A list of books that helped me understand design more in depth, and that serve as a basis for my design process today.
Introduction
While practicing design is critical in order to improve, I find that reading completes this learning process as it helps understand design in a more deep way, and provides guidelines that can be followed to ensure a successful product is being build. So without further ado, here are 5 books that have helped me understand design and that serve as a basis for my design process today! 👇
1. Hooked — How to Build Habit Forming Products, by Nir Eyal
Why do certain products succeed while others fail? In “Hooked-How to Build Habit-Forming Products”, Nir Eyal discusses the importance of habits when designing successful products. He introduces a 4-step model aimed to help users connect their problems with a solution frequently enough to form a habit. The 4 phases defined in the Hook Model are: trigger, action, variable reward, investment. Having built a product, we can follow the process of Habit Testing, which implies 3 steps: identify, codify, and modify.
👉 My takeaways
- The products which are most successful form habits around them.
- When we observe our user’s behaviours, we can discover new insights and habit-forming product opportunities.
- Triggers cue the user to take action in the first place, and they can be either external (tell the user what to do next by placing information within his or her environment) or internal (tell the user what to do next through associations stored in the his or her memory). In order to build habit-forming products, designers need to understand which emotions might be tied to internal triggers, and how to leverage the external triggers to cause action from the user.
2. Just Enough Research, by Erika Hall
In this book, Erika Hall discusses types of research and how to conduct them, as well as ethics in user research. From defining the research process, to structuring an interview and clustering identified issues, the book offers in depth information on user research which can serve as guidelines for your empathising methods during the design process.
👉 My takeaways
- Research is not asking people what they like, nor a political tool. Applied research is not science.
- There are multiple types of bias: design bias, sampling bias, interviewer bias, sponsor bias, social desirability bias, the Hawthorne Effect.
- The Hawthorne Effect states that the behaviour of people you are studying might change just because you are there.
- When it comes to ethics in research, we must take several things into account, such as: Is the overall goal of the research and project itself ethical?; Will concealing certain facts cause people to participate in something they otherwise wouldn’t want to participate in?; Are we presenting false information as being true?;
- Don’t make assumptions and never ask anyone what they want.
- There are 5 components that define the usability attribute: learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction.
3. Designing for Emotion, by Aaron Walter
When designing, we always begin by understanding the needs of the people we are designing for. In “Designing for Emotion”, Aaron Walter discusses the concept of empathising with the users in order to create successful products. As defined in the book, The Emotional Design Principle states the following:
People will forgive shortcomings, follow your lead, and sing your praises if you reward them with positive emotion.
He taps into concepts of personality, emotional engagement, overcoming obstacles, design personas, as well as forgiveness, and risk & reward.
👉 My takeaways
- An interface must be functional, reliable, usable.
- Hick’s Law states that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number of alternatives.
- Every time we add content to an interface, it makes it harder for users to identify patterns and contrasting elements.
- Similar to a user persona, we can build design personas. While personality can be manifested in an interface through visual design, copy and interactions, a design persona focuses on how to channel this personality in each of the mentioned areas.
- Surprise amplifies our emotional response.
4. Emotional Design, by Don Norman
Another book that really helped me understand design more in depth is “Emotional design”, by (the one and only) Don Norman. In essence, products and systems that me people feel good are easier to work with and produce more harmonious results. In this book, Don Norman discusses topics such as affect and emotion, the three levels of the brain (linked to three levels of design), as well as the dark side of design.
If you want a successful product, test and revise. If you want a great product, one that can change the world, let it be driven by someone with a clear vision.
👉 My takeaways
- Affect (general term for the judgemental system, conscious and subconscious) and emotion (the conscious experience of affect) are crucial for everyday decision making.
- There are 3 levels of the brain: visceral level(automatic, prewired), behavioural level (brain processes that control behaviour), reflective level (contemplative).
- There are also 3 levels of design: visceral design (all about immediate emotional impact), behavioural design (all about use; appearance, rationale don’t really matter), reflective design (all about message, culture and the meaning of the product in use).
- Trust implies three qualities: reliance, confidence, integrity.
5. Designing With the Mind in Mind, by Jeff Johnson
Jeff Johnson focuses on the idea that all of the design rules are based on human psychology. Our perception can be biased by our past, present and future, and we must always take this into consideration when designing. He taps into topics such as the Gestalt principles, consistency, ambiguity, all the way to vision and memory.
👉 My takeaways
- Our perception is biased by the past (our experience), the present (current context), and the future (goals).
- The Gestalt principles include: proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, symmetry, figure/ground, common fate.
- The importance of visual hierarchy stands in the fact that it allows people to instantly separate what is relevant for them from what is irrelevant, and to focus their attention on the relevant information.
- Some guidelines for using colour: use distinctive colours; avoid pairs that cannot be distinguished by colour-blind people; separate strong opponent colours.
- Our vision has much greater resolution in the centre of our visual field than elsewhere.
- We’re wired for language, but not for reading, so learning to read involves training our visual system to recognise patterns.
