The Core UX Reading List

Aug
2
2011
By Gary Barber

Posted in  usability, user interfaces, ux

Estimated reading time:  2.8 mins.

CBD Perth Graf

I get asked this a lot. “What are the best UX books to read?”

In true UX tradition my answer is depends.

It depends on your experience as a UX practitioner, your experience with scientific research methods, psychology, interaction design, user interface design, product or visual design and your level of communication skills.

Still having a list of starter books would be handy.

Yeah sure others have their lists from the likes of Will Evans, Paul Seys and Nick Finck however some of the books on these are either too complex (for someone new to UX) or take way to long to get to the point. Bit like this post.

So here is a list of books I would pick as the must read UX books.

The UX Book List

More Specific Methods and Techniques Tuning

Let’s Get a Lot Deeper and Serious

So what are your killer must have UX books, I’m sure they are few that are different to the list above.

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8 Comments

  1. Adrianne Barba says...
    1
    Posted August 2, 2011 at 10:44 pm |

    Amazing list, Gary. Thanks for posting it. A few already on my bookshelf, but many I hadn’t heard of before. Cheers!

  2. Nathanael Boehm says...
    2
    Posted August 3, 2011 at 3:58 am |

    This is a really good list – I have many of these books and know of most of the others but there are some in here I didn’t know about that look really interesting, cheers!

  3. Nathanael Boehm says...
    3
    Posted August 3, 2011 at 4:07 am |

    I might add:

    Both of Steve Krug’s books – Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy

    Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.

    Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability.

    Yes!: 50 secrets from the science of persuasion.

    Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value.

    Designing the iPhone User Experience: A User-Centered Approach to Sketching and Prototyping iPhone Apps.

    Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services.

    The last is chunky but a damn fine read – pretty much a how-to on the entire lifecycle of a project for interaction designers.

  4. Pascal Bompard says...
    4
    Posted August 3, 2011 at 7:38 am |

    Thanks for sharing, Gary. That just what I was looking for to kickstart my UX research.

  5. Gary Barber says...
    5
    Posted August 3, 2011 at 8:45 am |

    Thanks all, been meaning to get around to doing this for a while.

    @Nat: have added linked to the books.

    You will note no “About Face” and “Sketching UX”. Good books but others have now said the same thing in a more concise way.

  6. Anna says...
    6
    Posted August 17, 2011 at 12:34 pm |

    Thanks for the great list. I have quite a few that I need to read on this list. Here are two more more books that are also very informative: Web Anatomy – Interaction Design Frameworks that Work by Robert Hoekman and Jared Spool and Neuro Web Design – What makes them click? by Susan Weinschenk.

  7. Gary Barber says...
    7
    Posted August 17, 2011 at 12:47 pm |

    Hi Anna

    Not read Robert and Jared’s book, I suspected it would be more of the same. I had discounted Neuro Web Design as it repeats earlier work from others and it’s summarised in 100 things.

  8. Nathanael Boehm says...
    8
    Posted August 17, 2011 at 12:56 pm |

    I’ve read both those books Anna – Neuro Web Design, sure, but only if you haven’t read 100 or Stephen P. Anderson’s book Seductive Interaction Design which is strongly influenced (as was his Mental Notes card deck) by Susan Weinschenk’s work.

    I’ve also written a blog post review of Hoekman and Spool’s book:

    http://www.purecaffeine.com/blog/design/book-review-web-anatomy/

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