do this kind of upfront need-finding exploration work. Much better than grinding out endless variations of the same screen for a client that uses “will know it when I see it” as their approval process ;)
I think you’re right. It’s only been a couple days, but the project has evolved greatly and I’m starting to see how this is actually a blessing in disguise. Been keeping your comment in the back of my head and I’m glad it’s coming true :)
More often the emphasis is on the process than on pixel perfection. I think this is still a good project to show your approach to solving a problem and how your work impacted decision making. Your lo fidelity mocks can be a good starting point. You can always go above and beyond by making those high fidelity mocks that nobody expected you to do. This shows initiative and desire to grow.
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Write out the case study. If you need to/as you have time, make screens. You can label the project as visioning and discovery to get conversation in the business started. For a junior person, it's more about how you think and less about the impact to the business aka did the thing launch?