DOSSIER
The NMI Dossier: 2 Parts
Professional
Portfolio
Shared with a public audience (employers!). A curated website featuring whatever work you want that serves you.
Case Study Collection
Shared with your NMI instructors. Basically, a case study per class is due. A case study is on one project.
1
2
Not a New Media Certificate, Emerging Media, or Double Dawg student?
You are NOT responsible for the Professional Portfolio or New Media Narrative.
You ARE responsible for a Medium Case Study for the course you are enrolled in.
01
Professional Portfolio
Your website. Your choice.
You are responsible for keeping up with domain & hosting.
Submitted when you apply to graduate with the New Media Certificate on your transcript.
02
Case Study Collection
Housed on Medium. One case study, per class, is required.
Submitted by the last day of class.
In NMIX 4011/6011e: New Media Design…
01
Professional Portfolio
Your website. Your choice.
You are responsible for keeping up with domain & hosting.
Submitted when you apply to graduate with the New Media Certificate on your transcript.
02
Case Study Collection
Housed on Medium. One case study, per class, is required.
Submitted by the last day of class.
→ You’ll need one case study on one project (your choice) from this class, written and published on Medium!
PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO
Again, this part is not due for this class (New Media Design), but I do want to give you some context on this assignment because you’ll be working on it throughout your EM/NMC journey!
Professional Portfolio: Purpose & Audience
Your Professional Portfolio will be evaluated against its intended purpose: presenting your work to a professional audience in your chosen industry. Therefore, our evaluation will focus on how effectively you communicate your skills and professional aspirations through the medium of a modern responsive website.
Professional Portfolio: About You!
Your Professional Portfolio should reflect your unique personality and professional goals—you want to tell the story of who you are, what you do, and why someone should be excited to work with you. At the same time, your Professional Portfolio should be highly curated, containing only your most relevant, highest-quality work. You should use this opportunity to think critically about your intended audience and your personal brand.
Professional Portfolio: When do you start?
→ your first dev course!
Students without an existing Professional Portfolio: All students will have the opportunity to start their Professional Portfolio in their development course (NMIX 4010/6010, 4020/6020, 4030/6030). Yes, you MUST maintain your own personal website (domain registration and hosting) until you complete your Certificate/Emerging Media Masters. (We recommend Reclaim Hosting, but it’s up to you!)
Students with existing portfolios: If you already have a Professional Portfolio that you’d like to continue to develop you are welcome to do so. However, you will still be expected to update your portfolio throughout your NMI journey and meet all assignment expectations.
Professional Portfolio
Start in your first development course.
Submit:
Undergrads
Certificate on Transcript
Graduate students
Deliverable in NMIX 6012: Emerging Media Industries.
Add content on your own time
Professional Portfolio
Submit:
Undergrads
Certificate on Transcript
Graduate students
Deliverable in NMIX 6012: Emerging Media Industries.
Both a NMC and EM Double Dawg?
Only one portfolio is needed!
CASE STUDY
COLLECTION
AKA the part that is due for this class, New Media Design
Why case studies?
Industry-standard, shareable showcase of your strongest work.
For each required EM course, you should select one project that represents your best work and develop a case study
Why case studies?
Industry-standard, shareable showcase of your strongest work.
For each required EM course, you should select one project that represents your best work and develop a case study
This is the only thing you’re being evaluated on in NMIX 4011/6011e: New Media Design! (Not the portfolio.)
Why case studies?
Your Case Study Collection will be housed on Medium.com.
Case Studies could go on your Professional Portfolio… but they don’t have to!
You are not required to link your Case Study Collection to your Professional Portfolio although you are welcome to do so; you also might choose to repurpose the content of selected case studies as featured projects on your professional portfolio!
Courses that require a case study: NMC
Every NMIX course except NMIX 2010: Intro and NMIX 4210: New Media Industries
Courses that require a case study: EM + DD
CASE STUDY
FORMAT
How to create a case study
Overview of the Case Study Format
Narrative
Visuals
Overview of the Case Study Format
Narrative
Text should be scannable, carefully proofread, and detailed/specific while still being concise. Be consistent in terms of tense (i.e.: past tense/present tense) and point of view.
Employ section headings, bolding, and bullet points when necessary. Generally, your case studies should be fairly brief, but longer case studies may be appropriate for more complex projects, such as your Capstone Project.
Visuals
Ideally of both your work in progress (i.e.: process documents such as sketches, wireframes, mockups, code snippets, user testing, early versions/prototypes, etc.) and the final deliverable. You should provide adequate context for your visuals (such as captions) so that your audience understands what they are seeing.
Overview of the Case Study Format
Video Walkthroughs
You are welcome to include, but not a substitute for text and images!
Case Study
Structure
Case Study
Structure
Consider this formula for your title: Project name + project scope + project/case study (i.e: Instagram Icon Redesign Project)
Your subtitle should be a sentence or short phrase that tells your audience what the project/product was about. (i.e.: An app that helps you connect with other new students.)
Title and Subtitle Examples
Case Study
Structure
2. Project Date
When did you work on this project?
→ Spring 2023, May 2022, etc
3. Your Role
If this was a group project, list your role. Otherwise, this step is optional.
Project Date and Role Examples
Case Study
Structure
4. Project Overview
A brief, scannable overview of the project goals and results. Include the tools/software used in this section. (Recommended length: 2 - 3 sentences.)
Project Overview Example
Case Study
Structure
5. The Problem
What problem is your project trying to solve for your target user? You can also think of this as a space to justify the need for your project, or to articulate the specific goal of your project. You're answering the question: "Why did I make this? What purpose does this serve?" (Tip: Think about the real-world application of the project. The answer here should NOT be "Because my instructor assigned this to me.")
(Recommended length: 3 - 5 sentences.)
For example, a style guide seeks to solve what problems? Why do style guides exist?
You can also talk about your particular project topic here. For example, if you played a significant role in picking your project topic, why did you pick a particular project topic?
Problem Example
Case Study
Structure
6. The Solution
Describe your method or process for creating this project, how you solved the problem(s) from the previous section, and describe the “why” behind your design/development decisions. This is the longest section, where you’ll include most of your process documentation (visuals) and highlights from the final deliverable.
(Recommended length: as long as needed.)
Case Study
Structure
The Solution Examples
Case Study
Structure
7. The Results
Success metrics, lessons learned, next steps for future iterations, etc.
(Recommended length: 3 - 5 sentences.)
The Results Examples
Case Study
Structure
8. Topics
Medium.com allows you to tag your story with up to 5 “topics” that make your case study easier to find.
One of these tags must be the course number (i.e.: NMIX4010, NMIX4011, etc.). In addition, you should also select 4 other relevant topics (ex. UX, SwiftUI, Design, etc).
This is how we (your instructors) will find your case studies.
Formatting: this “topic” is not case sensitive, but there should be no space between the prefix and the number (i.e. NMIX6010 is correct while NMIX 6010 would be incorrect), and you should NOT include an “E” suffix for online courses (i.e. NMIX6010 is correct while NMIX6010E would be incorrect).
How are the case studies evaluated in each course?
Pass / Fail
Unless otherwise specified.
Read the Entire Assignment!
Examples
Check Out Marisa Gu’s NMC Collection!
Medium Pro Tip
Want to add a line space without creating a new section?
→ Return + Shift
How to
Submit
How to Submit: Google Form
You only need to fill the Google Form out one time, unless:
Please view the Dossier Spreadsheet before re-submitting a form.
If it’s your first submitting the form, visit this page for the Google Form: nmi.cool/dossier/
The Submission Spreadsheets
Only submit one time in your entire NMI journey!
AND on eLC!
For Leah’s New Media Design, also submit in eLC
Questions?
Submission Instructions
New Media Certificate
Emerging Media/Double Dawgs
Earning both?
Submit to nmi.cool/dossier! Complete a Medium Collection for both. It’s okay to double-dip classes!
>
Submission Instructions
New Media Certificate
Emerging Media/Double Dawgs
Earning both?
Submit to nmi.cool/dossier
>
Note:
Unless you change your links, you only have to submit one time during your entire NMI journey!
Existing NMC/EM Portfolio?
If you already have an existing NMC Portfolio: