So short I didn't want it to end. While he definitely came across as a curmudgeon, I really thought there were some good nuggets in there. His fear of...moreSo short I didn't want it to end. While he definitely came across as a curmudgeon, I really thought there were some good nuggets in there. His fear of computers was funny and perhaps a big draw back for what I do. (less)
This book would have been a great read for me about 10 years ago when I was a blossoming noob of UX. I think if you are unfamiliar with the tools out...moreThis book would have been a great read for me about 10 years ago when I was a blossoming noob of UX. I think if you are unfamiliar with the tools out there this does a great job of detailing and showing the pros and cons of each choice. I did learn one or two things in the paper prototyping section that I'd never seen before that made it worth the read. All in all I'm glad to have it around to point to while also being able to reference it. (less)
Oh man. Having a lot of theory and rigor under my belt in terms of qualitative analysis this book was a little painful. I thought it was really well w...moreOh man. Having a lot of theory and rigor under my belt in terms of qualitative analysis this book was a little painful. I thought it was really well written and great for anyone not wanting to publish or reuse the data gathered, so for businesses doing on the fly analysis - great. But anyone trying to truly understand users or the methods to gather user data this book should probably be passed for more meaningful reading. In fact, it is books like this that makes people think that UX and HCI are fuzzy sciences. Oh well. It was fruitful and we'll be discussing it at a book club in Baltimore this week. (less)
I was surprised how much I learned. There is a lot in here and it is very readable. Many topics I knew about 70% of, and that extra 30% covered in thi...moreI was surprised how much I learned. There is a lot in here and it is very readable. Many topics I knew about 70% of, and that extra 30% covered in this book was truly interesting. (less)
While my abilities to do UX are top notch, I know little about the business side of things. Not only am I generally stupid with business decisions, I...moreWhile my abilities to do UX are top notch, I know little about the business side of things. Not only am I generally stupid with business decisions, I tend to prefer to focus on the design rather than the monetary costs. I picked up this book to try to give some balance to my knowledge set.
What I found was rather interesting. This book is much like a business 101 course but applied to the design profession - in this case mostly architecture and interior design. The difference, for me, is that this book had beautiful diagrams that made engaging with such a boring topic really engaging. Additionally, the interviews with some of the best designers in these fields were included.
I really enjoyed this book and it gave a lot of very practical advice (e.g., how to charge, what to invoice, what is a profit margin) that I needed. (less)
Given that this is the *only* book that I've read on mobile design, I was still really really impressed. This books keeps it super simple: it covers t...moreGiven that this is the *only* book that I've read on mobile design, I was still really really impressed. This books keeps it super simple: it covers the mobile design space - i.e., what you can and cannot/should not control; the best practices surrounding the designs; and, how really smart people have done it before. The use of case studies, and the break down of each chapter is really clean. And, let me not skimp on the great use of graphics to explain. The book is beautiful and the writing is easy to follow. While not explicitly a UX book (it doesn't really get under the covers of how to step through the design process), I think this would be a great book for anyone doing mobile design.(less)
I saw this book as a suggested reading for DC UX day and thought I would give it a read. I first started doing agile design about a year ago now and I...moreI saw this book as a suggested reading for DC UX day and thought I would give it a read. I first started doing agile design about a year ago now and I’m still a little confused about what are the “best” practices. I think this is because the combination of UX and agile software design is so novel that there still aren’t best practices. I thought a book like this, that looked like some pretty smart people had figured out the hard parts, was worth a peek.
In the end, I’m glad I read it, but I didn’t walk away with much more than I went into the reading with. The book is basically divided into two parts. The first 1/3 of mostly just about why to do agile with UX and how the two can be complementary to each other. The next 2/3s is how to do agile UX if you have never done it before.
The whole thing is pretty rudimentary and would be optimal for someone who either either in UX and has never ever done agile software design before, someone who is going to lead an agile team, or software engineers who are interested in pairing up with UXers. Basically, the book is not a set of best practices, which is what I had been looking for.
As a side note, the graphics, layout, and presentation are beautiful in the book. It is really easy to read. And, there is a whole series of helpful tools (e.g., an explanation of ethnography) in the back of the book.(less)
I read a good handful of UX and design books... mostly because I’m curious how other people see my profession and also becau...moreI really liked this book.
I read a good handful of UX and design books... mostly because I’m curious how other people see my profession and also because I don’t believe that I can stop learning. I’m driven to keep consuming books!
The problem I have with a lot of UX books is that they just reiterate the same principles over and over again: put your user first, get feedback, design before implement, etc. The authors just find different ways of saying the same thing but within the context of their knowledge. That isn’t the to say that there isn’t value in reading them, but I can get more than bored.
I like this book for a few reasons: 1. It had actual research to support the claims that were being made. It shows results of eye-tracking data and qualitative metrics of how users engaged with different forms. The question of whether or not to put labels above, left, or right of the field was responded to with actual data. 2. The book was succinct. Rather than make the book cover every possible application ever that has used a form, it kept to web forms and talked about specific examples with lots of pictures. This helped make the arguments direct and understandable. 3. The book was short. Even though it is about 200 pages, with all of the pictures and how the type was set you could get through the whole thing in a handful of hours. I took my time with it, reading a chapter or three a day. But, if I had to or wanted to, I could have gotten through it much faster. The shortness also helped with keeping the argument of the book to a point. 4. The end of each chapter had take-away points. When reading the book, this didn’t help a lot. But, I know that this is one of those books I’ll probably be returning to frequently. Having that kind of reference is going to help considerably in the future.
I would encourage all but a few staple UX tomes to be just like this book. Find a topic that has usability and user issues, write a book summarizing best practices and the research surrounding them, and then ship it off. I will buy them all.(less)
This book has confirmed that while I love fonts that I have no future in font design.
It is a good book but 100 pages too long. By the end I just want...moreThis book has confirmed that while I love fonts that I have no future in font design.
It is a good book but 100 pages too long. By the end I just wanted to stop reading it- and I'm someone who enjoys learning a little on this topic. Fonts just aren't sexy enough to hold the attention of a reader for 300 pages. The major message that fonts are important but undervalued was rammed into the readers head by page 50 and then the rest was dry history paired with learning about how similar - or the lack there of - fonts are to one another. (less)
Again, another good book to have on your shelf to help inspire you when you are in a creative stand off.
This and Vol 1 work well together - I only sa...moreAgain, another good book to have on your shelf to help inspire you when you are in a creative stand off.
This and Vol 1 work well together - I only saw a handful of sites that were duplicated. The content was fresh and I liked the explanation at the beginning of each section. It was thoughtful without being preachy. (less)
This is 1/2 of this months UX book club read at my company. I found it when I was at Powells a few months ago and thought it would server as a useful...moreThis is 1/2 of this months UX book club read at my company. I found it when I was at Powells a few months ago and thought it would server as a useful tool when I get stuck while doing design. I often find myself just unhappy with what I'm producing because it is the same thing over and over again. This is fine for creating a consistent look-and-feel across a spectrum of products, but it can also mean that what I'm doing is derivative and not staying up-to-date. And, lord knows, the US government doesn't need anymore dated software products.
This book is exactly what is promises. It is filled to the brim with beautiful pictures of websites. I don't always agree with the categories, but that really isn't the point. It allows for the plethora of web design to be presented in a meaningful way that isn't overwhelming.
I really enjoyed this book and know I will be returning to it regularly. I also look forward to Vol 2, which is in my book bag right now ready to be read.(less)
This was the third book that the UX book club at my work is reading. It was selected by a democratic vote.
In general, there is nothing wrong with this...moreThis was the third book that the UX book club at my work is reading. It was selected by a democratic vote.
In general, there is nothing wrong with this book. It teaches you how to go from just being hired to design a website, to creating something that can then be passed on to programmers as the finished product. Oh, and by following what Mr. Stocks provides as his 5 different stages of design, what comes out at the end should be pretty "sexy." Stocks provides pointers to many of the tools that he uses, and some of his best practices for keeping the customer happy. All good things.
The problem I have with the book is that most of it was just common sense. Anyone in interface design could write the book (in fact, I have written parts for my customers who design different tools who were looking for tips). And this is what I feel the problem is. The book appears to be marketed at UX-like people. It gives the unspoken promise that that just because you know design principles, this book will help make them look really good. But it doesn't do that. It doesn't give you enough information about all of the little things that go into making a design work really well. Here is just one point that I have to talk about but don't see mentioned in the book: text size. What is a good text size that people can read comfortably with? How many different text styles should be on a single webpage? How to manage text heavy pages and text size? How to manage text heavy pages and still make them "sexy"? Answering these kinds of questions would had been so much more useful than most of the book.
The other problem I had was with the all the pictures. Which is strange, because normally I think that books don't have enough pictures. But I seriously read the whole book in about 2-3 hours and it was because there was so little content and so many pictures. And that was with my kid running around.
In the end I think this book is good for anyone who has never done GUI programming and interface design, but is interested in getting started. It probably isn't something for the average programmer and it certainly isn't something for anyone with more than a year or two of experience in this area.
At my company we are thinking about doing some 3D visualization work. Sadly, this was the one course that I didn’t take while completing my PhD. So, I...moreAt my company we are thinking about doing some 3D visualization work. Sadly, this was the one course that I didn’t take while completing my PhD. So, I decided to pick up the seminal book on the topic that was on the desk of almost all the other HCI students in my department.
Luckily, there is a reason why the book is *the* seminal book on 3D interfaces even many years later. The book is well written, comprehensive, and backed by foundational research from some of the best people in the field.
The only thing I found lacking was a comparison between 2D and 3D interfaces for basic tasks or a sample study design. The topics were mentioned, but I would have liked to see something more in depth on both of those topics .(less)
My boss let me borrow this book when I asked about good books to learn about Agile. I was looking for an overview of the process, how software enginee...moreMy boss let me borrow this book when I asked about good books to learn about Agile. I was looking for an overview of the process, how software engineers see UI elements within a design, and also some of the best practices. She gave me two books, and I started with this one since it talk ed about the "real world". This seemed like a good place to start engaging with these questions.
I'd previously read a couple books on Agile since I started, but they focused on UX and Agile, rather than just Agile. I've also been on an Agile team now for about 8 months. I felt pretty confident in what I knew but also knew that there was a lot I didn't know. For instance, I think that Agile actually encourages a lot of burn out. Since tasks/user stories are relatively small, checking them off feels good but then there isn't any break between the last story and a new story. Also, our team hasn't been doing a lot of refactoring... which I have been arguing for... because I was told that the customer says that there isn't time. So how does refactoring get handled with Agile and also... who really is this nefarious customer? What does that translate to with UX speak? What do software engineers think that it translates to?
Sadly, not all of my questions were answered with this book, but it did make a good start. The first couple of chapters where all of the different Agile methodologies are outlined is really great. I learned especially from this chapter because it made sense in the micro-level where many practices that don't necessarily make sense started.
I also liked the sections that talked about misconceptions about Agile. I liked them because I really think that they should have been called "pit falls". Almost all of them I saw an inherent danger of Agile because so much of the focus is placed on development.
The book is a bit dated - I think 2005. This means that it was probably written in 2004, which means that I'm reading about practices that are probably about 8 years dated. For instance, there was not a single mention of UX, interaction design, or any other HCI buzz word. I know that 8 years ago HCI people were around... they just might not have been pravelent in the community of Peter Schuh (the author). Also, 8 years ago there might not have been concerns about fitting UI design into the fast pace of feature iterations in Agile.
I still have another Agile book and then I just bought another book on Agile and UX that was published in 2011. I have hopes that I'll get some answers there. (Because, if you can't tell, I'm not convinced that how UX is working with my team couldn't be better.)(less)
Just seeing the title of this book I knew that I had to do my due diligence and read it - after all, one of the products that I work on is creating th...moreJust seeing the title of this book I knew that I had to do my due diligence and read it - after all, one of the products that I work on is creating the dashboard on which different little items reside on. The last thing I wanted is for anyone to say "Hey have you read this book about information dashboard designs?" and I didn't have a good response.
I was a bit skeptical. In general I'm not the right audience for most O'Riley books about UX or HCI. Luckily the book ended up being pretty good. The tone was right, the examples were well used, the layout was well designed, and I learned a good amount from it. I event wrote to my team and recommended that they give it a read.
It is Friday, I'm tired, so I won't write more than this.(less)
This is the second book that was picked for the UX book club at work.
I've only seriously read two of Tufte's books. I've skimmed the other two and hi...moreThis is the second book that was picked for the UX book club at work.
I've only seriously read two of Tufte's books. I've skimmed the other two and his pamphlets and taking bits and pieces from them that were convenient for what I was looking for. So when Tufte was brought up in the book club I was happy to push for this one that I hadn't had a chance to read as thoroughly as I would have liked.
Information is just about the cornerstone of the work that I do. The people I design software for have more information than then really know what to do. Add to that the difficulties that the interfaces tend to be outdated, running on computers that are old, and that projects tend to be "stovepiped", and there is a critical problem in trying to get information clearly and meaningfully to my "clients".
Tufte does a great job of putting the argument for meaningful envisioning of information. He does more than explain how a difficult to read graph is harmful, but then goes on to point out how information could be displayed.
My favorite quote (which is particularly resonant with some of the issues I have when arguing my designs) is "... the operating moral premise of information design should be that our readers are alert and caring; they may be busy, eager to get on with it, but they are not stupid" (p. 34).(less)
This was the first book that we read in the UX book club at the company I work at, Next Century. It was suggested by a friend and it seemed like a goo...moreThis was the first book that we read in the UX book club at the company I work at, Next Century. It was suggested by a friend and it seemed like a good first stab at UX for the type of people at my company. This is because it has a lot of pictures, the rules are simple, and the message is clear.
Overall, I would agree with that early assessment. It makes the point of doing usability clear and makes a very clear argument for why it is important.
... However, it had some problems that got under my skin. 1. I don't think that users are dumb. But, the idea that users are dumb was pretty apparent throughout the book. Or, maybe that users aren't dumb, but that thinking of them as dumb is probably the easy way for "developers" to think. I think that both the idea that users are dumb or that developers can only think of users as dumb is demeaning to both kinds of people. 2. I spent an ungodly amount of time learning my craft... getting a phd... and all that which is presented in this book. Yet, the title of this book is "Don't make me think." That is Krug's main principle. He makes a point of saying that anyone can do usability and a little amount of time surrounding the rules that help make usability easier (e.g. consistency). I mean, he presents that usability is just as easy as not making user's think. Well, if it was that easy, then users really are just super dumb. I found it a little... again, condescending.
Overall, it was well written, and I agreed with almost everything that was written. If you haven't read any books about usability, this is a great one to start with.(less)
Confession time. I only ended up reading about half of this book. I just couldn't go any further. Here are the things I got out of it:
1. Diffusion res...moreConfession time. I only ended up reading about half of this book. I just couldn't go any further. Here are the things I got out of it:
1. Diffusion research is actually a whole research area that people study. 2. It stemmed from studying agricultural technology spread (e.g., who has the best tractors). 3. There is a whole system that shows what early adopters are compared to the tipping point. Malcolm Gladwell's books is probably much more enjoyable to learn about this point.
This book is decently old in the science it provides. But, it is a bit of a staple when wanting to discuss any new technology revolution. So I'm glad I got about half way through it. Maybe in 10 years I'll force my way through the second half. It might help if the book was less than like 400 pages. (less)
I feel a bit like littlefoot in the Land Before TIme. I've gone from being surrounded by academics, and UX academics to boot, to now be surrounded by...moreI feel a bit like littlefoot in the Land Before TIme. I've gone from being surrounded by academics, and UX academics to boot, to now be surrounded by mostly CS engineers who say things to me like, "Well, that is the way we originally made it" when I ask why something is placed in the interface I'm working on. While the engineers around me tend to be supportive and considerate, it is a bit disorienting in this brave new workplace. Which is why I went looking for others like myself and found the UX Book Club of DC.
Now, I have yet to go - the first meeting is next week - but, I'm pretty excited. Well, excited like you might be to go meet a set of what you hope are cool people who will understand when you say things like, "Well, I don't like shading my buttons is red because I think it is a false affordance" or "this interface needs to be more post-structuralist" or "users understand contextual elements in an interface because of the step they are in their task." Le sigh. So I'm hoping that I get to meet a great set of people, and in the process get to read a book every month.
This month the book is Predictably Irrational, but Dan Ariely. Fair warning, it is a bit of a pop psychology book. In fact, I would put it right in the bucket with Chaldini's Influence, and others of that ilk - books about why people behave the way they do, and how to understand those behavior. These kinds of books are incredibly useful when your explain things to developers for why interfaces are designed the way they are. Because, believe me, if it were just as easy as saying, "Design an intuitive, simple, and clean interface" I wouldn't have a job. There is a lot more that goes into an interface, and part of that is understanding the user. Books like Predictably Irrational help people understand why users sometimes behave in unusual ways, but how to predict those actions.
The book is very well written. But, that is what you'd expect from a book that has sold a couple million copies. The science behind the experiments presented in the book are well couched with a conversational tone that helps explain the madness in a meaningful way to the reader. The chapters are also well broken down, with some chapters having a follow-up section of related materials in the revised edition.
However, the book is a bit predictable and just a tad preachy. By the middle of the book I had got the gist of the book - people do crazy thing. Some of those include blue collar stealing, why we value our own possessions more than others, why we have problems making choices, and the placebo effect. I mean, I get it. I get that we, as humans, do crazy things. And by about the middle of the book I had lost interest. I wanted something a lot more zany, I guess.
I recommend this book for one and all - I think it has great mass appeal. I look forward to talking to the UX Book Club about it! (less)
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