Design and Usability books that gave me the balls to quit Design School
I should probably start by saying I of course didn’t quit school only because of these books even though it does make for one hell of a (ballsy) title.
I studied in a vocational design education in which you’re both an apprentice in a company as well as a student in school, and also did freelance work when I could on the side. But as I got further into my design education, I often felt like the classes weren’t feeding me enough of what I really wanted to know. Knowing the techniques, how to setup, produce and deliver, the work, is nice — essential in fact — but I also wanted to know why I was doing it. So I turned to one of my favourite things in this world; the written word.
Reading books helped me grow my professional self-esteem when I was only just a student designer. They gave me the tools and knowledge to experiment and practise new theories and explain why I chose the solutions I did, which I quickly found out clients greatly appreciate. I paired experience from reality with theories and soon began tweaking them as well which ultimately led me to admitting; this is it for school-time.
I was half-way in with two years left when I quit design school to start out on my own as an independent designer.
So here they are — the books I started my usability and design adventure with some of which I still refer to today.
The Language of Graphic Design, Richard Poulin
This was probably the first design book I ever started on, I have no idea where I found it but it seemed interesting at the time. Most of it I already knew but it helped me to put actual words and proper terms on what I was doing, when designing.
Universal Principles of Design (revised and updated), William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler
This. Book. Is. Absolutely. Savage. I refer to it to this very day, for example, the 80/20 rule when trying to focus my efforts. If you can chomp your way through this mofo, nothing can stop you from being a designer with a complete mental ninja library of A-Z reasons why your design decision is nothing less but scientific because fucking science.
The downside, however, is that it’s extremely nerdy — there is literally 100 principles and you will have to whip yourself through all of them. Many long nights or days, where your little dry eyes are begging you to please stop reading, and half of it won’t even stick. But the stuff you do remember is definitely worth it.
Designing for Web Usability, Jakob Nielsen
This was the first actual usability book I read and it was nothing short of a fantastic life-changing experience for me which made me totally certain I wanted to do usability design. The version I read back in 2014 is already outdated now, but they are updating it quite often. The Nielsen Norman Group website also offers a lot of free articles on usability design and findings which I often take advantage of to my best of efforts.
Mobile Usability, Jakob Nielsen & Raluca Budiu
The Mobile Usability book does have a bunch of great points, however when I read it back in around 2014 I felt like it was actually already falling behind the massive and fast development of mobile. However, there are some great pointers in there you can relate to the mobile-first of today. It didn’t do as much for me as the previous book, honestly.
Don’t make me Think (revisited), Steve Krug
Steve Krug was a massive help for me. Usability wasn’t high on the priority list of the company I was an apprentice in — in fact it wasn’t even on the priority at all so I had to argue with everything I could to be allowed to do it. I remember, both with this and Nielsens book, how I felt like usability was the only thing in the world of real importance — that the designs I build could also be used and understood by others. That’s what books like this will do to you, fair warning. Also: Use with caution, may cause the angering of bosses, and sudden incontrollable bursts of laughter in public.
Smashing Bundle — UX Design, Smashing Magazine
How can a magazine write a book, you ask? Well they didn’t. They wrote six books and they put it into a bundle and dangled it in front of me and of course I bought the whole thing because it was cheap.
Some of the stuff in these books I already knew from Nielsen and Krug and my own fast-growing experience from applying those principles to my boss’ absolute delight, but I really enjoyed the parts focusing on the actual user interviewing and testing itself which brings us to the next item(s):
User Testing and Design, The Guide to UX Design Process and Documentation, the Psychology of Webdesign, Agile, Responsive Webdesign, Adaptive, Prototyping: Basicly this whole savage list of extreme OP e-book-goodness at UXPin so thanks so much for that, UXPin!
I was applying usability principles to my designs but I also needed practical information on how to do user tests and interviews so I could test my work as well, and UXPin’s free books helped me a lot in doing this. I remember reading these books and also articles on the matter before planning my first ever paper prototype test, and without these, it probably wouldn’t have ever been as successful and insightful as it turned out to be. Great tips I still use today, for example planning your sessions down to the single minute really helps a lot. When I designed my first app, my process could include user interviews, paper prototype testing and online prototype testing.
Turning pro with 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk
And Neuro Web Design: What makes them Click? Susan M. Weinschenk
Around a year later, I found my ultimate author-crush in Susan Weinschenk and her awesome work with psychology and neuro-webdesign. This really took my design and usability to the next level of extreme brain-ninja-ness and is the perfect level of nerd for me. She answered so many of my questions and is still a permanent source of reference for me to this day. I even have this neat usability spreadsheet created out from her work which I sometimes pull out when reviewing a design (and that’s when you know shit just got serious.)
If you haven’t read her books already do it. Susan is an absolute brain-ninja and her work has really helped me understand the workings of the mind of the people I’m designing for as well as insight into my own mind and how my creativity works. I really enjoy her tone of voice and the flow in all the books I’ve read by her so far.
The One That Tipped Me Over: Failed it! Erik Kessels
I saw Erik Kessels talk at a Danish design event called “We Love Graphic Design”. Apart from totally crushing on this extremely charismatic and inspiring man I very deeply resonated with his message “Make an idiot out of yourself.” Try things out even though you might fail.
Up until now, I’d been doing what was expected of me: school, boarding school, high school, earning top marks, education 1, education 2, etc. I hadn’t taken any real risks in my life at all. What I was currently doing — following the recipe — wasn’t what I wanted, and it was making me feel sad, confused and lost. But at the same time I hadn’t dared do anything about it. Three months after the design event I quit design school and my apprenticeship and this book became the one that tipped me over.
So thank you Erik Kessels and to all the other fantastic authors for being such an inspiration, for sharing your wisdom and most of all your ballsy-ness.
And thank you for reading!
If you know a book which has influenced you or changed your life or career in some way, drop it in the comments, I’d love to read it.
