Best UX Design Books You Need to Read

As a designer in this ever-changing and ever-evolving design Industry, it is very important to continually learn and grow in order to stay up-to-date and relevant in the industry. Books are a short-shot way to stay way ahead in the game and strengthen your fundamentals. There are UX design books that can help you improve your foundation in design and once your foundation is robust you can build anything on top of it. In this article, we will be discussing the top 4 UX design Books you should definitely check out as a UX designer.

Best UX Design Books You Need to Read

Best UX Design Books You Need to Read

Design of Everyday Things

Author: Don Norman

No list of design books can ever be complete without this at the Top. Design of Everyday Things is a classic must-read book for any designer. It is regarded as the Bible of interface design but don’t let the word interface make you think otherwise, this book isn’t about digital interfaces but about the digital and physical user experiences and about how human beings interact with objects. This book will help you understand how designers can create products that are easy to use and understand, Don Norman introduces Concepts such as affordances, feedback and mapping and illustrates them with examples from everyday life. This is a good read for anyone who has an intermediate level experience in design.

The author has made sure to explain complex topics with regular day to day examples which makes it more relatable for the readers. The book also examines the importance of technology on design including the challenges and opportunities presented by the rise of Automation and Artificial Intelligence. Overall the Design of Everyday Things provides a framework for understanding the role of design in shaping our interactions with the world around us.

Thinking Fast and Slow

Author: Daniel Kahneman

This book is as interesting as the title is. The book explores two systems of thinking that people use in their daily lives, the first system is fast, intuitive and emotional while the second system is slow, deliberate and logical. The Author, Daniel Kahneman argues that our thinking is often biased and flawed and that we rely too heavily on intuition and heuristics when making decisions. The book discusses a wide range of topics including psychology of decision making, the influence of emotions in our thinking and the cognitive biases that lead us to make errors not just in design thinking but also in real life.

In general throughout the book, Carmen uses engaging examples and anecdotes to illustrate his points and provides practical advice for how you can improve your thinking and decision making overall. Thinking Fast and Slow provides a fascinating look into the workings of human mind and the many ways in which our thinking can be improved.

The Power of Habit

Author: Charles Duhigg

The Power of Habit is most of the most popular self help books and this book is not about design at all, you must be wondering that why is this book in the list then? This is because, the book is about habits, the science behind how habits are formed and how they can be changed? One of the ultimate testimony of a great UX design is when it becomes a habit of your users. For example Google, when you don’t know something you Google it.

Great UX designs make the products so much a part of our lives that there will be a huge gap if they don’t exist and that’s exactly why The Power of habits is in our list of top 5 UX design books to read, because it says how habits are powerful patterns that shape our lives and organizing it breaks down the Habit Loop into three simple parts – the cue the routine and the reward. This book shows how understanding and manipulating these components can help individuals and organization to create new habits and break old ones, something that you can apply while designing user experiences.

Don’t make me think

Author: Steve Krug

Don’t make me think is a book about web usability and User Experience design. The book argues that website should be designed with the user in mind and the goal of a good website design is to make it easy for the users to find what they’re looking for and complete their tasks quickly and effectively. Don’t make me think as the name suggests emphasizes the importance of Simplicity and Clarity in web design and provides practical advice on how to create effective navigation layout and content.

Other than this the book also stresses on the importance of testing and iteration in design process and provides tips on how to gather those feedback from the users and how to improve upon the user experience over time by implementing those feedback. Throughout the book, Steve Krug uses clear examples to illustrate his point and provide practical tools and checklists that readers can use to evaluate and improve on their website designs.

Conclusion

You do not have to be a avid book reader in order to improve your design skills. In fact there are many designers who prefer Blog Posts, articles and research papers over books. But Book do provide you a good foundation in design and once your foundation is robust you can build anything on top of it. Make sure to go through the books we mentioned in the article in order to significantly improve your UX fundamentals.