Books for Experienced UX/Designers
Looking to level up your skills as a UX designer? Do you want to be a more creative or structured designer? Did you already read the book on my UX Beginner list? Then these books will give you next level knowlege to make you a pro!
These books are MY TOP recommendations for designers looking to level up their designer skills!
📚Also check out my book list for Beginner UX/Designers: https://annawikstrom.medium.com/books-for-beginner-ux-designers-8fd295011793
Hooked
Focus: Design Phychology
The Hook Model is a 4 steps cycle and it’s this journey we should design to create new habits and give a rewarding experience so the user wants to come back for more.
The book explains and goes into details about the psychology behind the most used and seemingly mundane features that many products use. These things are what makes us open some apps every day.
Read the full Review: https://uxdesign.cc/i-read-4-popular-design-books-here-are-my-thoughts-675a106b87ef
Emotional Design
Focus: Function vs Emotion
Fundamentals of why it’s important to learn how users think, behave, act and belive, so you can create better design that is actually great.
This is the second book from Don Norman, following the classic ‘Design of Everyday Things’. It is full of new learnings, as well as evolves the thinking and philosophy of design from just being functional.
Read the full Review: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/reviewing-4-more-popular-ux-design-books-fbb4140cb207
Creative Confidence
Focus: Creative Thinking
Wait, is UX about fun creative ideas or making functinal design? Well, as a UX designer you need both! This book is great because it takes you through some real cases where the use of clever design thinking make for better products and enjoyable experiences for people in need. Build your creative confidence too!
Read the full Review: https://medium.com/blankpage/reviewing-3-popular-books-about-how-to-be-creative-38650b0f12dd
Articulating Design Decisions
Focus: UX Communication
About everything that goes into working as a designer that isn’t about the design itself. I think every designer has faced the problems detailed in this book and knows the frustration of trying to get people to say YES to your designs, while not creating chaos in the process.
Read the full Review: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/reviewing-ux-design-books-part-5-a9ba67e33f0e
Actionable Gamification
Focus: Gamification & Motivation
This book gives you the knowledge to step up your game (pun intended) and look at designs with new motivation glasses. Impress your boss with a new bag of design ideas and good information to support your decisions! This will take you from just designing predictable solutions that are easy to use, to instead creating delightful & engaging experiences inspired by games.
Read the full Review: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/reviewing-ux-design-books-part-5-a9ba67e33f0e
Lean UX
Focus: Design Workflow
Lean UX gives a great overview of the methods, concepts and benefits of working Lean in your design flow. Lean UX explains that the role of the user expert & creative problem solver should not only be on one singular person with UX in their title. It should instead be ingrained in the team workflow so everyone gains insight and knowledge about the product & customers together.
Read the full Review: https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/reviewing-4-popular-design-books-part-4-6a66cb3c21da
UX Research
Focus: UX Research
Giving you everything you need to know from different types of Research methods and how they should be used — to a detailed list of tips & tricks to help you avoid common misstakes that can effect your results. Level up your design skills with proffetional terminologies and methods from UX Research. A great way to help your team collect useful user data, and expand your own pool of skills!
Read the full Review: https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/reviewing-4-popular-design-books-part-4-6a66cb3c21da
Navigating the Politics of UX
Focus: Work Collaboration
Being good at doing UX tasks is not all a high level UX Designer needs to know to create great products together with a team. You also need to work well together with others, to work towards the same goal(s) and find the right solutions in a stressful production flow. You can’t do great work if UX (and you) is not seen as a key part of a successful product/service! This book gives you the mindset and tools needed to take the step up in your teamwork and career. It takes a political touch to make your teammates and clients see how much your UX skills can help everyone in the team!
Read the full Review: coming soon
Design is a job
Focus: Selling your Design
Looking for something more specific to working at an agency or freelance? This book goes through all the things you need to be great at if you want to be a successful Designer. No, this book is not about the design work! This book does not talk about files, layouts, colors, brands, logos, strategy, UI, or UX. Instead, it focuses on everything else that goes into being successful and doing great work with other people (that are not designers). Perfect for anyone that want tips to work better with clients and get payed better for their efforts!
Read the full Review: https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/reviewing-4-popular-design-books-part-4-6a66cb3c21da
Free Digital Learnings!
You don’t need to pay for books to get great UX information! Here are my top suggestions for FREE content every designer should be aware of!
1. Coglode Research
Website: https://www.coglode.com/research
Bite-size behavioural insights with psychological tricks you can add into your design to make products more usables, motivational and inspiring to nudge players to like and use your products more.
2. Laws of UX
Website: https://lawsofux.com/
This webside will give you lots of helpful guidelines to practical and useful ‘rules’ of design and practical guides for UI.
3. Google Material Design
Website: https://material.io/design/introduction
Google has created a great free library of great UI practices that they use to make sure that digital products all follow coherent design rules. Knowing best practices in UI design helps you in you’re UX design.
4. Free UX/UI Courses
YouTube video with the list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2c9OrcoEc4
Do you want to step up your learning to more than just books? Here are some FREE courses in UX & UI by Google, Figma, Codeacademy & more!
❤️ Thank you for reading!
Did you already read these books and want to reach the next Level of UX Design?
I regularly review design books and write about them here on Medium!
Check out all book reviews here: https://medium.com/@annawikstrom/list/ux-design-book-reviews-9489a0cf2f77
