User Experience & Design Books

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
With this modest tome, Don Norman started a revolution toward user-centered design. Norman's discussion of the interface design of physical objects (door handles, stove dials, etc.) is grounded in cognitive psychology, but the clear presentation and engaging tone make the topic accessible to all.

Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
Usability expert Steve Krug distills his years of experience into clear, practical, amusing advice for the people in the trenches (designers, programmers, writers, editors), the people who tell them what to do (project managers and marketing people), and even the people who sign the checks.

The Art and Science of Web Design by Jeffrey Veen
Jeff Veen's latest book will help you understand the Web from the inside. It's not a reference book or a style guide -- it's your mentor, whispering in your ear answers to those ubiquitous questions, and reminding us that there are new rules and new ways to break them.

The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams
With great humility, this book proves again that simple truths are the most brilliant. Though written ostensibly for print design (and for non-designers), the principles laid out here transcend medium. Every designer must read this book.

Contextual Design by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holzblatt
This groundbreaking text creates a new methodology within systems design, wherein ethnographic understanding of your customers is modeled into solid forms from which you can design.

About Face by Alan Cooper
Because of his finger-wagging style, Alan Cooper has rightly been called the "Miss Manners" of software. In this thorough textbook on UI design, Cooper details how to build polite applications that treat users with respect. An absolute must-read for developers.

Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte
In these three books, the foremost expert on information design in our age explains good and bad design of nouns, numbers and verbs, respectively. Tufte is professor emeritus at Yale, and derives his timeless truths from the entire span of human history, from the first English translations of Euclid to the space shuttle Challenger.

Daily & Weekly Reads