Here at Convivio we’re rethinking how we do case studies. Rather than just assume we know what we’re doing and crack on with writing some, we thought we’d do well to use similar approaches to user research and desk research for our own work as we use for our client work.
We had a look at a wide variety of examples of case studies, looking at them from several angles — their focus, structure, components, content, layout, design, how they’re used and presented collectively and singly, and more. We’ve looked all over, at the good, the bad and everything in between. We’ve tried to find the consistent features that work well, the unique elements that stand out, the things to avoid, and to distinguish between the adequate, the good and the great.
Here’s what we’ve found.
Titles
The case study title is a linchpin — the reader will use it to decide whether to read the article or not. That means it has to do a lot of work — summarise the case study, capture the reader’s attention, indicate what the reader will learn, and so on.
They’re usually succinct, just five or six words, but they have some common traits.
Active voice, present tense
Most case study titles are written in the active voice, in the present tense. The active subject may be the end users, the client, the project team, but the subject is usually left implicit. In terms of grammar, this usually means verbs are ‘present participles’, i.e. an -ing word. This present participle is usually the first word in the title.
Some examples, based on real titles:
Building the new passport renewal service
Improving council frontline experiences
Preventing financial transaction fraud with data analytics
Modernising the VAT reclaim service
Emphasise transformation
Almost all case study titles emphasise transformation. Many titles say, succinctly, the client went from X to Y, this to that. ‘This’, their original place or starting point, is often implicit.
Some examples:
Improving outcomes for job-seekers
Increasing enterprise agility with the lean canvas
Journey to innovation in public healthcare
Emphasise the frontier, or be future-oriented
Case study titles often emphasise work that is trailblazing, that is done at the leading edge or even bleeding edge of something. In this respect, the work described:
- Is the epitome of best practice, or even defining best practice
- Employs frontier practices or technologies
Many use the word ‘future’ or the concept of the future in them.
Some examples:
Harnessing AI to provide better healthcare
Unleashing the power of data in housing services
In summary:
Case study titles:
- Are succinct
- Are action-oriented
- Emphasise transformation
- Are forward-looking or embrace new technology
Lede/lead
The title of a case study is frequently augmented with a lede (sometimes spelt ‘lead’). The lede appears in two forms.
Some have single lede short sentence stub that works as a subtitle, what you might write after a colon in a title like this (the bit in italics):
Preventing financial fraud with data analytics: using machine learning and networked data structures to monitor financial transactions
Some write a fuller short sentence or two:
Preventing financial fraud with data analytics
We worked with [client name] to build an early warning fraud prevention system using machine learning and knowledge graph data structures.
A well-written lede improves overall readability and helps to convince readers this case study is for them.
Mostly have a single client per case study
Most case studies describe the work done for a particular client. Occasionally they are about more than one, but that is very rare.
They include the client name prominently — it may be in the title itself (occasionally), in the lede (more often), or displayed as a label or category for the case study (sometimes).
In very rare circumstances, the client name may be omitted for confidentiality reasons. In this case, the client is described with a a broad outline out the kind of organisation they are.
Categorise the case study
The most accessible case studies help the reader to understand what it’s about by using categories and other labels. For example, a reader may be interested only in your work in user research, or is looking for a continuous development partner, say, and can jump straight to case studies on those subjects.
Some common categories:
- By government agile project phases (discovery, alpha, beta, live, retirement)
- By industry or sector (public sector; healthcare; financial services; energy; etc.)
- By the type of work involved (e.g. service design; strategy; prototyping; content design; etc.)
Overview
The most readable case studies have a short outline paragraph or two at the beginning. This paragraph is a succinct summary with a simple three-part structure:
- what the situation was (the challenge)
- the work the team did (the solution)
- what the results were (outcomes)
This section is vital for setting up the original situation of the client — it helps potential readers to empathise with the scenario or context and understand how you may be able to help them.
Some put the results or outcomes as a micro-paragraph, occasionally under a separate subtitle. This can help to emphasise the transformational dimension of the work the team did.
Occasionally, this section may include a few bullet points for:
- Technologies used
- Duration of project
- Other headline facts
Main body
The main body of the case study is an essential description of the work done. The best examples focus on the first two points of the same structure as above, and the last is pulled out into its own section (see below).
- what the situation was (the challenge)
- the work the team did (the solution)
It is usually written in short paragraphs of just a few sentences each.
Use subtitles
This part often has several subtitles that break the work down into distinct sections, to enhance the readability of the case study.
Summarise frequently
Bullet points are sometimes used to:
- summarise sections
- highlight actions
- identify outcomes
and so on.
Illustrate visually
In the best case studies, the main body often makes good use of illustrative images that portray the work done, any outcomes or products from the work, or the project team in action.
In the worst, stock photos are dropped in without an appropriate connection to the body text.
Outcomes, results and more
In the best case studies, the outcomes and results of the work are identified separately. This is a summary paragraph or two in its own right.
This section is a chance for a specific focus on the transformation achieved through the work.
This part makes frequent use of bullet points to clearly identify:
- What happened at the end
- What things were delivered to end users and to the client
- What was learnt along the way
- Any other clear outcomes or results
Impact, key deliverables and more
In the best case studies, specific impacts of the work are identified in short headline bullet points.
These are used in two potential places:
- As distinctive design elements in the case study itself;
- On the sase study section page on a web site.
Where there’s more than one phase of work …
Sometimes a case study covers a project that went through several agile phases of development.
In the best case studies, the phases are treated separately and use the same structure as before: the situation; the work done; the results.
Quotes
Case studies often use quotes, and these are usually from two sources:
- From the clients themselves, which helps to give an understanding of what it’s like to work on a project with the team;
- From users or beneficiaries, which helps the reader to see how the team’s understanding of the context and needs resulted in tangible transformation.
Both have an impact for the reader.
I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognised wiser than oneself.
— Marlene Dietrich
Imagery and media
Images and other media are important to illustrate the case study. It’s an important thing to get right, and an easy thing to get wrong.
At its best, case studies include photos of actual work being done during the project — interactions with clients, users, in workshops, and so on.
Stock photography can work but be very careful: stock photography badly done makes the case study look false or fake and can work against you.
Good case studies often include screenshots or photos of things that have been delivered, especially where the work has resulted in developing a service, product, or some other tangible thing.
Some use video, but that’s not too common and generally only done by larger agencies with bigger budgets.
Call to action
Pretty much all case studies have a clear action for readers to make.
- How can we help you do X, Y or Z? Get in touch
- Read this next
- ‘Keep in touch’, e.g. to subscribe to a newsletter
- Find us on social media
- Etc.
Often these are generic, and the same for each case study.
However, the best case studies have a call to action that is tailored to the specific subject. For example, a case study focusing on accessibility might link to a downloadable guide on the subject for product owners, promote a forthcoming webinar, or include a contact form tailored to the issue.
What we’ve done
We’re still in the process of turning this research into action for our own reworked case studies.
At this stage we’ve turned our learning into a help card for writing case studies in our online handbook. We’ve also developed a template based on that help card to make it easy.
Convivio helps organisations to work better for people.
We do this mainly by helping them transform their services using digital tools, but also by spreading new ways of working.
Read our blog: blog.weareconvivio.com
Follow us on twitter: @convivio
Get in touch: hello@convivio.com
Visit our website at convivio.com
