UX Case Study Review: Willy Mattson, Staff Product Designer Portfolio Critique

In this episode of Open Design Docs, I sit down with Willie Mattson, a freelance designer and former Design Manager at Apple with over 10 years of experience. Willie walks us through a powerful case study from his time at Apple: an internal performance review dashboard that consolidated 12+ disparate data sources and saved the company millions in wasted payroll. We dive deep into the differences between "Manager" portfolios and "IC" (Individual Contributor) portfolios, how to quantify design impact, and why internal tools can be some of the most impressive case studies in your deck. 🔥 In this review, we cover: High-Impact Internal Tools: How Willie identified a $10M+ problem and built a solution that reduced HR complaints by 70%. The "Manager" vs. "IC" Transition: tailoring your portfolio when moving from leadership back to hands-on design. Storytelling in Case Studies: Why you need to humanize your data (and show pictures of your dog!). Visual Polish: Tips on consistency, shadows, and using animations/GIFs to show interaction design. Strategic Portfolio Pairing: How to balance a "process-heavy" case study with a "visual-forward" mobile app project. 🚀 About the Guest: Willie Mattson is a UX designer based in Minnesota. With a background in architecture and over a decade at Apple, he specializes in simplifying complex systems and brand strategy. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro & Willie’s Background (Architecture to Apple) 03:51 - Structuring the "About Me" Section 05:14 - Case Study Intro: Apple Performance Dashboard 08:47 - defining the Problem: $10M in Wasted Payroll 12:15 - Research: Heuristic Analysis & 500+ Interviews 18:15 - The Pilot Program & Early Wins 24:00 - UI Design: Dashboards & Data Visualization 28:09 - Jason's Feedback: Visual Consistency & Alignment 29:33 - Results: $15M Saved & Improved Customer Satisfaction 37:12 - Adding "Humanity" to Data-Heavy Projects 40:36 - Project 2: DIY AI App (Visual Design Focus) 44:38 - Portfolio Strategy: Manager vs. IC Roles 🔗 Links: Open Design Docs: https://opendesigndocs.com Subscribe for more design reviews:    / @open-design-docs   #UXDesign #ProductDesign #Apple #PortfolioReview #CaseStudy #DesignLeadership #InternalTools #UXResearch #OpenDesignDocs