The UX reading list: 22 must-read books and resources
What books, articles, podcasts and other resources should you read to develop and hone your UX knowledge?
Join us as we pull the plastic sheet off our fondest wing-back armchair (which we haven’t been allowed to sit in it since 2016 due to a chocolate cake incident), don our most luxurious velour lounge-wear, whisk up an obscenely large hot chocolate, finish off any remaining chocolate cake while standing over the sink, and finally throw a log on the fire/switch over to the fireplace video on Netflix – because it’s reading time!
Whatever your own personal routine is when preparing to enter the wonderful world of learnin’ (I imagine yours is even more complex than ours), we hope that the following reading list provides an exhaustive (but not exhausting) literary view into the world of UX for all levels and disciplines.
Most of these have been recommended by our UX community on Twitter as part of our weekly #UXchat, which was eruditely chaired by Jane Ruffino, a user-centered content designer and ‘recovering archaeologist’.
Thanks to Jane and everyone below for their recommendations.
Essential UX books
User Experience Team of One by Leah Buley
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
My own personal recommendation, The Design of Everyday Things is absolutely essential for any designer – whether of physical and digital products, and confirms how integral ‘good’ human-centred design can shape the world and how thoughtless design can ruin it.
Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
Read more about the world of mental models and UX in this guide.
Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Redish
Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics by Thomas Tullis and William Albert
According to uxdesign.cc (another terrific resource), Measuring the User Experience “provides the first single source of practical information to enable usability professionals and product developers to measure the usability of any product.”
Doorbells, Danger and Dead Batteries by Steve Portigal
We interviewed Steve Portigal about his collection of user research ‘war stories’ – a fascinating collection of bizarre, funny and occasionally heartbreaking tales from the user research frontline, that will help you prepare for anything.
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research by Elizabeth Goodman
Bridges the gap between “what digital companies think they know about their users and the actual user experience.” And according to Kai-Ting Huang, interaction designer at Google, required reading for the human-computer interaction master’s program at University of Washington.
A Practical Guide to Information Architecture by Donna Spencer
Appearing on most ‘must-read’ lists, Donna Spencer’s ebook includes dozens of case studies that will inspire you to tackle your IA project, large or small.
Our in-depth and entertaining guide to getting started with user research
Online resources
UX Design: maximising the value of scientific software in life science R&D (pdf)
best UX books
The Government Digital Services blog
The GDS blog is a vital resource for any organisation – it’s just so open and transparent about every step of the government’s digital transformation and provides endless practical advice. Its research on accessibility was integral to our article on designing websites for blind and partially sighted people.
UX Crash Course: 31 fundamentals
How to Teach Yourself UX Design
A super-helpful Medium post from Kai-Ting Huang that lists a huge array of resources for UX self-starters.
Material Design by Google
Material design is a visual language created by Google with an overriding goal to develop one system that allows for a unified user experience across all devices, platforms and screen sizes. Handy for inspiration when it comes to synthesising the physical world with digital, and for adhering to consistent principles.
Podcasts
Invisibilia from NPR
99% Invisible from Radiotopia
Produced in beautiful downtown, Oakland, California, 99% Invisible is ostensibly a ‘design’ podcast, but it’s more about the things we don’t think about. The smaller elements that have shaped our world drastically, yet have largely gone unnoticed. 99% Invisible is also one of the most wide-ranging, entertaining and enlightening podcasts in my subscriptions folder, and is by far the one podcast that I ‘must listen to first’ when it pops up in my notifications.
Non-UX reading material that you should read anyway
How to Lie With Maps by Mark Monmonier
And… uh… The Secret History by Donna Tartt is pretty good too. Although it won’t teach you much about user research. Unless you’re plotting to murder a fellow Classics student, in which case I’d say it’s reasonably helpful.