Top 13 Books for UX Design Enthusiasts
Take a second and pick up your mobile phone – what’s your favorite app on it? Quickly scan your computer’s desktop – what’s your favorite program? Now open your browser and go to your favorite website – which one did you pick? Now take a moment and think about what makes you like them best. What do they have in common? Now think about your favorite chair, magazine, or blanket. What does it look like? How does it work? Most importantly, how does it make you feel?
Everything you interact with is UX. From your car to your refrigerator to your voicemail, it’s all UX. UX designers are responsible for making sure each of our interactions is positive. Keeping up with what’s going on in the industry is essential for their success which is undoubtedly why most of them are eternal learners. It’s not surprising that many are great readers, often looking to books for fresh ideas to add to their UX design toolkit.
At QAT Global, we’re ardent supporters of ongoing learning, and we see it lead to remarkable outcomes for both designers and clients.
Books are one of our favorite ways to grow our knowledge at the company, so we’ve combed the bookshelves to share with you 13 of the top books to help you grow as a UX designer. We hope you enjoy them!
The Joy of UX: User Experience and Interactive Design for Developers
Author: David Platte
Written for developers, David Platt’s book is a comprehensive guide to delivering a quality user experience. The Joy of UX teaches you how to optimize usability and engagement while also coping with difficult technical, schedule, and budget constraints.
Using a technology-agnostic approach, the book illuminates all the principles, techniques, and best practices—including issues with telemetry and security—you need to build great user experiences for the web, mobile devices, and desktop environments, illustrated with plenty of case studies, sample design documents, testing plans, and more.
Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience
Author: Jeff Gothelf with Josh Seiden
Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden share insights on the Lean UX principles, tactics, and techniques product teams can incorporate into their Agile development process.
Learn how to collaborate closely with other members of your Agile product team as you focus on the actual experience being designed using short, iterative cycles.
Sprint: How To Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
Author: Jake Knapp
Designer Jake Knapp shows you how to build great products fast. This how-to guide shows you how to use short sprints to get the answers you need to key questions quickly.
User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product
Author: Jeff Patton and Peter Economy
When working on Agile or Lean projects, designers will find user story mapping a powerful tool in the development of products that delight users. This book is a practical exploration of user story mapping. Learn how this technique can help your team stay focused on users and their needs without getting distracted by enthusiasm for individual product features.
The Practitioner’s Guide to User Experience Design
Author: Luke Miller
Explore what it takes to meet a customer’s needs and learn how to apply these principles while working in technology. You will get the tools and tactics you need to deliver in the fast-paced world of UX design from finding inspiration to creating prototypes.
How to: How to use graphic design to sell things, … and (every once in a while) change the world.
Author: Michael Bierut
Bierut’s first career retrospective offers insight and inspiration for designers on how words, images, and ideas can be put together. It features more than thirty-five of his projects, revealing his philosophy of graphic design as he walks you through each project from start to finish. You will also get insights into his creative process and the dealing with the struggles design professionals face in bringing innovative ideas to the world.
100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter) 1st Edition
Author: Susan Weinschenk
Get insights into the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, brain research, and social psychology as they apply to the design of technology products, including websites, apps, wearables, and artificial intelligence. Explore practical examples backed by real science and research citations in this engaging, easy to read, and useful book filled guidelines and prescriptions that can be easily and instantly applied.
The Non-Designer’s Design Book
Author: Robin William
An essential introduction to the fundamental principles of great design by author Robin Williams. The book covers the four graphic design principles of C.R.A.P (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity), and how to make your designs look professional using these four surprisingly simple principles. You’ll also get practical design advice, including a chapter on the fundamentals of typography, quizzes, and exercises to train your Designer Eye, projects to try, and visual and typographic examples to inspire your creativity.
About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design
Author: Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, Christopher Noessel
About Face brings interaction into the daily language of product design and development for more advanced designers. This book is a comprehensive guide on interface design and interaction design of web and mobile devices, covering the best practices of project progress, goal-oriented design, persona development, touch interfaces, screen size considerations, and more.
The Tao of User Experience
Author: Robert Hoekman Jr
Robert Hoekman takes you on an exploration of the 96 tenets of User Experience as a profession, a goal, and an idea that he has compiled as a resource to anyone looking for his UX advice. It’s a worthy read for anyone new to UX or mid-career.
The Best Interface Is No Interface: The Simple Path to Brilliant Technology
Author: Golden Krishna
Innovator Golden Krishna delivers an insightful, raw, and often hilarious criticism of the nagging, screen-based bondage we’ve fallen into and provides insights on how we can move from it to create a technologically advanced world without digital interfaces. A great read for anyone looking to innovate beyond today’s screens.
Graphic Design Visionaries
Author: Caroline Roberts
Take a walk through the story of graphic design as you explore the personal stories of 75 of the world’s most influential designers. Start with early innovators such as Edward McKnight Kauffer and Alexey Brodovitch. Explore masters of typography, such as Wim Crouwel and Neville Brody. And then travel through time with visionary magazine, film, and poster work designers.
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
Author: Tim Ferriss
This book is a complication of the best tactics, tools, and routines from guests on Tim’s podcast. Pitched as the ultimate notebook of high-leverage tools, Tim notes that he has tested everything he’s included in the book in some way in his own life.
Simply click on the book cover to visit Amazon to purchase your copy!
We hope you enjoyed all these great resources in UX design. They are amongst the top UX books written between 2014 and 2016. If you’re looking for more resources in your quest for UX design knowledge, we suggest you check out our articles on other great UX books, conferences, classes, and TED talks.
