Case Study
Case Study Club is a free weekly email newsletter founded in 2015 by Jan Haaland in Norway, delivering curated design industry analysis and tool commentary to 27,200+ product designer subscribers worldwide, with no disclosed monetization.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersKristiansand, Norway
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Case Study does
Case Study Club is a weekly email newsletter publication targeting product designers, founded in 2015 by Jan Haaland and operated as a solo venture from Kristiansand, Norway. The publication delivers a single curated issue every Monday covering design industry developments, tool analysis (with particular focus on Figma and AI-in-design), portfolio spotlights, and strategic commentary, organized into fixed sections — The Case Study, Field Notes, The Portfolio, The Tool, and From the Archive. It serves a global audience of 27,200+ designer subscribers and is currently in Vol. III (its third publication cycle, beginning in 2026), with seven back issues archived on the casestudy.club website.
The underlying product is straightforward: a managed email newsletter backed by a static web archive. Delivery runs on Postmark (email), with web hosting and signup forms on Vercel, subscriber data stored in Supabase, and a legacy EmailOctopus instance being phased out through summer 2026. There is no mobile app, no API, no integrations, and no modular product surface — the newsletter is the entire product. Distribution is community-led: readers acquire the publication primarily by being forwarded issues, with no paid marketing or sales motion.
The business model is freemium in label but functionally free — the publication carries no paid subscription tiers, no disclosed sponsorships, and no pricing structure. Revenue mechanics for the Case Study Club entity are not disclosed in available sources; founder Jan Haaland separately runs a design consulting practice that he states keeps him connected to how teams ship product. The company is bootstrapped, privately held by the founder, with no external funding, no parent company, and no subsidiaries. No patents, certifications, partnerships of strategic significance, or formal office locations are disclosed.
Case Study firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Case Study
- Legal name
- Case Study Club
- Website
- https://casestudy.club
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Case Study Club is a free weekly email newsletter founded in 2015 by Jan Haaland in Norway, delivering curated design industry analysis and tool commentary to 27,200+ product designer subscribers worldwide, with no disclosed monetization.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Case Study industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Design Industry Newsletter
- NAICS
- Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Science, Technology & Gaming Magazines (MPAJAEAL)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Business, Finance & Industry Trade Magazines (MPAJAEAM)
Keywords
Where Case Study is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Kristiansand
- HQ country
- Norway
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Case Study business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Newsletter subscription: Free weekly newsletter distributed via email to 27,200+ designers. Revenue model not explicitly disclosed in available sources - appears to operate as a free publication potentially monetized through consulting work or future premium offerings.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier only |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
Case Study product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Case Study Club publishes a free weekly newsletter every Monday delivering curated design industry intelligence to product designers. Each issue covers a main case study, field notes on industry news, portfolio spotlights, a tool review, and archival context, targeting designers who want signal rather than noise about how tools, AI, and the industry are changing.
Product overview
Case Study Club is a single-product weekly newsletter publication for product designers. The offering consists of one unified product — a curated newsletter delivered every Monday — covering design industry news, tool analysis, portfolio spotlights, and strategic thinking about the craft. There are no modular components, add-ons, or separate product lines; the publication IS the product.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Case Study Club Newsletter A weekly email newsletter published every Monday delivering design industry analysis, tool reviews, portfolio showcases, and field notes to 27,200+ product designer subscribers worldwide. Organized into sections: The Case Study, Field Notes, The Portfolio, The Tool, and From the Archive.
Companies that use Case Study
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Case Study technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Case Study partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.
- PostmarkminorEmail service provider handling newsletter delivery and tracking opens/clicks. Part of the data processing infrastructure.
- VercelminorWeb hosting provider for casestudy.club website and signup forms. Also provides non-cookie web analytics.
- SupabaseminorDatabase service storing subscription records for EU subscribers.
- EmailOctopusminorLegacy email platform holding unmigrated subscriber list during transition to Postmark until summer 2026.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Case Study competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Fonts In Use: A curated archive and newsletter showcasing typography in real-world design work. Comparable as a design-focused editorial publication featuring curated examples and industry analysis (Case Study Club has even cited Fonts In Use in its Field Notes), targeting overlapping professional designer audiences.
- Sidebar.io: A curated weekday design newsletter that surfaces the best design links from around the web. Direct competitor in the 'signal vs noise' design newsletter space with overlapping audience of UX/product designers, differentiated by daily rather than weekly cadence.
- Smashing Magazine: A long-running web design and UX publication offering articles, books, conferences, and a weekly newsletter to designers and developers. Directly comparable to Case Study Club as a recurring design-industry publication targeting similar professional audiences, though significantly larger in scope and team.
- UX Collective: A Medium-hosted publication featuring curated UX, product design, and design systems content read by hundreds of thousands of designers. Comparable as a design-content destination for the same professional audience, though structured around contributed articles rather than a single-editor weekly newsletter.
- Designer Daily: A design-focused daily/weekly publication delivering curated articles, news, and resources to professional designers. Directly comparable as a recurring design-industry newsletter serving the same audience of product/UX designers seeking curated industry coverage.
Broad incumbents
- Communication Arts: An established trade publication covering graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, and interactive design since 1959. Comparable as a design-industry editorial brand targeting creative professionals, but operating at a much broader scope (multi-discipline, multi-decade legacy) than Case Study Club's product-design focus.
- Eye on Design (AIGA): AIGA's online design publication covering design culture, interviews, and industry analysis. Directly comparable audience (professional designers) and editorial mission of elevating design discourse, but backed by the largest US professional design association rather than a solo founder.
- Print Magazine: A decades-old print and digital publication covering visual design, culture, and the design industry. Comparable as a design-trade editorial brand targeting design professionals with industry analysis, but operating in a broader visual-design scope versus Case Study Club's product/UX focus.
- Nielsen Norman Group: A leading UX research and training firm publishing articles, reports, and a UX-week newsletter for UX professionals. Comparable audience (UX/product designers) and editorial cadence (recurring publications), but anchored in proprietary research and paid training rather than independent editorial curation.
Emerging players
- Type Thursday: A typography-focused newsletter and community publication targeting designers with curated type news and analysis. Comparable as a niche design newsletter targeting design professionals with editorial curation, though narrower in scope (typography) than Case Study Club's broader product-design coverage.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Case Study social profiles
Digital presenceCase Study financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Case Study leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Case Study funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Case Study M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Case Study
What does Case Study do?
Case Study Club publishes a free weekly newsletter every Monday delivering curated design industry intelligence to product designers. Each issue covers a main case study, field notes on industry news, portfolio spotlights, a tool review, and archival context, targeting designers who want signal rather than noise about how tools, AI, and the industry are changing.
Is Case Study a public or private company?
Case Study is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Case Study founded?
Case Study was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Case Study based?
Case Study is headquartered in Kristiansand, Norway, in the Europe region.
How does Case Study make money?
One revenue line is on record: newsletter subscription.
Who are Case Study's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Fonts In Use, Sidebar.io, Smashing Magazine, UX Collective and Designer Daily. Broad incumbents are Communication Arts, Eye on Design (AIGA), Print Magazine and Nielsen Norman Group. Type Thursday is listed as an emerging player.
Does Case Study have an API?
No public API is recorded for Case Study.
What industry is Case Study in?
Case Study's product category is Design Industry Newsletter. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAEAL, Science, Technology & Gaming Magazines, with a secondary code of MPAJAEAM, Business, Finance & Industry Trade Magazines. Its NAICS code is 5131 and its SIC code is 2721.