User experience known as UX might seem like a new and fresh industry, but it’s important to find out that various concepts of UX design along with most principles that many UI UX designers are applying in their projects have been around for a long time.
At its base, the UX intuitive design has been mainly focused on ensuring a good interaction between used and various machines. Since 1990 the UX has converted to help UI UX designers understand better user behavior in digital interactions with computers and devices.
UI/UX designers must have a wider understanding of the most known UX design principles that will help them create and design greater projects and websites that are easy to use and effective in guiding their users and readers.
Indeed, blogs also offer some valuable information but most books in the UX industry can provide new perspectives and help UI UX designer generate new and fresh ideas to use in their website projects.
It’s crucial when choosing a good UX design book to consider some factors to make sure that its content will align with your learning goals while keeping you updated with all the modern and latest practices.
Here are some factors that every UI UX designer should consider:
1. The relevance according to the latest trends
It’s important to look for those books that will probably reflect the newest trends, tools, and new tech in UX design. Because the industry is evolving at a high speed, books must contain information about all the recent developments such as artificial intelligence integration, or general design information that are valuable to the industry.
Also, every UI/UX designer should put in balance if he needs a practical, hands-on guide compared to a more theoretical book. Many books include more information about case studies and provide applicable advice while others can focus on the overall psychology and most known principles behind a successful and intuitive design.
2. The Target Audience
Look for those books that are most likely to match your skill level. While beginners could need a more introductive book on UX and UI design, advanced designers are most likely to prefer those books that offer more complex design challenges and problems.
Also, some books may focus on different industries such as e-commerce, mobile apps, or even startups. Every UI UX designer should look for books that fit their area of expertise or an area they want to focus on.
3. The clear and engaging writing
A good book for the UI UX industry should be easy to understand even though its content might be complex and advanced. The writing in every book should be clear and easy to understand while including real-world examples and studies to describe the key points.
Because UI and UX represent fields that are mostly focused on intuitive design, that book must include diagrams, screenshots, and also visual examples to facilitate the understanding process.
Reading books about user experience design might offer various benefits that can have a significant impact on experience and skills while helping to provide a better understanding of the entire industry. Here are some of the best books that every UI UX designer should read to enhance his projects and designing skills:
1. Laws of UX: Design Principles for Persuasive and Ethical by Jon Yablonski
Publication year: 2020
If you are interested in having an in-depth understanding of the relationship between psychology and user experience intuitive design. This author's book offers 10 principles that are created in his behavioral economics studies and also in his research.
It’s important to mention that Jon Yablonski gives some clear explanations and various examples for each law and these principles have detailed descriptions of persistent concepts suck as Miller’s Law, and Von Restorff Effect. Even if they sound fancy these laws are very easy to understand and on top of them, the author explores various ethical reflections about what a UI/UX should focus on when applying them.
2. Introduction to Design Thinking for UX Beginners by Uijun Park
Publication year: 2023
This book is maybe the newest user experience design book and represents the perfect introduction book in the industry of UX intuitive design. The author has more than 13 years of experience in UX design and he managed to write a modern and practical guidebook about the user experience and best practices that a UI/UX designer should apply.
He also includes various UX design thinking along with some user research. Compared with other books in the industry, this book by Uijun Park uses case studies and the most recent examples along with statistics.
This book is perfect for beginner UI UX designers who are looking to improve their skills and their overall projects because all the information that is included in this book covers the most important details that everyone needs.
3. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk
Publication year: 2011
This book was written by a behavioral scientist who is also a user experience consultant, and it shares 100 insights about human behavior to help UI UX designers create enhanced products while improving their UX skills.
Susan Weinschenk managed to mix perfectly the psychology and the user experience research and offer real-life examples to make the understanding process much easier on a deeper level.
Even though it was published in 2011, this interesting book is still a handy guide for every UX and UI designer along with product managers who are looking to have a better understanding of the psychology that stands behind a perfect user experience design.
4. Don’t Make Me Think (Revisited) by Steve Krug
Publication year: 2000
This book was written by a UX consultant who was also a web usability expert. Even though the first edition of Don’t Make Me Think was published in 2000, this UX design book has become more popular than ever and it’s probably the most recommended book for user experience design.
It’s short, well-illustrated, and enjoyable to read, “Don’t Make Me Think” focuses mainly on web usability and offers practical tips along with some of the best practices to ensure a great design.
The third edition of it was released back in 2013 by Steve Krug and provides illustrations along with a new chapter that covers the mobile user experience and usability topics.
5. Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski
Publication year: 2011
This book represents the perfect one for those UI UX designers who like short and on-point books. Luke Wroblewski talks about the concept of mobile-first design, which represents an intuitive design strategy focused on creating websites and apps for the smallest screens to enhance the user interface experience.
He thinks that the smaller screen is the most important one, and once you created the perfect design for a small screen you can design further for larger screens.
This book also offers the most common mobile design patterns, and it must be read by all UX and UI designers.
6. UI is Communication by Everett N. McKay
Publication year: 2013
This book represents a book with 378 pages that are written by UX Design Edge’s principal Everett N. McKay.
Even though it was first published in 2013, represents the perfect choice for UI designers, product designers, and also for researchers.
UI Communication focuses mainly on the relationship between the target audiences and product design along with the fact that every UI UX designer should initiate the creative process with the user in mind.
Other books written for this industry might be focused more on the theoretical side of user experience design, user research, or usability testing, but this one contains, besides practical advice, some examples that are meant to help designers understand the most common principles.
7. Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger
Publication year: 2018
This book represents a single-day read with various information about UX and also UI design packed into 252 pages. Refactoring UI focuses on avoiding as much as possible those endless buildups and repetition and includes valuable and handy information from the first page.
It is also very structured with the first section created as an overview of key intuitive design principles and ideas. In the second section, these two authors offer more in-depth information based on some examples that are the best out of the most popular design books.
The downside of this book is that readers can only access it in a PDF format by paying a $99 price tag. Besides that, it represents a good addition to every designer’s book collection.
Which of these UI/UX design books captures your interest the most?
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