20 Books for UX Designers

The User Experience Professional Association established November 10 as World Usability Day in 2005. So, today we prepared a list of 20 books for UX designers. Some of them will be good for beginners, and others are more fit for experienced experts, so we’ve added a short description for you to pick the ones that are right for you.

20 Books for UX Designers

1. The Design of Everyday Things by cognitive scientist and usability engineer Donald Norman about how design serves as the communication between object and user, and how to optimize that conduit of communication in order to make the experience of using the object pleasurable.

2. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal provides an overview of a model for producing habit-forming products – products that people use habitually and that occupy a default space in their mind.

3. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug is about human–computer interaction and web usability. The book’s premise is that a good software program or web site should let users accomplish their intended tasks as easily and directly as possible.

4. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk is a good introdoctory book to design and psychology. It covers a range of well known ideas in psychology as they relate to design.

5. The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide by Leah Buley prescribes a range of approaches that have big impact and take less time and fewer resources than the standard lineup of UX deliverables.

6. Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug spells out a streamlined approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own Web site, application, or other product.

7. Universal Principles of Design Revised and Updated by William Lidwell is a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia covering 125 laws, guidelines, human biases, and general considerations important to successful design.

8. A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making by Russ Unger & Carolyn Chandler show how to integrate UX principles into your project from start to finish.

9. Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products by Laura Klein is a hands-on, step-by-step guide that helps teams incorporate strategy, empathy, design, and analytics into their development process.

10. Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience by Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden describes how Lean UX became a leading approach for digital product teams today by combining human-centric design, agile ways of working, and a strong business sense.

11. Writing Is Designing: Words and the User Experience by Michael J. Metts & Andy Welfle will show you how to give your users clarity, test your words, and collaborate with your team.

12. Microcopy: The Complete Guide by Kinneret Yifrah is for UX writers, designers to get knowledge and tools needed to write smart, effective and helpful microcopy for all kinds of digital products.

13. Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences provides an overview of UX and User Centred Design and examine in detail sixteen of the most common UX design and research tools and techniques for your web projects.

14. About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design is an essential interaction design guide, fully revised and updated for the mobile age.

15. Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research aims to bridge the gap between what digital companies think they know about their users and the actual user experience.

16. Bottlenecks: Aligning UX Design with User Psychology teaches psychological constrictions of attention, perception, memory, disposition, motivation, and social influence that determine whether customers will be receptive to your digital innovations.

17. Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience provides principles, tactics, and actionable methods for talking about designs with people who have influence over the project with the goal of winning them over and creating the best user experience. Rating 4.7

18. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by American psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers.

19. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web by Jesse James Garrett gives readers the big picture of Web user experience development, from strategy and requirements to information architecture and visual design.

20. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction by Jenny Preece, Helen Sharp & Yvonne Rogers focuses on how to design interactive products that enhance and extend the way people communicate, interact and work.

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