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There are very few books
which I would be willing to recommend on User Interface Design. So
many of the books available repeat the same stuff. |
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Designing Visual
Interfaces - communication oriented techniques, Kevin Mullet and
Darrell Sano
This is the first book to really approach the
subject of applying classic design knowledge to the design of
computer screens. It is thorough and rewarding for the reader. If
more software designers were to follow the lessons in this book then
it would be very rewarding for Users everywhere.
A "must
have" book for the serious UI Designer. Rated 5/5. |
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GUI Design for
Dummies, Laura Arlov
The practical guide to a improving the
user experience with software. A book written in plain language for
programmers who know how to code UI but want to improve usability.
This book describes Arlov's methodology and its convincing and
compeling. Rated 5/5. |
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Software for Use,
Constantine & Lockwood
Perseverence is required. There
are too many leading edge ideas to score it other than full marks.
Advances the state-of-the-art in systems engineering by promoting
thorough Usage Centered Requirements Engineering using Use Cases and
leading to better Interaction Design as an integrated part of the
lifecycle. Rated 5/5. |
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Constructing the User
Interface with Statecharts, Ian Horrocks
The first real
attempt to demonstrate how to construct a rigourous controller layer
using UML Statecharts. Adopting the principles in this book will
lead to much better quality software with fewer bugs and improved
interaction.
Rated 4/5. |
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User and Task
Analysis for Interface Design, JoAnn Hackos & Janice Redish
I
described this book on 'usenet' as being "Task Analysis on
steroids for those with a big budget." Scale the advice to fit
the size of your problem. This is a really good book. Some of the
best stuff comes toward the end on Prototyping. A book which clearly
separated UI Analysis from Design. For the Professional UI Designer.
Rated 4/5. |
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The Usability
Engineering Lifecycle, Deborah Mayhew
Perhaps the first
attempt to put a professional, repeatable engineering process onto
UI Design for improved usability of systems and products. It is
unique because it tries for the first time to integrate UI Design
with established software development methodoligies. This is
comprehensive, very readable, and a highly usable book. GUI Design
for the professional. Another must have book for the serious HCI
people. Rather too many models and slightly too much of a grand
design for the practical developer. For them, Arlov's Dummies book
is better. Rated 4/5. |
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About Face, Alan
Cooper
Alan Cooper is well known for his involvement with
Visual Basic. His book is often quoted by people who align
themselves with the Microsoft school of UI Design. However, don't
let that put you off. There is a lot more to this book. Practical,
common sense advice on UI Design. This book heralded, Goal Oriented
Design. Its aged a little. Rated 4/5 |
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In order to understand
communication, you need to have a background in how people
understand - cognitive psychology. In order to produce usable
designs, you need to have a knowledge of how people work -
behavioural psychology. |
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The Design of
Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman
Donald Norman has been
very influencial in User Interface Design. Before he made a name for
himself in UI Design, he wrote this book. Its almost a cliche to
recommend it but it is a must read for anyone who hopes to produce
usable designs. Rated 5/5 |
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Things That Make Us
Smart, Donald A. Norman
This is Norman's 4th book and a much
deeper, less accessible analysis in cognitive psychology. I found it
fascinating. Understanding the different kinds of cognition and
learning gives you a new framework for analysing how a User is
feeling while they work with the system or product that you are
designing. Good background reading for the UI Designer. Rated 5/5 |
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Living Well, Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi
I was introduced to this author by a
reference in a Donald Norman book. This is a slim and very
accessible read aimed at the mass market reader. It explains what is
involved in building a well balanced life and achieving lasting
happiness. A spiritual book. |
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Creativity, Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi
This book examines what it is that makes
creative people a little bit more extraordinary than the rest of us.
Compiled from interviews with many many extraordinary people from
many walks of life, this helps to put a little science into the
understanding of what makes people creative. Too heavy for casual
reading. Rated 3/5 |
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How to get Ideas,
Jack Foster
Another very accessible slim little book which
gives you the 12 key techniques on how to be creative. If you're
employed to have ideas for a living - like me - then this is a
fascinating little book. Rated 4/5 |
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There is very little
point in designing something which people don't want, don't need
or won't use. An understanding of marketing is essential to the
designer. Often the best design finishes 2nd or even last.
Marketing is the reason. |
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Marketing High
Technology, William H. Davidow
Bill Davidow's book about his
time at Intel, is the 101 book on high technology marketing. It
describes the "Whole Product" concept. If what you are
designing isn't a whole product then it's just another interesting
piece of technology which will get ignored.
An excellent
reference for the IT manager or product designer. Rated 4/5 |
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Crossing the Chasm,
Geoffrey A. Moore
Moore came a lot later and studied the
problem of good "Whole Products" which simply don't sell.
This book is a superb analysis of the technology adoption lifecycle
and what can go wrong. Moore goes on to give advice on how to get
that new product into the mainstream - how to Cross the Chasm!
A
must have book for the serious product designer. Rated 5/5 |
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Inside the Tornado,
Geoffrey A. Moore
So you read the first book, everything is
going well, in fact too well. Your great new product is in danger of
being swept away because the competition are moving so fast. What do
you do next? Moore to the rescue once again. Don't let that great
product design get swept away by the tide! Rated 5/5 |
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Real Time, Regis
McKenna
Regis McKenna is the grandfather of High Technology
Marketing. He almost invented it. His company has consulted to all
the big IT players. Geoffrey Moore worked for McKenna before
starting his own practice. In this recent book, McKenna looks at how
you can use information technology to add business advantage.
Incorporating ideas from this book, could help lead to that killer
eCommerce product.
A glorified magazine article but thought
provoking. Rated 3/5 |
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Following on from
designing something which people need and want, it is equally
important to design something which can actually be built. An
understanding of how to build software products is essential. |
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Practical Analysis &
Design for Client / Server and GUI Systems, David A. Ruble
This
book lays out how to go about architecting a traditional
client/server system from scratch. It covers a broad range of stuff
including database design, UI Design, transaction scoping and
documentation writing.
For me the best part was the final
chapter. The 10 Myths of Client/Server Development. They are real!
Don't get caught. The cartoons are good too. :-) Rated 4/5 |
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I'm a big fan of Object
Oriented techniques for building software. The long promised goal
of component software and engineering repeatability is worth
chasing. Software engineering has to get more like other fields of
engineering using pre-fabricated components |
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Java Modeling in
Color with UML, Coad, De Luca and Lefebvre
Occassionally
books come along which move the state of the art in a technology,
methodology or process. This is such a book. The UML in Color
technique significantly improves the speed and quality of object
modeling. The authors demonstrate the beauty and strength of the
technique with over 40 models of real world problems. The content of
this book changed the way that I work and how I think about my
profession. Rated 5/5 |
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Object Technology, A
Manager's Guide, David A.Taylor
Taylor is a psychologist who
got interested in OO Analysis and Design. In this, the 2nd edition
of the book, he tries to explain what the real business benefits are
when management commit to Object Technology.
If you can persuade
your boss to read a single book on the topic then this should be it.
It's slim and it's very accessable. One of the most usable books
ever written. If your boss is a sceptic then this is the answer.
Rated 5/5. |
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Business Engineering
with Object Technology, David A. Taylor
In a classic
creative style, Taylor takes OO thinking and applies it to Business
Process Re-engineering. Another slim and highly readable volume.
Ideal for the business analyst. Rated 4/5 |
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Object Models:
Strategies, Patterns and Applications, Peter Coad et al
Peter
Coad doesn't align himself with the Patterns community in OO
Modelling but this book is full of them. Much of my work in UI
Design is influenced by the style and approach of this book. This is
Coad's cookbook for practical OO Analysis and Design. It leads to
simple, elegant models focusing on design by composition. Its been
replaced by the newer Java Modeling book. Hence, of interest for
historical purposes only. Rated 3/5 |
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Analysis Patterns,
Martin Fowler
More stuff in the same style as Coad. This was
the leading book on Analysis Patterns until Java Modeling. Fowler
looks at analysing real business problems and comes up with a series
of re-usable shapes. This one needs updated to use UML notation but
other than that a very very readable volume. Popular with the
Investment Banking community. 2nd edition in UML is out soon. Rated
4/5 |
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Data Model Patterns,
David C. Hay
This book pre-dated the Coad and Fowler books
and looks at recurring analysis patterns from a data modeler's
persepective. This is the ERD presentation of the same themes. A
must have book for those who remain firmly sceptical of OO. Not as
good as the latest Coad book and misses an opportunity to explain
more about transactions or events (moments or intervals of time in
the Coad book). Rated 4/5 |
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Oracle 8 Design using
UML Object Modeling, Dorsey & Hudicka
A book aimed at
ERD modelers, this hopes to introduce them to UML and Object
Modeling whilst showing them how the technique can be applied to
produce a highly normalised database design. It gets many things
right and has some useful chapters on complex modeling problems such
as time related data and versioning. The chapter on inheritance is
the book's only black spot. Rated 4/5 |
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Design Patterns,
Erich Gamma et al
It is a cliche to recommend this book. I
first encountered it in May 1995. It revolutionised the way that I
think about software design and construction. There have been many
books which tried to follow the success of this but the original is
still the best, if you want to understand what the Patterns
phenomenon is all about. I don't use this book much any more. It is
a C++ book despite what it tries to claim. Still a must have for
serious software engineers. Some developers have a tendency to
over-use and over quote this book. Rated 4/5 |
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Most of the really
exciting work in UI Design involves the internet and eCommerce.
For most occasions that means the design will be implemented in
Java. Amazon has over 1000 titles listed with Java in the title.
You could waste a lot of time and money finding out what you
really need to know. |
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Java Design, Peter
Coad et al
A lot of people have failed to notice that Java
is a proper Object Oriented Language. That means that proper Object
Oriented Design is needed before you build the code. To my knowledge
there is only one book which teaches good design practice for Java.
This is it. Now in the 2nd edition, it is a must have book for the
professional Java developer. Rated 5/5 |
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Core
Java, Volume 1 & 2, Gary Cornell, Cay Horstmann
Don't
know anything about Java! Done some C++? Learn all the basics from
volume 1, and get seriously dangerous with volume 2.
Sun know
exactly what they are doing with this series of books. For general
purpose Java knowledge, you don't need to go any further than this. |
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Graphic Java, David
Geary et al
This was the first really serious book about
developing UI in Java. Nowadays, it's a bit low level but it's still
essential if you want to do anything across different output devices
or anything clever that doesn't come as standard in more advanced
APIs such as Swing. |
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Core Java Foundation
Classes, Tim Kopley
This wasn't the first book to appear on
the Swing API but it is easily the most comprehensive. At 1100 pages
it's a very long read. Ideal for the more expert JFC developer. |
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From time to time
someone writes a book about how technology and software are
affecting business and culture. As designers we need to be aware
of these trends. |
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Being Digital,
Nicholas Negroponte
This is the book which beckoned in the
eCommerce revolution.
Some people have rubbished this book as
mere hype. However, ignore it at your peril. This book was essential
reading for strategists at IBM and other big players in the
industry. |
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Release 2.0, Esther
Dyson
Esther Dyson is a seasoned industry watcher and she
takes time out to examine what we technology designers are doing to
society. This book looks at what affect the internet is having and
will have on the family, the workforce and the global community. |
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