Case Studies

A case study is a document that explains what you did, how, why, what you learned, and how you overcame any problems. It is your opportunity to sell yourself as someone who can solve problems.

The following statements are inadequate case studies, because they tell a potential employer that you are a problem they will need to solve, instead of someone who can help them solve their problems.

• I had to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator.
• I made a lot of mistakes in the code and Mr. Brautigam helped me fix them.
• This project was really really hard.
• The problem is I typed in the wrong code. It took a while to find it.
• The problem is I couldn't figure it out. I asked people around me for help.

See the following examples of case studies:

• Apple Remote
• iMac
• Wedding Invitation
• Wireframes and Mockups
• Technology is Magic

In general, the problem should be a domain problem and not a programming problem. That is, not figuring out what code you typed wrong, but figuring out what kind of code to type in the first place ... the strategy. Each project presented its own set of problems, and each student should have roughly the same problems and the same solutions, since we did most of them together. If your problem statement is related to you and not to the design ... it is a problem that only you had, and others did not have ... then it is probably not a good statement of the problem and solution.

Speedometer Gauge. The main problem is converting from speed numbers to angles. The solution is to map the set of possible speeds to the set of possible angles, which is just algebra.

Basketball. One problem is figuring out exactly what to do to slow down or speed up the ball. The solution is to always multiply or divide, so the speed never actually goes to zero or a negative number.

Chocolate molecule. The main problem is getting the pentagon and the hexagon to line up. The solution is to just use trial and error until it looks correct.