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100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People
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We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide ever
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Paperback, 242 pages
Published
April 14th 2011
by New Riders Publishing
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You can tell that this book was created by a designer. It's visually appealing: the content is broken into colored call-out boxes with headers, effectively breaking up the flow of the page enough to keep you engaged but not enough to distract you. The headers are also useful mnemonically because you can go back and look over them each day when you finish reading to help remember what you've read.
At the end of each of the 100 sections, there's a box of Takeaways, which gives practical advice on ...more
At the end of each of the 100 sections, there's a box of Takeaways, which gives practical advice on ...more

A well-researched and well-documented compendium of design facts to get insights into customers' pyschology that drives their behaviour and interactions.
Recommended to anyone who is a new design student or is simply developing (/designing) or wants to develop any intuitive application or just anyone curious who intends to understand this data-driven and systematic process to analyze their own behaviour. If you already have some hands on experience, then probably you may not find it very engaging ...more
Recommended to anyone who is a new design student or is simply developing (/designing) or wants to develop any intuitive application or just anyone curious who intends to understand this data-driven and systematic process to analyze their own behaviour. If you already have some hands on experience, then probably you may not find it very engaging ...more

Like so many books these days, 100 Things badly needs a copy editor. For example, Weinschenk talks about buying a present, "for [her] online daughter" (What? You mean your daughter exists only in Second Life?). Another section seems to have had had some paragraphs inadvertently deleted, rendering the section incoherent.
That said, 100 Things book contained lots of great information told in a relatively interesting, entertaining style. With so many great books on design and UX, I wouldn't recommen ...more
That said, 100 Things book contained lots of great information told in a relatively interesting, entertaining style. With so many great books on design and UX, I wouldn't recommen ...more

Excellent work in compiling studies and theories of psychology that are fundamental to design, particularly for graphic and interaction.
Written in a very light, concrete, and easy to understand mode, very quick to pick and apply.
If you're used to read on IxD or UX you'll probably not found anything new here, however it serves as an excellent reminder. ...more
Written in a very light, concrete, and easy to understand mode, very quick to pick and apply.
If you're used to read on IxD or UX you'll probably not found anything new here, however it serves as an excellent reminder. ...more

I used this book for a Master's course I teach on design principles and desktop publishing. Students seemed to enjoy it and I found it to be a useful resource for them as they sought ways to persuade me (and their clients for whom they did projects) of their design choices. The practicality of this book and its easy reading make it a worthwhile book to keep on your shelf. Weinschenk cites interesting studies that clearly illuminate the design principle, making abstract research seem very practic
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Sorry Susan, I really wanted this to work out. I loved the premise of the book: lots of scientific studies summarized in an easy-to-understand way, with practical tips on how to apply them in design. But a little past the first third of this book I already knew I was going to hate it, so I started this list of 10 Things I Disliked About 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People:
1. Almost everything is actually pretty obvious stuff. If you just go through the chapter titles you'll alre ...more
1. Almost everything is actually pretty obvious stuff. If you just go through the chapter titles you'll alre ...more

So many things that made me say "ohhhhh" or "hmmm." Definitely worth a read if you like design and/or brains and all the odd things they do.
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Good book if you want to quickly grasp the basics of UI/UX design principles which are commonly used across the globe as best practices. The book also provides insights into why these best practices actually work. If you are an avid digital products user you will be able to feel whatever is written in the book as you would have come across the things mentioned at some point in time or another.
A good starting point for people venturing out into design of anything.
Thanks for writing this Susan :D
A good starting point for people venturing out into design of anything.
Thanks for writing this Susan :D

It was...good...I think for me fell a little into the 'just in case' category of information (instead of just-in-time)...so that left me bookmarking a lot in my brain for 'remember this when you're working on that project that requires you to assign people into teams of varying sizes' or things along those lines.
Less 'design' focused and more life focused. In terms of 'design' it seemed like design was being used in the much broader sense; experience design (I went into this assuming it would be ...more
Less 'design' focused and more life focused. In terms of 'design' it seemed like design was being used in the much broader sense; experience design (I went into this assuming it would be ...more

Despite the Buzzfeed title, Susan's book is a nice and insightful read on human behavior. A good book to revisit from time to time.
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Very useful. Simple and straight to the point, Susan Weinschenk's book is a very helpful tool for every designer. Organized in different aspects of our cognition, each “thing” brings practical examples and its references from scientific researches and articles. It's not only good reading but also a very handy guide for the designer's routine.
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This is an excellent book on the what, how, and why people do what they do. While geared toward its relationship to communication and design, especially web design, this book still has substantial insights everyone can benefit from. The contents aren't earth-shattering revelations for a lot of seasoned design professionals, but the book does provide a good refresher/reminder of salient principles combined with scientific analysis, case studies and examples--particularly helpful when talking with
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Reviewed as part of my 100 books challenge: http://jimmylongley.com/blog/books/
Run-on Sentence Summary
A list of 100 takeaways from modern psychology relating to how people think, and their implications for design.
Impressions
This is a short, fun little book filled with lots of cool insights such as "51. Variable Rewards are Powerful", or "74. Anecdotes Persuade More than Data." It reeks of a set of blog posts converted into a book, but that doesn’t really matter. Its a short read, and I learned n ...more
Run-on Sentence Summary
A list of 100 takeaways from modern psychology relating to how people think, and their implications for design.
Impressions
This is a short, fun little book filled with lots of cool insights such as "51. Variable Rewards are Powerful", or "74. Anecdotes Persuade More than Data." It reeks of a set of blog posts converted into a book, but that doesn’t really matter. Its a short read, and I learned n ...more

Im not a designer so I can't speak for how useful it is to designers, but as a strategy consultant, I found it really great. It's a great intro to a lot of design considerations for anyone who wants to build something. I don't think it's meant to be a deep dive into design and that world of thinking. Very easy and fun read.
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Great learn-while-you-wait reading
I liked the format of this because I could reach a section or two or three at a time and still feel like I was making progress through the book. It was useful to highlight things that come up a lot in my professional life, so I can refer back and cite some of the studies, or even just have the information tucked in my mind, so when people behave a certain way I can nod knowingly to myself and approach the situation with a little backup.
I liked the format of this because I could reach a section or two or three at a time and still feel like I was making progress through the book. It was useful to highlight things that come up a lot in my professional life, so I can refer back and cite some of the studies, or even just have the information tucked in my mind, so when people behave a certain way I can nod knowingly to myself and approach the situation with a little backup.

Interesting book that represent latest experiments in social psychology and how they attach web design. For me most interesting part was about people motivation. I really do not know that there is physiological reason for why people like to spend time in the social networks. Very unpredictable part. Good to read for anyone who is working in online marketing or creating design for the products

A book full of little reminders of things you have learned along the way. The references to studies proving that those things work is a great addition. However, there is next to no unique content that you only get when you read this book and there is no room to cover those 100 things in the depth they deserve.

Apr 08, 2012
Viet Hung
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
designers, marketers
Would recommend this one for designers, marketers. Yet, it should be a good book for everyone who want to understand about human behaviors and thought process.

- Most parts of it has the embarrassing narrative between being academic and practical: I understand the appeal of "100 things", yet every rule is only explained very briefly without enough relatable examples in the field of design. The connection between the academic research and the practical application in design is not always clear. Lots of these things are either too commonsensical/self-evident(such as people use repetition to make memory stick or time is relative...), or lack validation.
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Well, I’m Surprise!
I’m not the person who believes in books that usually starts/ ends with 3, 5, 100 steps/things that talks about success, self-help leadership or great designs. I tend to ignore such books; was skeptical when I was buying this book too. But, it turned out be a surprise (so the lesson is “don’t judge a book from the cover”:).
INDEED, its targeted for designers (beginner & intermediate level) . Easy to read and connect. It talks about biology, behavioral science, how people unders ...more
I’m not the person who believes in books that usually starts/ ends with 3, 5, 100 steps/things that talks about success, self-help leadership or great designs. I tend to ignore such books; was skeptical when I was buying this book too. But, it turned out be a surprise (so the lesson is “don’t judge a book from the cover”:).
INDEED, its targeted for designers (beginner & intermediate level) . Easy to read and connect. It talks about biology, behavioral science, how people unders ...more

The book is formatted into 1-2 pages about a particular type of research on how people think or make decisions or focus their attention, etc. The best part of each topic was the "takeaways" which were actionable ways to apply that research to whatever you do. These were mostly focused on web design or digital products, but could be relevant to others. Because it was written in 2011, some of the examples were a little dated, but it was easy enough to apply it to something current.
There were thin ...more
There were thin ...more

Beautifully designed and well-organized. I love how each "thing" has its own spread or page with concise takeaways at the bottom.
This layout must have required ruthless editing, though. At times, the explanations were so brief that it left me with more questions than answers, especially in the descriptions of psychology experiments, which are hard to cover accurately with few words. My copy is filled with skeptical marginalia.
Also, beware quick interpretation of the headings (the "100 things")! ...more
This layout must have required ruthless editing, though. At times, the explanations were so brief that it left me with more questions than answers, especially in the descriptions of psychology experiments, which are hard to cover accurately with few words. My copy is filled with skeptical marginalia.
Also, beware quick interpretation of the headings (the "100 things")! ...more
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Susan Weinschenk has a Ph.D. in Psychology and over 30 years of experience as a behavioral psychologist. She applies neuroscience to predict, understand, and explain what motivates people and how to get people to take action.
Dr. Weinschenk is the author of several books, including How To Get People To Do Stuff, 100 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People, 100 Things Every Designer Needs ...more
Dr. Weinschenk is the author of several books, including How To Get People To Do Stuff, 100 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People, 100 Things Every Designer Needs ...more
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