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UX Planet — Medium | Guy Ligertwood
Question 7: An amazing curated list of design books
20 Designers, 20 Weeks, 1 Question Per Week
Learn From twenty experienced designers as we go deep into one question every week.
This week we talk design books
Previous articles in the series (so far)
Intro Article: Get to know the designers
Question 1: How did you get into design?
Question 2: How your typical work day?
Question 3:What things you wish you knew when you started in design?
Question 4: What are the best ways for you to stay inspired?
Question 5: What do you want to see in my UX design portfolio?
Question 6: 5 important questions you need to be able to answer in the UX interview
Question 7: (you’re here) 5 design books every UX designer should read
“I’m a believer in doing over reading. You learn the most from actually designing and building products instead of reading about the practice.” (Mizko)
“Psychology and social sciences are the foundation of user experience.” (Kaiting Huang)
Simon Pan — Senior Product Designer at Medium, San Francisco, USA
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
- About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design — Alan Cooper
- The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide — Leah Buley
- Designing Together: The collaboration and conflict management handbook for creative professionals — Dan M. Brown
- 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People — Susan Weinschenk
- Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and Creativity in Your Work — Indi Young
Where can people follow you?
simonpan.com or on twitter
Andrew Doherty — CEO, Another.ai, Berlin, Germany
Formerly Product Design Manager at Google, Mountain View
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
I have never read a design book. Ever. Wait, was I supposed to? Maybe I was away sick that day when they suggested this in design school. Oh wait, I didn’t go to design school either.
Shit! I’m an imposter!!!
Where can people follow you?
My website or on Medium
Nirissa Govender — Product Designer at Standard Bank, Johannesburg, South Africa
Nationality:
South African 🇿🇦
5 design books every UX designer should read
- Don’t Make Me Think — Steve Krug
- Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman
- Evil by Design — Chris Nodder
- 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People — Susan Weinschenk
- Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior — Indi Young
Where can people follow you?
My Linkedin
Adham Dannaway — Senior UI/UX designer, Contract/Freelance, Sydney, Australia
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
- The UX Book — Rex Hartson and Pardha Pyla
- Lean UX — Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
- Don’t Make Me Think — Steve Krug
- UI is Communication — Everett N McKay
- Designing with the Mind in Mind — Jeff Johnson
Where can people follow you?
Ben Huggins — Sr Interaction Designer, YouTube, San Francisco, USA
Nationality:
American 🇺🇸
5 design books every UX designer should read
- Discussing Design — Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry
- Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things — Don Norman
- Universal Principles of Design — William Lidwell and Kritina Holden
- It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be — Paul Arden
- The War of Art — Steven Pressfield
Where can people follow you?
hugg.in or I’m @bhuggins on Twitter and Instagram
Chirryl-Lee Ryan (aka Cheech) — Head of Experience Design at Isobar, Hong Kong
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
- Hello World: Where Design Meets Life — Alice Rawsthorn
- Thinking Architecture — Peter Zumthor
- Grid Systems in Graphic Design — Josef Muller-Brockmann
- The Craft of Copywriting — Alastair Crompton
- Sharpie Art Workshop: Techniques and Ideas for Transforming Your World — Timothy Goodman
Where can people follow you?
My Linkedin
Charbel Zeaiter — Chief Experience Officer, Academy Xi, Melbourne & Sydney
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
In no particular order
For those entering UX
- The Paradox of Choice — Barry Shwartz
- UI is Communication — Everett McKay
- The Best Interface is No Interface — Golden Krishna
- Don’t Make Me Think — Steve Krug
- Smashing UX Design — Jesmond J.Allen, James J. Chudley
For pros
- This is Service Design Thinking — Mark Stickdorn
- How To Win Friends and Influence People — Dale Carnegie
- Tools of Titans — Timothy Ferriss
- Universal Principles of Design — William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler
- The Humane Interface — Jef Raskin
Where can people follow you?
My Linkedin
Audrey Liu — Director of Product Design at Thumbtack, San Francisco, USA
Nationality:
American 🇺🇸
5 design books every UX designer should read
- Designing Design — Kenya Hara
- Creativity Inc. — Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace
- Envisioning Information — Edward Tufte
- Universal Methods of Design — Bruce Hanington
- Design, Form, and Chaos — Paul Rand
Where can people follow you?
My Twitter
Nick Babich — Development Team Manager, Ring Central, Russia
Nationality:
Russian 🇷🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
- The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman
- 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People — Susan Weinschenk
- Prototyping A Practitioner’s Guide — Todd Zaki Warfel
- A Practical Guide to Information Architecture — Donna Spencer
- About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design — Alan Cooper
Where can people follow you?
Paola Mariselli — Product Designer, Facebook, Menlo Park, California, USA
Nationality: Peruvian 🇵🇪
5 design books every UX designer should read
- The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman
- Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual — Timothy Samara
- Practical Empathy — Indi Young
- Hippo: The Human Focused Digital Book — Pete Trainor
- The Elements of Typographic Style — Robert Bringhurst
Where can people follow you?
Michael Wong (Mizko) — Founder & Creative Director at Mizko Media, Sydney, Australia
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
I’m a believer in doing over reading. You learn the most from actually designing and building products instead of reading about the practice.
However a couple of design related books I’d highly recommend would be:
Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products — Nir Eyal
One of my favourite books as it’s a blend of design thinking and psychology. Since I come from a marketing background, I’m always fascinated by how design can influence user behaviour. If you’re interested in getting started in the UX field, this book will give you a good head start.
There are many books which most designers recommend including, The Design of Everyday Things, Lean UX, Don’t Make Me Think etc. But as a designer turned founder, I believe designers need to be open to learning more than just the fundamentals of design.
A couple of other books which I believe would benefit designers who want to be more than just a visual designer, but a product designer include:
The Lean Startup by — Eric Ries
Learn the methodology and framework of how many modern day startups approach product development.
Zero to One — Peter Thiel
Every creation goes from zero to one. Peter Thiel shares his thoughts on innovation. An excellent read for designers driven by innovation.
Made to Stick — Chip & Dan Heath
A great read and an eye-opener on why some products are more sticky than others. Something all designers should keep in mind.
The list goes on. If you’re interested in more titles, I’ve crowdsourced an extensive library through TheDesignership.com community.
Where can people follow you?
Alessandro Floridi — UX Manager at Deloitte, Sydney, Australia
Nationality:
Italian 🇮🇹
5 design books every UX designer should read
- The Elements of User Experience — Jesse James Garrett (It’s a must)
- Information Architecture — Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld
- Sketching User Experience — Bill Buxton
- Flow — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Interviewing Users — Steve Portigal
With these five books you’ll be able to get things right.
Where can people follow you?
My Linkedin
Leslie Chicoine — Experience Design and Product Management Consultant, Denver, USA
Nationality:
American 🇺🇸
5 design books every UX designer should read
- Badass: Making Users Awesome — Kathy Sierra
- Sprint — Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Braden Kowitz
- The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman
- Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals — Katie Salen Tekinbaş & Eric Zimmerman
- Hackers and Painters — Paul Graham
Where can people follow you?
Buzz Usborne — Product Designer at Help Scout, Sydney, Australia
Nationality:
British 🇬🇧 and recently Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
- SPRINT — Jake Knapp
- The Laws of Simplicity — John Maeda
- Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks — Luke Wroblewski
- Anything by Josef Müller-Brockmann
- Los, Dos and Tres Logos — Gestalten Press
Where can people follow you?
My work at buzzusborne.com, my Twitter, my writing on Medium and my resume on Linkedin
Kylie Timpani — Senior Designer at Humaan, Perth, Australia
Nationality:
Australian 🇦🇺
5 design books every UX designer should read
- How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul — Adrian Shaughnessy
- The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman
- 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People — Susan Weinschenk
- The Shape of Everyday Design — Frank Chimero
- Evil by Design: Interaction Design to Lead Us into Temptation — Chris Nodder
Where can people follow you?
My Twitter and also on my Dribbble for haphazardly timed insights into my work.
Graeme Fulton — Writer, coder, designer at Marvel Gibraltar, UK
Nationality:
British 🇬🇧
5 design books every UX designer should read
In no particular order:
- Evil by Design: Interaction Design to Lead Us Into Temptation — by Chris Nodder
- Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide — Todd Zaki Warfel
- A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences — Sarah Horton, Whitney Quesenbery, Aaron Gustafson
- Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights Compelling Insights — Steve Portigal
- Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences — Stephen P. Anderson
Where can people follow you?
My Twitter
Kaiting Huang — Interaction Designer at Google, in Seattle, USA
Nationality:
Taiwanese 🇹🇼
5 design books every UX designer should read
About user experience:
- The Design of Everyday Things — by Don Norman
This book has been out for almost 30 years. It’s fascinating to see that most of the design principles proposed in this book still hold true disregarding what devices we use. This book is a powerful reminder that technology changes but humans don’t. Understanding human minds and behaviours is the crucial step toward designing a great product.
About web usability:
- Don’t make me think — by Steve Krug
This book, like it’s straightforward title, is a friendly introduction to why some interfaces “make sense” and some don’t — — the so-called usability. It strikes me that with hindsight UX is just common sense, but applying the right UX in the right context in advance is not.
About people:
- 100 things every designer needs to know about people — by Susan Weinschenk
Psychology and social sciences are the foundation of user experience. This book is a distilled version of dozens of books and hundreds of research articles about people’s behaviours. It was written in such a succinct and easily consumable format that serves well as a reference book when I’m creatively stuck.
About modern design process:
- Lean UX — Jeff Gothelf, Josh Seiden
You might have heard of Scrum, the “agile framework” (versus the traditional waterfall method). It has become a preferred process for fast-moving tech companies to develop complex products. This book is a canonical primer explaining how design can be integrated into short, iterative cycles early on in the process to make an impact across teams and the company.
About design philosophy:
- The Laws of Simplicity — by John Maeda
I became a designer partly because I’m a lazy person. I’m always looking for the path of least resistance to accomplish a task. I also have a minimal taste of design. That’s why I resonated with this book a lot, in which the former professor at the MIT Media Lab reflects on his journey and principles to achieve simplicity in the digital world.
Where can people follow you?
My Medium
“I became a designer partly because I’m a lazy person. I’m always looking for the path of least resistance to accomplish a task.” (Kaiting Huang)
If you enjoyed this…
Read the other articles in this series
Intro Article: Get to know the designers
Question 1: How did you get into design?
Question 2: How your typical work day?
Question 3:What things you wish you knew when you started in design?
Question 4: What are the best ways for you to stay inspired?
Question 5: What do you want to see in my UX design portfolio?
Question 6: 5 important questions you need to be able to answer in the UX interview?
Question 7: (you’re here) 5 design books every UX designer should read
Thanks for the read, before you go
Clap 👏 👏 👏 if you enjoyed this article, so others can find it
Comment 💬 if you have a question you’d like to ask the designers
Follow me Guy Ligertwood to read all the articles in the series
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