Explore the essential UX design books for 2024 that every designer should have on their shelf. These titles offer fresh perspectives, practical strategies, and the latest insights to elevate your UX skills and keep you at the forefront of the industry. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced professional, these books are invaluable resources for your design journey.
Must-read UI/UX books
Although the internet offers a wealth of resources, there’s something special about diving into a book (or your e-reader). This selection of five titles includes a blend of classic UX texts and newer releases, all designed to help you establish a solid foundation in user experience.
1. Universal Principles of Design
By William Lidwell, Jill Butler, and Kritina Holden
This accessible reference book offers valuable insights into product design and client interactions. Each design principle is accompanied by a clear description and illustrated examples of its application.
Simplicity is achieved when everyone can easily understand and use the design, regardless of experience, literacy, or concentration level.
– Universal Principles of Design
2. The Design of Everyday Things
By Don Norman
In this foundational book, Don Norman introduced the term “user experience” in its original 1988 edition. The 2013 revision features updated examples that showcase design principles in action, making it a must-read in the industry.
Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.
– Don Norman
3. Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
By Steve Krug
The third edition of Steve Krug’s book is highly recommended for web designers, developers, and anyone interested in web usability. With a humorous and straightforward approach, it effectively covers principles of navigation and information architecture.
If you can’t make something self-evident, you at least need to make it self-explanatory.
– Steve Krug
4. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People
By Susan Weinschenk
This book helps you incorporate psychology and behavioral science into your UX design process. It explores topics such as how our brains interpret visual cues, the connection between typography and pattern recognition, and the surprisingly positive aspects of forgetfulness.
People are very willing to click multiple times. In fact, they won’t even notice they’re clicking if they’re getting the right amount of information at each click to keep them going down the path.
– Susan Weinschenk
5. Smashing UX Design
By Jesmond J. Allen and James J. Chudley
This comprehensive UX manual from Smashing Magazine delves into 16 essential tools and techniques for web projects. It offers guidance on planning UX initiatives, includes case studies of real-world applications, and provides checklists to help you match the right tools with the right tasks.
6. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
By Nir Eyal
Nir Eyal outlines the four-step process—trigger, action, variable reward, and investment—behind products that keep us coming back again and again. Pick this one up for tips on boosting user engagement and building the next habit-forming technology.
7. The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guidets
By Leah Buley
A good resource for those just getting started in UX, Buley’s guide offers an overview of the field, tips for how to advance both personally and professionally, and “If you only do one thing” sections at the end of each chapter to help you focus on what will make the biggest difference.
8. About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design
By Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, and Christopher Noessel
This guide to interaction design is now in its fourth edition with updated examples of how to design contemporary mobile platforms and consumer electronic interfaces with goal-directed design methodology. It serves as a primer for those just getting started in the field or a way to shore up the fundamentals for those already designing digital products.
9. Observing the User Experience
By Elizabeth Goodman, Mike Kuniavsky, and Andrea Moed
Research is critical in UX design. After all, how will you know what your users will need if you don’t spend time discovering how they interact with products? Now in its second edition, this book examines how to conduct research and apply those findings to design and development.
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