What to Read if You Are New to UX

Although there are a number of other book lists out there, I have found that they all tend to consist of the same books. That is why my goal for this list is to expand upon those ones, and to add some lesser known ones to your reading list!

Are you ready to jump right in?

1. Stand Out by Denise Anderson

Synopsis: “In?Stand Out: Building Your Design Portfolio, Denise Anderson offers a hands-on, three-step, full-color action plan for establishing your unique brand, crafting a killer portfolio, tailoring and delivering your message, getting your perfect design job, and excelling once you’re hired…Whether you’re in graphic design, advertising design, interactive or web design, fashion, or any other design field, Anderson will help you identify what makes you unique, and use it to powerfully differentiate yourself from everyone else.” — Good Reads

Why it’s important:?With the spread of Covid came an influx of individuals transitioning into the User Experience Design industry as it forced many to reflect on their careers. Down the line, this will become an advantage since there will be more UX practitioners and ultimately a more widespread acceptance and understanding of our industry. However, at the moment, it also means that those of you who are currently breaking in will need a way to stand out and differentiate yourself?from?your peers. That is why this book is a great place to start to learn about the importance of a personal brand.

2. Just Enough Research by Erika Hall

Synopsis: “Erika Hall distills her experience into a guidebook of trusted research methods you can implement right away, no matter what size team you’re on or budget you’re working with. Learn how to discover your competitive advantages, spot your own blind spots and biases, understand and harness your findings, and why you should never, ever hold a focus group. You’ll start doing good research faster than you can plan your next pitch.” — A Book Apart

Why it’s important:?Research is an integral part of our careers. However, research is really only helpful when it is conducted in the right, non-biased, manner. This book is super important as it breaks down the basic processes we can use to better understand our users and how to translate that information into guides for team members. (Whether that means business stakeholders, Engineers, Project Managers, or anyone else on your core product team.)

3. Never Use Futura by Douglas Thomas

Synopsis: “It’s everywhere, including the moon (on the commemorative plaque left by Apollo 11 astronauts), Nike sneakers, the artworks of Barbara Kruger, Ed Ruscha, and Jenny Holzer, 2001: A Space Odyssey credits, Domino’s Pizza boxes, Absolut Vodka bottles, and Red Bull cans. Richard Nixon used it for his presidential campaign, as did Hillary Clinton. Indeed, Futura is one of the most used fonts in the world today — the typeface of modern design — more so even than Helvetica. This fascinating book explores the cultural history and uses of a face that’s so common you might not notice, until you start looking, and then you can’t escape it. Douglas Thomas traces Futura from its Bauhaus-inspired origin in Paul Renner’s 1924 design, to its current role as the go-to choice for corporate work, logos, motion pictures, and advertisements. Never Use Futura is illuminating, sometimes playful, reading, not just for type nerds, but for anyone interested in how typefaces are used, take on meaning, and become a language of their own.” — Google Books

Why it’s important:?Although the focus of this book is more history-centered, my aim with this one is to highlight the importance of selecting a typeface. Typefaces are related to a time in history or to other past products that have used it. So it is important as a Designer to think about how this can influence the product you are building. Ultimately you want to make sure that the typeface you select will not confuse your users or remind them of a different product that is completely unrelated to it.

4.?Bottlenecks: Aligning UX Design with User Psychology by David Evans

Synopsis:?“Learn the psychological constrictions of attention, perception, memory, disposition, motivation, and social influence that determine whether customers will be receptive to your digital innovations…This book covers apps, social media, in-car infotainment, and multiplayer video games, and it explores the crucial roles played by behaviorism, development, personality, and social psychology.” — Google Books

Why it’s important:?As a UX Designer, it is important for us to think about the Psychology behind how our user's brains think and act, specifically in relation to the products we are building. With the influx of digital products, it is becoming even more critical to be able to maintain our users within our products and to find ways to keep them coming back. Being able to understand some of the Psychology behind that will therefore give you an advantage on your Product Design team.

5.?Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

Synopsis: “In studying the leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way — and it’s the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be lead, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain?what?it does; some can explain?how?they do it; but very few can clearly articulate?why. WHY is not money or profit — those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?” — Good Reads

Why it’s important:?Often times I have noticed beginner UXers or even business’ set out to solve a problem and later down the line wonder why they are not reaching better results.?The main reason, they set out to solve the wrong problem because they did not ask enough “whys” to reach the true root of the problem.?I truly beleive the most important word a UX Designer needs to know is “Why.” However, it can’t always be the easiest question to ask and can sometimes be hard to know when to stop asking it. That is why I would suggest you read this book to not only re-establish how important this word is, but to also learn how to ask it.

6. Unleash Different: Achieving Business Success Through Disability by Rich Donovan

Synopsis: “If you discovered a new market comprising 53% of the world’s population, would you act to invest in it? There are 1.3 billion people around the world who identify as having a disability. When you include friends and family, the disability market touches 53% of all consumers.?It is the world’s largest emerging market. Unleash Different illustrates how companies like Google, PepsiCo, and Nordstrom are attracting people with disabilities as customers and as employees.?Replacing “nice to do” with “return on investment” allows market forces to take over and the world’s leading brands to do what they do best: serve a market segment ― in this case, the disability market.?Business managers will come to understand how taking a charity-oriented approach to people with disabilities has failed, what action is required to capitalize on the world’s biggest emerging market, and how their organizations can grow revenue and cut costs by attracting people with disabilities as customers and talent.” — Good Reads

Why it’s important:?As a Designer, it is important to understand that we can’t just design for the generalized user and that rather we need to think about the other segments that may interact with our products.?This book, although not Design specific, iterates the importance of how thinking outside the box to incorporate those “different” than us, will ultimately help to identify breakthrough ideas and growth opportunities.

I started this article by stating there are numerous books out there, so this is only my first six that I recommend. Subscribe to this newsletter to see part two soon!