How to write a professional case study about your work

A professional case study is a project with enough context to be believed. It is not a novel and it is not a pitch deck. The job is to let a serious reader follow what happened, what you did and what changed.

Start with what you can verify

Write the outcome first. If you cannot state a result you would defend, you do not have a case study yet. You have a project summary. That is still useful. It should live on the work index, not be padded into a story. A career portfolio for non-designers starts with those shorter project cards.

The Medical eComm case study on Chris Pascoe's profile is intentionally short: an overview and an outcome. There is no invented client, no fabricated timeline and no screenshots that were not available. That restraint is the standard. Depth is added when the evidence exists.

A working structure

Overview: the situation in two or three sentences. Outcome: the change and how you know. Optional sections if you have them: context, challenge, your role, approach, execution. Skip empty headings. A blank “Approach” section trains readers to doubt the rest.

Keep skills, metrics, quotes and links attached as evidence rather than burying them in a paragraph. If you have a quote, attribute it. If you have a link, make the destination real. If you have no media, ship the text. Images can wait until you have files you are allowed to show.

Confidential work

Describe the category of client, not a name you cannot use. Describe the class of problem, not the internal politics. Share outcomes that are already public or that you have permission to share. When in doubt, shorten the case study rather than inventing cover details.

How long it should be

Long enough that a peer could repeat the story. Short enough that a hiring manager could read it on a phone. If you need a second page of appendices, you are writing for yourself. Put extra material in related work or keep it for the conversation after someone gets in touch.

Publish the case study when the profile is ready for it to be public. A case study page that exists while the profile is still draft is for the owner to review. The public internet should only see it when the profile itself is published.