Reading is fundamental.
There are tons of books out there that are really helpful in advancing your UX design knowledge an career so it’s going to be tough for me to narrow down to my top 5 favorites but I’m going to try. I have found that books are super helpful in gaining a broader understanding of various topics and life in general. There’s just something so innately genuine and classic about reading a book (or listening for you audiobook fans out there) that you just can’t get in other forms of media (ie YouTube videos and blogs like this lol).
With that being said, here are my top 5 books to help you with your UX Design.
1. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Author: Nir Eyal
This book may or may not be on your reading list for UX books but this was one of the first books that I dove into shortly after beginning my journey into UX Design. This one was a great read as far as breaking down the relationship between design and habits. These two are so intertwined and this book was one of the first to break down how digital products fit into that connection between the two especially with his “Hook model”.
"All humans are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain, to seek hope and avoid fear, and finally, to seek social acceptance and avoid rejection."
Nir Eyal
2. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Author: Charles Duhigg
While we’re on the topic of habits…. I actually really enjoyed this book as a benefit to my actual life and not only UX Design. Charles Duhigg presents various legitimate and interesting case studies throughout the book to support his hypothesis on how habits dictate everything we do on a daily basis. He also goes into detail on what we can do to change our habits and transform our lives.
3. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
Author: Jake Knapp , John Zeratsky , Braden Kowitz
Now we start diving into some of the more widely known titles. This one is from the guys from Google Ventures and goes into the design sprint which is super insightful especially for teams who really don’t have much time to turn things around. Author Jake Knapp goes into detail on how his method – the design sprint – can help companies in various industries overcome their biggest challenges.
4. The Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald A. Norman
Another popular title is an oldie and definitely a goodie. This one has been like a design handbook for designers for a number of years and the details in this book are so universal that they still apply today. This book can really open your eyes to how everything in your environment is designed (and moreso poorly designed) and how people desire good design.
5. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
Author: Tim Brown
And last, but most certainly not least, from the man who arguably made the biggest impact in the current state of the design world and spearheaded the term design thinking. In this book, Tim Brown goes into great detail on his idea of design thinking, which is centered around the user and assisted by a designer’s sensibilities to help progress various subjects from business to society. One point that stuck with me in this book is the idea of great design by sustainability. Which means that a great design can be created and evolve and eventually grow by itself. Such a great read and important read for the current UX designer.
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