whyhow
The digital platform for designers to build and share case studies
Context
Developed alongside The Manual For Case Studies
This manual contains standards for how to communicate, organize, and format your design work in a case study. This standard is a set of rules for documenting design work. Currently, there are no formal rules or standards for a professional case study. The manual is still being edited to refine the wording, but the hope is to provide a professional standard for documenting design work.
The Platform's Purpose
Whyhow is an online platform where people can go to build and publish their design case studies. Case studies are organized by "completion" of sections outlined in The Manual of Case Studies.
This platform hopes to connect designers, educate people, and archive design work globally. Whyhow uses a single format that any designer can use to structure their case studies. The site has a built in builder to help designers structure their content.
Whyhow forces designers to be very transparent about their work process. The dream is that if you wondered why a project made a certain decision, you could go to whyhow and find the project's case study to examine their thinking. In turn, young designers can learn from the best designers by studying their projects process.
Making the design process accessible and transparent
Branding
Logomark
Creating a distinct visual style built out of letterforms
UI x UX
UI Design
Whyhow has 3 main purposes: Learning, Building, and Sharing case studies. The front page has 4 columns that highlight content on the site. The 3 left columns are for user submitted case studies, while the far right column is for educational blog posts.
Search Nav
It's important to remember that the purpose of building the case study isn't to fill check marks. It is meant to describe your thinking, which means it doesn't need to be a long essay if you don't want it to. The search bar options help enforce the idea that each part of a case study has its own value. A dynamic search bar is necessary to help users find projects.
Case Study Builder
The Case Study Builder helps users organize and layout their case studies. It functions in a similar manner to the medium.com's editor and wordpress's editor. The builder can be used to publish straight to the site or you can export it for personal use away from the site.
Online Manual
The manual will be accessible on the site so anyone can access it at any time.
Reflection
Whyhow wants to tackle a huge challenge. Creating a giant database of design processes for as much design work as possible. It also wants to better designers by giving them a standard to uphold when documenting their process. The Manual for Case Studies still needs a lot of refinement and peer review, but the direction of the platform is exciting to imagine and build out.
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