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Recommended
Books Recommended Books This section contains a list
of the books I've found useful throughout my career (Many more to be added). Categories:
 Interface
& Interaction Design
Information
Architecture & Content
Information
Graphics & Visual Design
Business
& Strategy
Qualitative
& Quantitative Research
Cognitive
Science & Usability Engineering
Marketing
& Advertising
Technology
Legal & Copyright
Unclassified
Interface
& Interaction Design 
Designing
Visual Interfaces, Kevin Mullet, et al
This book has been around for a
while but it is still one of the best introductions to the basics I've seen.
About
Face, Alan Cooper
Bringing
Design to Software, Terry Winograd
A must have collection of essays edited
by Terry Winograd
Experience
Design, Nathan Shedroff
A beautiful piece of work by Nathan Shedroff.
If you're looking for an educational experience this isn't it. If you're looking
to experience the Art of Experience Design, this is the book for you.
Information
Appliances and Beyond, Eric Bergman
Interaction Design for Consumer Products
The
Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garrett
The Elements of User
Experience cuts through the complexity of user-centered design for the Web with
clear explanations and vivid illustrations that focus on ideas rather than tools
or techniques. Jesse James Garrett gives readers the big picture of Web user experience
development, from strategy and requirements to information architecture and visual
design. This accessible introduction helps any Web development team, large or
small, to create a successful user experience.
Hackos, JoAnn T., and Janice C. Redish. 1998. User
and Task Analysis for Interface Design. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Shneiderman, Ben. 1997. Designing
the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction. Reading,
MA: Addison-Wesley. Back to Top
Information
Architecture & Content
Information
Anxiety 2, Richard Saul Wurman, et al
Information
Architecture for the World Wide Web (2nd Edition), Louis Rosenfeld & Peter
Morville
The definitive resource on information architecture. Want to design
distinctive, cohesive web sites that "work"? This updated bestseller teaches you
how to blend aesthetics and mechanics for web sites and intranets that are easy
to navigate and appealing to your users, scalable and simple to maintain. Most
books on web development concentrate on either the graphics or the technical issues
of a site. This book focuses on the framework that holds the two together.
A
Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander
Written in 1977 this book is
a must read for information designers. In fact the book itself is an invaluable
lesson in IA.
Managing
Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy, Ann Rockley
Today's businesses
are overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, cutomized for more
customers, and for more media than ever before. Managing Enterprise Content: A
Unified Content Strategy provides the concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes,
and technological options that will prepare enterprise content managers and authors
to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content.
Information
Architecture, an Emerging 21st Century Profession, Earl Morrogh
For undergraduate/graduate-level
courses in Information Architecture, Information Design, Interaction Design, User
Experience Design, Social Informatics, Human-computer Interaction, Knowledge Management,
Information Management, Web Design, Communications History, Telecommunications
Infrastructure, and for survey courses in Information Science, Telecommunications,
Computer Science, and Information and Communication.
Information
Architecture, Blueprints for the Web, Christina Wodtke
Information Architecture:
Blueprints for the Web introduces the core concepts of information architecture:
organizing web site content so that it can be found, designing web site interaction
so that it's pleasant to use, and creating an interface that is easy to understand.
This book will help designers, project managers, programmers, and other information
architecture practitioners avoid the costly mistakes of the past by teaching the
skills of information architecture swiftly and clearly. Use this book and you
will pass the usability inspection with flying colors!
Accessing
and Browsing Information and Communication, Ronald E Rice, Maureen McCreadie,
Shan-Ju L. Chang
This book contends that accessing and browsing information
and communication are multidimensional and consequential aspects of the information
user's entire experience and of general human behavior. Problems in information
creation, processing, transmittal, and use often arise from an incomplete conceptualization
of the "information seeking" process, where information seeking is viewed as the
intentional finding of specific information. The process has traditionally been
considered to begin with some kind of search query and end with some kind of obtained
information. That, however, may be only the last, most easily observable--and
perhaps not even primary--stage of a complex sequence of activities. This book
reviews related theory, research, practice, and implications from a wide range
of disciplines. It also analyzes converging forms of information, including mass
media, online information services, the Internet and World Wide Web, libraries,
public spaces, advertisements, and organizational communication. Extensive case
studies illustrate the theoretical material.
The
Laws of the Web: Patterns in the Ecology of Information, Bernardo A. Huberman
Despite
its haphazard growth, the Web hides powerful underlying regularities--from the
organization of its links to the patterns found in its use by millions of users.
Many of these regularities have been predicted on the basis of theoretical models
based on a field of physics--statistical mechanics--that few would have thought
applicable to the social domain. In this book Bernardo Huberman explains in accessible
language the laws of the Web. One of the foremost researchers in the field, Huberman
has established, for example, that the surfing patterns of individuals are describable
by a precise law. Such findings can lead to more efficient Web design and use.
They also shed light on social mechanisms whose significance goes beyond the Web.
In this sense, the Web is a gigantic informational ecosystem that can be used
to quantify and test explanations of human behavior and social interaction.
Content
Management Bible, Bob Boiko
From the Author "To do e-business, you
need the organization and focus that a content management system provides. To
be useful on the Web and beyond, information must be designed for reuse and must
be packaged so that it can be located and automatically organized into targeted
publications. Content is the information and interactivity that organizations
must harness in order to deliver value to their customers. Content management
systems (CMS) collect, manage, and publish this information and interactivity.
A CMS is not a CD-ROM that you install, start, and forget about. Rather, it is
an ongoing process of knowing your information and your audiences and how to match
the two together in a set of publications. This book attempts to lay a comprehensive
foundation under these concepts and create a solid methodology for the practice
of content management and, by implication, e-business." Back
to Top
Information
Graphics & Visual Design
Alexander, Christopher. 1977. A
Pattern Language. This book is a must read for information designers. In fact
the book itself is an invaluable lesson in IA.
Arnheim, Rudolph. 1969. Visual
Thinking. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Berryman, G. 1990. Notes
on Graphic Design and Visual Communication. Los Altos, California: Crisp Publications.
Touches on the "must-know" aspects of graphic design in a condensed and succinct
way.
Eisner, W. 1985. Comics
& Sequential Art. Tamarac, Florida: Poorhouse Press. A classic by a guy
who knows his stuff. If you are getting into animation or game design, look at
this book for an expert's advice on mood, pacing, and story. Much of what Eisner
says is applicable to whatever visual narrative form you're working in.
Dreyfuss, R. 1984. Symbol
Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols. New York,
NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold. This is the collection of symbols that you will turn
to over and over again. It is a great resource.
Frutiger, A. 1989. Signs
and Symbols: Their Design and Meaning (trans. Andrew Bluhm). New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold. Theoretical and philosophical, this book presents hundreds
of symbols from throughout the ages as illustrations for the author's view of
how and why we make symbols the way we do.
Harris, Robert L. 1996. Information
Graphics: A Comprehensive Reference. Atlanta, GA: Management Graphics.
Horton, William K. 1994. Designing
and Writing Online Documentation. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Jacobson, Robert, ed. 1999. Information
Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kostelnick, Charles, and David D. Roberts. 1998. Designing
Visual Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators. Boston, MA: Allyn
and Bacon.
Kress, G. 1990. Reading
Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. Routledge. Reading Images provides a
systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of visual design. Drawing
on an enormous range of examples the authors demonstrate the differences and the
similarities between the grammar of language and that of visual culture.
Liungman, C. 1991. Dictionary
of Symbols. New York: W.W.Norton. Very thorough and categorizes symbols according
to their visual form, which is quite useful for the visual designer.
Lynch, Patrick J., and Sarah Horton. 1999. Web
Style Guide. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
McCloud, Scott. 1994. Understanding
Comics. Kitchen Sink Press. This is the book that will explain to you
why it is so amazing that we can look at several pictures in a row and get a story
from them. Since the format of the book is sequential art (comic book), you'll
also see the concepts in concrete form all the way through.
Mijksenaar, P. 1997. Visual
Function : An Introduction to Information Design. New York, NY: Princeton
Architectural Press. A visually appealing, clearly written and poorly organized
text. Exposes the poor design practices in informational design. Good examples.
Norman, Don. 1990, 1998, 2002. The
Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books. Another must read for anyonedesigning
anything for people!! One of my all time favorite books.
Ota, Y. 1993. Pictogram Design: Popular Edition. Tokyo: Kashiwa Bijutsu Shuppan
Publishing Company. The text is in Japanese and English. This is a broad, well-illustrated
treatment of both the historical and the current practice side of pictogram design.
It can be hard to find so many non-U.S., non-European examples in one place, so
you can also look at this book to break out of Western-centric habits.
Paradis, James G., & Muriel L. Zimmerman. 1997. The
MIT Guide to Science and Engineering Communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Tufte, Edward. 1992. The
Visual Display of Quantitative Information. A timeless classic in how complex
information should be presented graphically.
Tufte, Edward. 1989. Envisioning
Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.
Tufte, Edward. 1997. Visual
Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire, CT:
Graphics Press.
White, J. V. 1990. Color
for the Electronic Age. New York: Watson-Guphill Publishers. This book gives
you side-by-side examples of the use of color, particularly as it may be used
with type for information design.
Wildbur, P. 1989. Information
Graphics: A Survey of Typographic, Diagrammatic and Cartographic Communication.
New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold. Full of examples and completely focused on information
graphics (instead of graphic design), this book provides background information
about the development of different representational forms.
Wurman, Richard Saul. 2000. Information
Anxiety 2. Que. The follow-up to a classic (Information Anxiety, 1989)
written by the father of information design. Both books are must reads for anyone
seeking to understand the complexities of information design. Back
to Top
Business
& Strategy
The
Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley
A look into the IDEO's corporate culture
and success story. While their ideals are not as unique as they think, they are
certainly the ideals to pursue and they've proven they can succeed where their
competitors still strive to catch up. A Great read!
Crossing
the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore
Author Geoffrey Moore's chasm theory describes
high-tech products being adopted initially by a technically literate customer
base, but then slowing down as marketing professionals try to sell to mainstream
buyers.
The
Eternal E-Customer, Bryan Bergeron
The
Experience Economy, B. Joseph Pine II, et al
Getting
to Yes, Roger Fisher & William Ury
A must read for anyone who negotiates
as part of their normal routine. Yes, that incluses all of us. The author dispells
the myth of the negotiating = getting the upper hand and points out how the only
successful negotiating is win = win.
The
Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen
Management
of the Absurd, Richard Farson Back
to Top
Qualitative
& Quantitative Research
Basics
of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory,
Anselm L. Strauss, et al
Qualitative
Methods for Marketplace Research, Shay Sayre
Tales
of the Field on Writing Ethnography, John Van Maanen
Visual
Anthropology: Photography As a Research Method, John, Jr. Collier, et al Back
to Top
Cognitive
Science & Usability Engineering
Contextual
Design, Karen Holtzblatt, et al
Design
by People for People: Essays on Usability, Russell J. Branaghan
A great
collection of essays, many with detailed case studies and examples.
The
Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman
Designing
Web Usability, Jakob Nielsen
Don't
Make Me Think, Steve Krug
Krug delivers his message in a no nonsense manner.
No buzz words here. Just straight forward, down-to-earth, every day language so
you can absorb the concepts and apply them immediately.
The
Humane Interface, Jef Raskin
The
Invisible Computer, Don Norman
Things
That Make Us Smart, Don Norman
Nielsen, Jakob. 1994. Usability
Engineering. San Francisco, CA: Academic Press Professional/Morgan Kaufmann.
Classic usability reference. Especially helpful in its descriptions of heuristic
and abbreviated testing methods. A must own reference for any web design practitioner,
developer or project manager.
The
Usability Engineering Lifecycle, Deborah J. Mayhew Back
to Top
Marketing
& Advertising
Experiential
Marketing, Bernd Schmitt TechnoBrands, Chuck Pettis Back
to Top
Technology
Extreme
Programming Explained, Kent Beck
There are a number of interesting parallels
and connections between Extreme Programing and User-Centered Design processes.
It's very easy to see how XP might be adapted to fit UCD.
Fire
in the Valley, Paul Freiberger & Michael Swaine
Inventing
the Internet, Janet Abbate Back
to Top
Legal
& Copyright
Beyond
our Control? Confronting the Limits of Our Legal System in the Age of Cyberspace,
Stuart Biegel
This book provides a framework for thinking about the law and
cyberspace, examining the extent to which the Internet is currently under control
and the extent to which it can or should be controlled. It focuses in part on
the proliferation of MP3 file sharing, a practice made possible by the development
of a file format that enables users to store large audio files with near-CD sound
quality on a computer. By 1998, software available for free on the Web enabled
users to copy existing digital files from CDs. Later technologies such as Napster
and Gnutella allowed users to exchange MP3 files in cyberspace without having
to post anything online. This ability of online users to download free music caused
an uproar among music executives and many musicians, as well as a range of much-discussed
legal action. Regulation strategies identified and discussed include legislation,
policy changes, administrative agency activity, international cooperation, architectural
changes, private ordering, and self-regulation. The book also applies major regulatory
models to some of the most volatile Internet issues, including cyber-security,
consumer fraud, free speech rights, intellectual property rights, and file-sharing
programs. Back to Top
Unclassified
A
Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman
The
Forgotten Arts and Crafts, John Seymour
The art and craft of folk art
and design for real people. An historical account on the hand making of many products.
A beautiful and informative account of the basics. Back
to Top | 
