Case studies are the real product

"Designers at every stage - whether seasoned professionals or juniors just starting out - tend to place enormous emphasis on the final artifact. The polished app mockup. The slick responsive website. The cleverly executed logo. These artifacts feel like the fruit of our labor, and naturally, we take pride in them. A finished design is tangible. It's something you can click, hold, or admire on a screen. It feels like proof of progress and evidence that you did something real."

"But the hidden twist is that the artifact isn't the product that matters most for a designer. The case study is. Professional designers don't stand on beautiful artifacts alone. We stand on evidence of thinking. The website, the app, the identity system - these are only fragments of that evidence. What gives them meaning is the story behind their creation. The reasoning. The trade-offs. The impact. And the vehicle for telling that story is the case study."

"Most designers will admit that case studies are important. But too often, they still get treated as an afterthought - an appendix tacked on once the "real" work is done. The reality is that the case study isn't just important, it's the most important artifact you'll ever create. It doesn't just show what you built-it reveals how you think. And that's what separates a decorator from a true designer."

"The case study as the product Yes, the app or website or identity is what the user interacts with. That's important. And obviously, the primary goal of design is to create products and services that solve user needs. That's the point of the whole field. But here's the distinction-the shipped artifact is the product for users. The case study is the product for your reputation."

Designers often emphasize polished artifacts like mockups, websites, and logos because they are tangible proof of progress. A finished design is something users can click, hold, or admire on a screen. The artifact alone does not capture the designer's thinking. A case study reveals the story behind a design: the reasoning, trade-offs, and impact. Case studies serve as evidence of thinking and distinguish true designers from mere decorators. The shipped product matters to users, while the case study serves as the product for a designer's reputation. Reputation-building connects to psychological egoism, where self-interest partly motivates actions even when helping others.

Read at Medium