Sorry it’s been so long since my last update post. I’ve been continually updating the list but haven’t gotten around to making a new post until now, so check out these long overdue updates to the Monster List of UX Books.
Newly Released Books
November
Visual Collaboration: A Powerful Toolkit for Improving Meetings, Projects, and Processes by Ole Qvist-Sorensen & Loa Baastrup
December
Storytelling in Design: Defining, Designing, and Selling Multidevice Products by Anna Dahlström
January
Writing is Designing: Words and User Experience by Michael J. Metts & Andy Welfle
Ethical Design Handbook by Trine Falbe, Martin Michael Frederiksen, & Kim Andersen
February
Cross-Cultural Design by Senongo Akpem
March
Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change by Amy Bucher
April
The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs by Jim Kalbach
May
Figure It Out: Getting from Information to Understanding by Karl Fast & Stephen Anderson
How Design Makes the World by Scott Berkun
July
Liftoff: Practical Design Leadership to Elevate Your Team, Your Organization, and You by Russ Unger & Chris Avore
New Editions
Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design (3rd Edition) by Jenifer Tidwell, Charles Brewer, & Aynne Valencia
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (2nd Edition) by Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D.
“The two [editions] are very similar. It’s not a total revamp. But I did update some of the ‘things’ with newer research and examples, and replaced a few as well. If you have the first edition already you don’t need to buy the 2nd edition. But if you share the book with others, you might want the new edition, and if you recommend the book to others tell them to get the 2nd edition.”
– Susan Weinschenk
Books Recommended by Users
Cultivating A Creative Culture by Justin Dauer
“It really helped me build a new team and retain top talent. There are also practical strategies here that can help a design team keep themselves full and happy with their work and their life.”
-Anonymous
User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play by Cliff Kuang
“It’s a history of UX and how it’s impacting society. I haven’t read it but have a copy and can’t wait to dive in. As someone with a history degree, I’ve seen a need for a more historical and anthro view of the impacts of good design.”
-Anonymous
Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds For the Better by Clive Thompson
“The book is not a direct UX book but it is a critical understanding into the emerging field of “Centaur design” – the understanding that it’s not man or machine, it is the combination of the best of both. Humans to ask good questions, AI to provide good answers.”
-Anonymous
UX for Development Shops by David Parmelee
“This book addresses a large yet underserved segment of the people who want to learn UX.”
-Anonymous
Delta CX: The Truth About How Valuing Customer Experience Can Transform Your Business by Debbie Levitt
“I wrote it and everybody (except people making monster money promoting design thinking) seems to love some or all of it. It’s 394 pages burning down what’s hurting the UX industry and building up what we should do instead… so it was hard to find a category that didn’t fit. 🙂 Thanks for considering it.”
-Debbie Levitt
Conversational UX Design by Robert J. Moore & Raphael Ahar
“It is comprehensive and scientific (the lead author is an IBM researcher with a Ph.D in Sociology, specializing in conversation analysis and ethnomethodology) and gives a research-based look at designing CUI/VUI.”
-Anonymous
Recommend a book to add to the Monster List.
Book Reviews by Users
Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
“I think this book is great if you are a beginner or need to understand the basics of research (which you need regardless of whether you’re a beginner or not.) That’s why I suggested that category. For me the best part about this book is how foundational the information provided is.”
-Rebecca Karasik, Rating: 5/5
Serious Work: How to Facilitate Meetings & Workshops Using the Lego Serious Play Method by Marko Rillo
“This book allows a team to run their own sessions because it includes templates and example workshop plans. Participants really valued the kind of open communication that this style of workshop created.
The only downside is that these workshops are time consuming for prep and running (understandably). Many stakeholders will be averse to trying these methods.”
-Andrew Garber-Browne, Rating: 4/5
This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World by Jakob Schneider, Adam Lawrence, Markus Edgar Hormess, & Marc Stickdorn
“This book was the first one I read as a new UX researcher (with no prior UX experience!). It was meaty and concrete enough to give me the confidence to go out and design/do my own methods. Would recommend for getting into the weeds of research.”
-Bronwyn Clarke, Rating: 4/5
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
“A seminal book that’s key to believing the mission of UX and where we came from”
-Alex Mercado, Rating: 5/5
Butterick’s Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick
“It’s easy to share links to arguments in this book because it’s online with no paywall.”
-Alex Mercado, Rating: 5/5
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk
“A book that pleasantly explains the processes behind certain behaviors that we sometimes take for granted and that help a lot when coming up with new solutions.”
-Carlos Mendoza, Rating: 5/5
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
“Excellent book to beginners and beyond, the base criteria to web design and mobile”
-Richar Munoz, Rating: 5/5
Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights by Steve Portigal
“Wonderful”
-Richar Munoz, Rating: 5/5
Rate, review, and categorize any book on the Monster List.
Other Recently Added Books
Serious Work: How to Facilitate Meetings & Workshops Using the Lego Serious Play Method by Marko Rillo
A Tiny History of Service Design: Or How to Make Service Design Sound Way More Interesting and Smarter During Dinner Parties by Daniele Catalanotto
Service Design Principles 1–100: 100 Ideas to Improve the User and Customer Experience in Simple and Practical Ways by Daniele Catalanotto
Introduction to Data Visualization & Storytelling: A Guide For The Data Scientist by Mary Sandell, Dr. Ali Fenwick, & Jose Berengueres
Help Improve the List
Rate, review, and categorize any book on the list.
Suggest a book to add to the list.
Support the List
If you find the Monster List helpful, there are a few ways you can support it:
- Sign up for Airtable using my referral link. I receive $10 credit at Airtable for every person that signs up for a free Airtable account with my link, which pays for one month of Airtable Plus.
- Buy me a coffee. Do you already have an Airtable account and don’t want to buy anything on Amazon but still want to support the list? Consider making a donation through my Buy Me a Coffee page.
- Share the list with others.
Thanks!
Leave a Reply