Writing Case Studies with SIGNAL
Case studies are the most impactful part of your Prodfolio portfolio. They show how you work, not just where you’ve worked. Prodfolio uses the SIGNAL framework to guide you through writing them.
The SIGNAL Framework
Each case study follows six steps:
1. Situation
What was the problem or opportunity? Set the scene — describe the context, the team, the product, and why this work mattered.
2. Insight
What data or research informed your approach? Share user research findings, metrics, competitive analysis, or stakeholder feedback that shaped your thinking.
3. Goals
What were the product outcomes you were aiming for? Define the success metrics and objectives you set.
4. Navigation
How did you approach the problem? Describe your strategy, the tradeoffs you considered, and how you made decisions.
5. Achievement
What were the results? Share quantitative and qualitative outcomes. Numbers matter here.
6. Learnings
What did you learn? Reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and what you’d do differently.
Creating a case study
- Go to the Case Studies section in the portfolio builder
- Click Add Case Study
- Fill in the overview: title, slug, TL;DR summary, industry, and your role
- Set the context type: Day Job, Internship, Side Project, Coursework, or Volunteer
- Set the status: Complete or Active (for work-in-progress projects)
- Work through each SIGNAL step using the stepper or overview mode
- Add media to any section for visual context
Case study overview fields
Beyond the SIGNAL sections, each case study has metadata that helps visitors understand the context at a glance:
- Title — The name of your case study
- TL;DR — A short summary (up to 200 characters) that appears on case study cards
- Context type — Whether this was a Day Job, Internship, Side Project, Coursework, or Volunteer project
- Status — Mark as Complete or Active (for ongoing work)
- Industry — The industry the work relates to
- Company — The company or organization involved
- Skills & tools — Tags relevant to this specific case study
- Timeline / Role — Your role and the timeframe
Featuring a case study
Click the star icon on any case study to mark it as Featured. Featured case studies are highlighted more prominently on your public portfolio. This is available on all plans.
Each SIGNAL section supports media attachments to add visual context:
- Images — Up to 3 per section (PNG, JPG, JPEG, WebP, GIF — max 5 MB each)
- Videos — 1 per section, embedded via URL from YouTube, Loom, Vimeo, or ScreenStudio
You can add optional captions to both images and videos.
Section word limits
Each SIGNAL section has a recommended word limit to keep your writing focused:
| Section | Word limit |
|---|
| Situation | 75 words |
| Insight | 140 words |
| Goals | 120 words |
| Navigation | 120 words |
| Achievement | 120 words |
| Learnings | 120 words |
Limits
- Free and Pro plans: up to 6 case studies per portfolio
Start with your strongest case study. Quality beats quantity — one well-written case study is more impressive than three rushed ones.
Customizing the section title
On your published portfolio, this section is titled “Case Studies” by default. You can rename it inline — hover over the title while viewing your live portfolio to edit. For example, you might change it to “Product Launches” or “Program Implementations.”
Learn more about customizing section titles →
AI case study generation
Prodfolio can help generate case study content using AI. Learn more about AI features →
