20 User Experience Books you should own

Posted on 24. Jun, 2009 by in Features, Reviews

user experience booksThese highly recommended user experience books cover everything from user research and interface design, to information architecture and UX strategy. If you’re really serious about your career as a user experience professional, these books should be the cornerstone of your personal library.

What are your top 5 User Experience books?

  1. Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World
    by Peter Merholz
  2. Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning
    by Dan Brown
  3. Contextual Design: A Customer-Centered Approach to Systems Designs (Interactive Technologies)
    by Hugh Beyer
  4. Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience
    by James Kalbach and Aaron Gustafson
  5. Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices (Voices That Matter)
    by Dan Saffer
  6. Designing for the Social Web (Voices That Matter)
    by Joshua Porter
  7. Designing Interfaces
    by Jenifer Tidwell
  8. Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design
    by Robert Hoekman Jr.
  9. Designing Web Interfaces
    By Bill Scott
  10. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web (Voices That Matter)
    by Jesse James Garrett
  11. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
    by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville
  12. A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making
    by Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler
  13. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
    by Steve Krug
  14. Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics (Interactive Technologies)
    by Thomas Tullis
  15. Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design
    by Bill Buxton
  16. Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior
    by Indi Young
  17. Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
    by Tim Ash
  18. Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
    by Luke Wroblewski
  19. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
    by Dan Roam
  20. Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research
    By Mike Kuniavsky
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39 Responses to “20 User Experience Books you should own”

  1. Theresa Neil

    29. Jan, 2012

    Thanks for including our book Designing Web Interfaces by Bill and myself.
    I wanted to add in my newest favorites:
    1. Simple & Usable
    2. Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences, even though the author, Stephen Anderson, picks on our patterns as the ‘villans’
    3. Designing With the Mind In Mind

    Reply to this comment

  2. vishnupria

    09. Dec, 2010

    I believe Guru of all this list is – ” The psychology of everyday things by Don Norman” This should also be part of the above list.

    Reply to this comment

  3. BUS Informàtica » Communicating Design

    01. Jul, 2010

    [...] uns mesos vam veure que corria per la xarxa una llista de llibres recomanats sobre usabilitat i disseny web. I ens va semblar que podia ajudar-nos a completar la nostra col·lecció assessorats pels propis [...]

    Reply to this comment

  4. | Mohsin

    14. Apr, 2010

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own The UX Canon: Essential Reading for the User Experience Designer [...]

    Reply to this comment

  5. | Ali

    14. Apr, 2010

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own The UX Canon: Essential Reading for the User Experience Designer [...]

    Reply to this comment

  6. How Can Entrepreneurs Learn About User Experience (UX) Design | New York Entrepreneur Week | Stand Up and Come Together

    21. Mar, 2010

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own The UX Canon: Essential Reading for the User Experience Designer [...]

    Reply to this comment

  7. Domenick J Dellino

    19. Mar, 2010

    Although some might feel they belong in a different “design” category, Edward Tufte’s works have been a guilding force for me

    Reply to this comment

  8. Sam Reynolds

    18. Mar, 2010

    I’ve read a couple of these, the Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville book and the Steve Krug book. I’ve also seen Luke W. at a conference and he has a lot of great ideas. I had to chuckle at the obvious omission of Jared Spool and Jakob Neilsen. Admittedly, they’re both over hyped and drive a lot of the interest in Usability, but their work is pretty solid. Has Spool actually written a book? Perhaps it’s a good thing to get a new generation of original thinkers in the field. Thanks for the list.

    Reply to this comment

  9. Nicole

    27. Jan, 2010

    I see the Cooper book About Face 3 in your picture, but not in your list. What gives? I am a big fan of it, altho I am a UX newbie. I also adore the Krug!

    Reply to this comment

  10. Ron

    23. Jan, 2010

    Great list! Most of the books I already have in my possession, yay! I was wondering if “Thoughts on Interaction Design” by Jon Kolko (http://bit.ly/6MNrZR) is worth the read? You can find some more interesting UX (related) reads at http://bit.ly/6oNko2 where I recently created a list of my favorite books in the field.

    Keep the suggestions coming!

    Reply to this comment

  11. IT Solutions Blog » Highlights of Week 03/2010

    22. Jan, 2010

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own (by Bradley Hebdon) – Excellent compilation and well worth a skim through. Suggested reading: [...]

    Reply to this comment

  12. uxdesign.com

    21. Jan, 2010

    Communicating Design is a great book (except for lack of templates) but is it a UX book?

    For a more comprehensive list, see uxbooks.com

    Reply to this comment

  13. Melissa Hui » 20 User Experience Books Must Reads

    21. Jan, 2010

    [...] great post coming in from Bradley Hebdon on User Experience books with following in his top [...]

    Reply to this comment

  14. 10 best, 5 free, and 20 you should own :: Conceptology

    06. Dec, 2009

    [...] And Bradley Hebdon names 20 UX books ‘you should own‘. [...]

    Reply to this comment

  15. Pawan Vora

    27. Oct, 2009

    I apologize if it’s not appropriate to suggest my book: Web Application Design Patterns. Web Application Design Patterns http://tinyurl.com/c2hfzl

    Reply to this comment

  16. Dan Saffer

    13. Oct, 2009

    Hey, thanks for the mention of Designing for Interaction. There’s a new (much improved) edition out now you might want to link to instead:

    http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interaction-Creating-Innovative-Applications/dp/0321643399/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

    Reply to this comment

  17. UxD/IA/UCD/IxD Book List « Memorize | 鈴木　尚栄(Naoyoshi Suzuki)によるブログ。

    13. Aug, 2009

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own Userability #11 – The Most Influential Books in UX Great UX Books Recommended Books for your User Experience and Usability Library [...]

    Reply to this comment

  18. LISTDUB» 20 User Experience Books you should own | UXbyDesign.org

    23. Jul, 2009

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own | UXbyDesign.org. Categories: Top 20s Lists Tags: books, user experience Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave [...]

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  19. Pastebėjimai ir pasižymėjimai » Apie profesinę literatūrą

    14. Jul, 2009

    [...] dieną maniškiame Google Reader RSS srautų srovėje pasirodė įrašas pavadinimu „20 User Experience Books you should own“. Susidomėjęs permečiau akimis ir tiesiog pasidėliojau, kas jau suvirškinta (sąraše [...]

    Reply to this comment

  20. Paul Englefield

    13. Jul, 2009

    For IA, Everything is miscellaneous by David Weinberger does a nice job plotting the changing trends in categorisation.

    Reply to this comment

  21. Nick Finck

    06. Jul, 2009

    I created a list a lot like this one some time ago. There is some overlap here and some suggestions you don’t have on your list. Maybe you’ll find it useful as well:
    http://tinyurl.com/r6trh6

    Cheers,
    - Nick

    Reply to this comment

  22. User Experience für Leseratten « Reinseite

    05. Jul, 2009

    [...] UserExperience zu tun haben. Bradley Hebdon, Autor des UXbyDesign-Blogs hat nun eine Liste der 20 besten User Experience Bücher veröffentlicht. Auch wenn ich nicht alle gelesen hab, würde ich mit Sicherheit diese drei [...]

    Reply to this comment

  23. 20 User Experience Books You Should Own « Experiencing Information

    03. Jul, 2009

    [...] 3 July 2009 UX By Design has a list of 20 UX books they feel every designer should own. See their post 20 User Experience Books You Should Own. [...]

    Reply to this comment

  24. milan

    02. Jul, 2009

    Two additions:

    Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder
    A detailed guide to one of the most powerful methods of UXDs

    Systemisches Design (Only in German, unfortunately) by Cyrus Dominik Khazaeli
    The only book I know that bridges visual/communication design, corporate identity and UX/IA/IxD in a systemic approach. Great! :)

    Milan

    Reply to this comment

  25. MSDN Magazine – July 2009 Articles Worth Reading and Stuff « Tales from a Trading Desk

    01. Jul, 2009

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own [...]

    Reply to this comment

  26. Bradley Hebdon

    30. Jun, 2009

    Keep the recommendations coming in guys… I’ll add them as honorable mentions.

    Reply to this comment

    • Mahalakshmi

      13. Jul, 2009

      Do you think you also can consider having ‘Institutionalization of Usability” by Eric Schaffer in the list?

      Also, Susan M. Weinschenk’s “Neuro Web Design” offers a new look at web design, based on years of psychological research into website usability–how website visitors actually react and behave.

      Reply to this comment

  27. Danil

    30. Jun, 2009

    I find it hard to believe in a list that doesn’t include Scott McLoud.

    Reply to this comment

  28. Alex Reynish

    29. Jun, 2009

    Currently have don’t make me think by Steve Krug and landing page optimization by Tim Ash.

    Great list, will add some to my collection.

    Reply to this comment

  29. Twitted by scribilicious

    29. Jun, 2009

    [...] This post was Twitted by scribilicious [...]

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  30. DesignNotes by Michael Surtees » Blog Archive » Link Drop (6·26·09)

    29. Jun, 2009

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own Another source of good UX books to check out. [...]

    Reply to this comment

  31. caronnect

    26. Jun, 2009

    You could add: Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories by Donna Spencer – http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/cardsorting/

    Reply to this comment

  32. Dave Whittle

    26. Jun, 2009

    You left out one of the classics: The Elements of User Interface Design, by Dr. Theo Mandel. Written during the advent of the web, the principles it relates have been enormously influential.

    Reply to this comment

  33. 20 User Experience Books you should own | UXbyDesign.org « Netcrema - creme de la social news via digg + delicious + stumpleupon + reddit

    26. Jun, 2009

    [...] 20 User Experience Books you should own | UXbyDesign.orguxbydesign.org [...]

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  34. UX By Design: 20 User Experience Books You Should Own | Usability Counts | User Experience, Social Media

    26. Jun, 2009

    [...] it’s a top x list, but it’s a great list of user experience books, a few of which overlap what I have here. Take a [...]

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