How to write a case study for your portfolio

Why a structure

Whoever reads your portfolio does not know your project. Without a structure you start at the end image and the reader has to reason backwards to what happened. With a fixed order every project reads the same way, and the maker only has to supply the content.

The structure below is the one Folyra asks for per project. You can use it just as well in a document or another tool.

1. Brief (2–4 sentences)

What was the question, from whom, and with which constraints? Constraints make a project interesting: a budget, an audience, a deadline, an existing brand you had to stay inside.

Example: "A local coffee roaster wanted packaging that stands out on the shelf between supermarket brands without looking expensive. School assignment, four weeks, one extra print colour was the maximum."

2. Your role (1–2 sentences)

What did you do? If you worked alone: say so. If you collaborated: name your part and that of the others. Recruiters have read "we" too often where "I" could not be found.

3. Process (the longest part)

This is where a reader sees how you think. Show:

• What you researched and what it produced.

• Your first directions — including the rejected ones. Two or three sketches say more than twenty.

• The moment you changed course, and why.

• Iterations on the chosen concept.

An image per step. A photo of sketches on a table is better than no process at all.

4. Decisions (3–5 points)

Why this typeface, this colour, this format, this interaction? One concrete reason per decision. "Because it looks nice" does not count; "because the audience is over 55 and the type had to stay readable at 12 pt" does.

5. Result

The final work, in context. Packaging on a shelf, an interface on a phone, a poster in a street. If there are numbers (visitors, sales, a mark from the client): name them. If there are none: say what the client did with it.

6. Reflection (2–4 sentences)

What would you do differently now? What did you learn? This part is skipped most often and is the most interesting one for an internship supervisor: it shows that you look at your own work critically.

Length and tone

• 150 to 400 words per project; longer if the project deserves it, never longer because you had words left over.

• Write in the first person, in the past tense, in short sentences.

• No jargon to impress. Anyone who understands the work recognises craft in plain language too.

Images

At least one image per part: brief (briefing or context), process (sketches, iterations), result (final work in context). Supply images at least 1600 pixels wide and crop them: a screenshot with your browser bar in it is a rushed case study.

A checklist

• Does the reader know after the first paragraph what the brief was?

• Is it clear what you did?

• Is at least one rejected direction visible?

• Does every decision have a reason?

• Is the result shown in context?

• Is there a reflection?

In Folyra the completeness coach runs this list per project and says concretely what is still missing.