The Only UX Reading List Ever

This reading list is for anyone who wants to learn or deepen their knowledge in the disciplines of User Research, Usability, Information Architecture, User-Interface Design, Interaction Design, Content Strategy or Experience Strategy.

The list is broad and includes books that exemplify design thinking, processes, methods, principles and best practices. Some of the books on this list are over 20 years old, yet still relevant more than ever.

There’s not a day where I don’t find myself applying the ideas from these books. Each has helped shaped the designer I am today, helped me advance my craft. I hope that you too, can extract the same value.

Last updated 09/10/2017

My Top Ten

1. The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman
2. About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, Alan Cooper
3. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond, Jesse James Garrett
4. The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide, Leah Buley
5. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind, Jocelyn K. Glei, 99u
6. A Practical Guide to Information Architecture, Donna Spencer
7. Designing Together: The collaboration and conflict management handbook for creative professionals, Dan M. Brown
8. Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences, Stephen Anderson
9. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, Susan Weinschenk
10. Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience, Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden

More Must-Reads On Thinking, Methods, Principles and Best Practices

I find it helpful to choose what to read based on what’s relevant at the time. Applying what you’re reading, as you’re thinking and making is a great way to solidify concepts, reflect and learn.

Some old, some new. All important reading, in no particular order.

Last updated 09/10/2017

• The Shape of Design, Frank Chimero
• Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior, Indi Young
• Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and Creativity in Your Work, Indi Young
• Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights, Steve Portigal
• Designing Web Interfaces: Principles and Patterns for Rich Interactions, Bill Scott, Theresa Neil
• The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life), John Maeda
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing for the Web and Beyond, Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld, Jorge Arango
• Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook, Saul Greenberg, Sheelagh Carpendale , Nicolai Marquardt, Bill Buxton
• Well Designed: How to Use Empathy to Create Products People Love, Jon Kolko
• Thoughts on Interaction Design, Jon Kolko
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Seth Godin
• Don’t Make Me Think AND Rocket Surgery Made Easy, Steve Krug
• Designing Interfaces, Jennifer Tidwell
• Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests, Jeffrey Rubin, Dana Chisnell
• Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information AND Envisioning Information, Edward R. Tufte
• A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making, Russ Unger & Carolyn Chandler
• Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers, Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo
• The Mobile Frontier: A Guide for Designing Mobile Experiences, Rachel Hinman
• Design Is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable, Nathan Shedroff
• Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide, Todd Zaki Warfel
• Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences, Steve Diller, Nathan Shedroff, Darrel Rhea
• Content Strategy for the Web, by Kristina Halvorson, Melissa Rach
• Just Enough Research, Erika Hall
• Design Is A Job, Mike Monteiro
• Designing for Emotion, Aaron Walter
• Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills, David Sherwin
• Letting Go of The Words: Writing Web Content that Works, Janice (Ginny) Redish
• Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design, Robert Hoekman Jr
• Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts in Action, Robert Hoekman Jr
• Designing for the Social Web, Joshua Porter
• Undercover User Experience Design, Cennydd Bowles, James Box
• Product Design for the Web: Principles of Designing and Releasing Web Products, Randy Hunt
• Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, by Ben Shneiderman, Catherine Plaisant, Maxine Cohen, Steven Jacobs
• This is Service Design Thinking: Basics, Tools, Cases, Marc Stickdorn, Jakob Schneider
• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences, Nancy Duarte
• Metaskills: 5 Talents for the Robotic Age, Marty Neumeier
• The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design, Marty Neumeier
• Getting Real AND Rework, 37 Signals, Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
• The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems, Jef Raskin
• Simple and Usable Web, Mobile, and Interaction Design, Giles Colborne
• Search Patterns: Design for Discovery, Peter Morville, Jeffery Callender
• Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Don Norman
• Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? Susan Weinschenk
• Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services, Kim Goodwin
• A Web For Everyone, Sarah Horton, Whitney Quesenbery
• How to Make Sense of Any Mess, Abby Covert
• Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results, Christina Wodtke
• Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams, Peter Merholz, Kristin Skinner
• Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning, Dan M. Brown
• Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World, Peter Merholz, Todd Wilkens, Brandon Schauer, David Verba
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, Nir Eyal
• The 46 Rules of Genius: An Innovator’s Guide to Creativity, Marty Neumeier
• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days, Braden Kowitz, Jake Knapp, and John Zeratsky
• Designing with Data: Improving the User Experience with A/B Testing, Rochelle King, Elizabeth F Churchill, Caitlin Tan
• Banish Your Inner Critic: Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt to Unleash Your Creativity and Do Your Best Work, Denise Jacobs
• Design for Real Life, Eric Meyer & Sara Wachter-Boettcher
• Designing Interface Animation: Meaningful Motion for User Experience, Val Head
• Practical Design Discovery, Dan Brown
• On Web Typography, By Jason Santa Maria
• Designing Voice User Interfaces: Principles of Conversational Experiences, Cathy Pearl
• Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Donella H. Meadows
• Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All, Tom Kelley, David Kelley

More Useful Reading

Reading books is only a partial source of my inspiration and learning. I also frequently read blogs and articles. I highly recommend staying connected to these sources of great thought leadership:

• Eleganthack, Christina Wodtke
• Peter Merholz
• The Year of the Looking Glass, Julie Zhuo
• Bokardo, Joshua Porter
• Information Architects, Oliver Reichenstein
• Felt Presence, Ryan Singer
• Whitney Hess
• Disambiguity, Leisa Reichelt
• Form and Function, Luke Wroblewski
• Frank Chimero
• Aral Balkan
• David Cole
• Seth Godin
• Scott Berkun
• Intercom
• Google Ventures Design Library
• Adaptive Path
• Boxes and Arrows
• UXmatters
• UIE Brainsparks
• UX Magazine
• UX Booth
• A List Apart
• Smashing Magazine
• Signal vs. Noise, Basecamp
• 52 Weeks of UX
• Interaction Design Foundation Library of Resources

If you’ve found this article helpful, I would love to hear about it. Comment, tweet me or reach out to share your story: simon.pan@me.com

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