I'm looking for a book that explains the basics of user interfaces and user experiences. I read Beautiful Visualization and Designing Interfaces from O'Reilly and I think they are very good. Can you recommend another one? Why?
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closed as not constructive by JohnGB, Benny Skogberg, JonW♦ Apr 5 at 20:07
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Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. The book is written in the way it preaches: very simple and easy to understand. The book covers a wide range of user experience topics. It's a must-read. |
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Some favorites:
Each of these books has taught me something new or given insight into how to do things better. Top half not recommended by above posts. |
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Aza Raskin recommends The Resonant Interface. |
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Take a look at sitepoint's The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. Also there are articles from this book here. Smashing magazine published a book and it is a good one. take a look at it. |
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Next to the GUI Bloopers mentioned above, I would strongly recommend Designing with the Mind in Mind, written by the same author, Jeff Johnson. This book really explains the 'why' of the rules that you can see elsewhere, with respect to how people read, recall, recognized, think, react, visualize, etc. and the related process in their brain. It may sound technical but it is definitely very easy to read. |
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My favourite, and easy to read book, has got to be: Simple and Usable: web, mobile and interaction design This book is wonderful in how it covers a lot of great examples and stories on the authors experience in creating products. The way he explains his strategies to achieve simplicity is what grabbed me. The book itself has a beautiful design with photos communicating the message even stronger. There's also a fantastic example he goes through in using 4 strategies to create simplicity by applying and showing the strategies on a tv remote control.
Some quotes from the book:
UX Booth did a great review on it here Author's Website: http://www.simpleandusable.com/ |
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It is hard to recommend single book, we have some of most useful ones (for my crew) listed here so it might be useful for you to go through this UX reading list - http://uxpassion.com/blog/various/user-experience-ux-reading-list |
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The Laws of Simplicity has probably been the most important UX book in my career. Some companies/sites don't really deal with the level of data complexity to require this kind of resource, but if you do, it's essential. |
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Nobody mentioned outstanding book by Jacques Bertin - Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps. It is a really MUST READ book for any designed who works with information. Tufte took many ideas from Bertin in fact.
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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R Tufte is extremely useful for training your eyes to filter non-essential design elements and focus on the essence of the information. |
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Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data by Stephen Few. You can extend the design principles beyond dashboards per se, as they are ultimately reports and an interface to information. |
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UX Basics - (Additionally which is not in the list) Elements of User Experience - James Garett Research based Web design and Usability Guidelines Undercover User experience - Bowles and James Box Designing with Mind in Mind - Jeff Johnson Usability for the Web - Tom Brinck and others Web Application Design Patterns - Pawan Vora Never miss these books, since these are RAW and PURE elementary level books. |
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Usability Engineering by Jakob Nielsen This is the staple for any UX designer, I believe there is no point trying to learn a specific area of design until you digest this |
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Universal Principles of Design Brilliant design book, especially useful for interface design. |
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These are some of my personal favorites. If I have time I'll come back and mention a few more later on: - Interface and interaction design: Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques Dont be put off by how old it is. It has rock solid advice and extremely well organized. The Essential Guide to Interface Design Very synthetic. Great compendium of design principles, human psychological traits, design patterns, etc. Awesome reference when you need to find something fast in order to stimulate your thinking about a specific topic. About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design This is THE book for design principles. I have yet to find a principle in any other book that is not present in this one. Also has very a comprehensive design pattern library with great explanations that help you think for yourself. For getting "the big picture": Designing for the digital age Covers all the typical steps in a UX project with very detailed explanations on how to structure the work, how to organize the team, how to deal with stakeholders, what questions to ask, what techniques to use to find great solutiones, etc. Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World: Adaptive Path on Design A must-read about design strategy and culture. This will help you question company paradigms and deal with business people. The Elements of User Experience To help you understand how different disciplines can fit together / complement each other in order to create great experiences. |
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I read all the books mentioned above and would like to add two books about cognitive psychology. Why? Because it's fundament on which UI design is based: Also I think there should be some books about typographics in ui designer's must read list. |
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The Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines, also known as the Microsoft UX guide. Available in PDF. (you can find in on web layout too here) You don't need to read it, but it's a must reference for Windows user interface design. It contains all thing you need to know. |
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Tog on Interface should definitely be in your must read list. |
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Designing for the digital age by Kim Goodwin is truly excellent. |
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Read this White Paper: User Interface Analysis. |
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Wow, surprised the Cooper Book hasn't made the list yet: Designing for the digital age. I can't recommend it enough! |
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Essential reading for anyone designing an accessible website today: Designing with Progressive Enhancement: Building the Web that Works for Everyone |
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One I'm really surprised isn't here is Jesse James Garrett's, "The Elements of User Experience." Also, About Face 3 at http://www.cooper.com/#about:books - the book is good, very very detailed though. I really wonder about their site now, tho' ;-) |
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For web sites, Eyetracking Web Usability might also be nice to add to the mix after the initial Krug stuff ^^
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Also, while these aren't books, you may benefit from browsing some design pattern libraries. Each of these shows common patterns and explains when they are appropriate to use. |
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The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems by Jef Raskin From the back cover:
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Surprised that Krug's Rocket Surgery Made Easy has not been mentioned, given that Don't Make Me Think is so widely praised. RSME is just as good and useful in UI design. An excerpt from the back cover: In this new book, Steve explains how to -
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Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design by Robert Hoekman Jr. is an excellent read. From the back cover: Designing the Obvious belongs in the toolbox of every person charged with the design and development of Web-based software, from the CEO to the programming team. Designing the Obvious explores the character traits of great Web applications and uses them as guiding principles of application design so the end result of every project instills customer satisfaction and loyalty. These principles include building only whats necessary, getting users up to speed quickly, preventing and handling errors, and designing for the activity. Designing the Obvious does not offer a one-size-fits-all development process--in fact, it lets you use whatever process you like. Instead, it offers practical advice about how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applications and consistently and successfully reproduce them. |
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