Why Your Case Study Needs a Villain

Case studies that open with “the client wanted a fresh new look” tend to blend together, because almost every project could technically be described that way. What makes a case study memorable is naming the actual obstacle — declining sales, a confusing product lineup, a brand that had been outgrown by the business itself.

That obstacle is the “villain” of the story — the specific tension the design work had to resolve. Without it, the final design has nothing to be measured against, and the reader has no reason to feel invested in whether it actually worked.

Naming the villain honestly, even when it’s mundane — “the old identity looked identical to three direct competitors” — gives every subsequent design decision a visible reason for existing, which is exactly what separates a strong case study from a pretty gallery.