A must-have for each design case study → impact.
Impact isn’t just metrics, it’s visible change. Show what improved, why it mattered, and how you know.
No business metrics? No problem!
You don’t need quantitative metrics to show it.
Often, you won’t have access to them at all.
That doesn’t mean you can’t demonstrate impact.
You need to shift your thinking.
Think before/during/after.
Compare before and after:
• How did your design improve upon the previous one?
• How did you streamline the workflow? (fewer steps)
• How did you improve accessibility for users?
• Do a heuristics evaluation. How have they improved?
• How have engagement metrics changed? (time to value)
• How did your design reduce time-to-prototype? (hours vs days)
During the design process:
• How did you improve the handoff process?
• How did you contribute to the design system?
• What insights did testing reveal?
• How did you enhance design docs?
• How did you influence design culture?
• How did you use AI to improve your design process?
• How did you make sure AI outputs were validated?
• How did you turn Figma files into working prototypes?
• How did your prompts and specs become reusable assets?
After the project is done:
• What do stakeholders say? (testimonials)
• What did users think?
• How can your design accommodate future growth?
• How can the product learn and improve over time?
There are things only business metrics can demonstrate.
Even without them, you can show your work’s impact.
What actually shows impact is change, before/after, what was broken, and what decision was made differently because of the design. Before/after doesn’t only apply to redesign, introducing a new feature also requires a need, showing how the product was utilized or operated before that need was met, vs after. Metrics are one way to show that.
The accessibility point is important. A lot of people still treat it like an extra step instead of part of good design.