Usability testing and building a case study that gets hired

Usability testing

1. Define goals: "Can students find and apply to a remote internship in under 2 minutes?"
2. Write realistic tasks without giving away the answer ("You're looking for a paid remote marketing internship. Find one and apply.").
3. Recruit 5 participants per round: they surface most major issues.
4. Moderate with the think-aloud protocol; don't help; ask "What are you expecting to happen?"
5. Record success, time, errors and quotes; rate issue severity.
6. Fix the biggest problems and test again.

Remote unmoderated tools (Maze, Useberry) and A/B tests complement moderated sessions.

The design case study (your portfolio)

Recruiters skim; hiring managers read. Structure each case study:

1. Overview: the product, your role, the team, the timeline and the outcome in one line.
2. The problem: who it affects, evidence it matters (research, data).
3. Research and insights: what you did and the 3–4 insights that shaped the design.
4. Process: user flows, sketches, wireframe options, and why you chose one. Show the dead ends too.
5. Final design: key screens with annotations; states and edge cases; accessibility considerations.
6. Testing and iteration: what you tested, what changed.
7. Impact and learnings: metrics if real ("task time down from 3 min to 50 s in testing"), and what you'd do next.

Two or three deep case studies beat ten Dribbble shots. Redesign projects are fine if you do real research and explain trade-offs. Real projects (a college club app, an NGO website, a small business) are even better.

Design challenges in interviews

You may get a take-home or a live whiteboard challenge ("Design a parking app for a mall"). Show your process: ask clarifying questions (users, context, constraints, goals), state assumptions, sketch the key flow, design the most important screen in detail, and explain trade-offs and how you'd test it. Process beats pixels.

Talking with developers and PMs

Hand off with annotated designs: spacing, states, responsive behaviour, edge cases (long names, empty lists, errors), and interaction details. Join stand-ups or reviews, check the build against the design, and be flexible about technical constraints.

Check yourself

• Write two usability test tasks for a job-search app.
• What sections should a case study have?
• How would you start a 45-minute whiteboard design challenge?