Getting Started in User Experience: Recommended UX and Usability Books
A question I get asked fairly often is “How can I get started in User Experience (UX)?” The short answer is: “It depends”. It depends on your interests, and what you would like to focus on within user experience – specific areas like UX research, visual design, interaction design, information architecture, or usability. Over the next couple of weeks, we will look at a few ways to immerse yourself – from slowly getting your toes wet with a reading list of books and websites, to jumping in the deep end with UX training.
Books
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The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) Jesse James Garrett The book introduces user experience and then breaks it down into 5 distinct planes from the visible surface plane to the strategy behind that experience. The rest of the book then takes you through the steps involved in building the user experience from the strategy plane to the surface plane. |
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Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition Steve Krug Krug’s first law of usability is the title of the book, “Don’t Make Me Think!” – a very useful mantra to keep in mind when designing for your users. His writing style and the illustrations make this an easy book to read, understand and digest. When you get hooked onto web usability, dive deeper with Krug’s second book: Rocket Surgery Made Easy:The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems |
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Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld The first edition of this book was the first book I read on Information Architecture. It is an excellent introduction to Information Architecture, a useful reference book, and has since been updated, to include structures like tag clouds and folksonomy. |
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A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making Russ Unger, Carolyn Chandler While User Experience is usually viewed as a creative discipline, this book also looks at the business aspect and outlines an approach to UX design projects. It covers the different hats you can put on as a user experience practitioner, and has a chapter specifically for consultants and freelancers related to proposals. |
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The Fable of the User-Centered Designer David Travis This free 40 page ebook takes a narrative approach of explaining user-centered design, making it interesting and engaging. The book reveals the three secrets of the user-centered designer. Read, learn and share with others! |
What are other user experience books you would recommend for someone getting started? Leave a comment and let us know!
