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This list of UX design resources is complementary to my detailed article How to Become a UX Designer by Learning UX Design on Your Own. Please check it out if you haven’t done so.

These are the UX design resources I’ve collected and continue to collect. There are close to 200 altogether. They are invaluable for anyone looking to learn UX design, and grow as a designer. I’ve broken them into categories for ease of reference.

Please note these are not lists of every single thing “UX” you can find online. These are hand picked resources that helped me, and continue to help me to grow as a designer.

Hope you find these resources helpful in your journey. And let me know if I missed any good ones. I’ll add them to the lists.

Books

There are literally hundreds of books on User Experience and UX design. Below is my recommended list. These are the books that I read and found to be instrumental in my learning and shaping my career as a UX designer.

Design Process

If you are completely new to UX design I’d recommend starting with this one book. It is a great primer on UX design and the design process: The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett. It is probably the most important book on UX design published to date. It introduces a very practical framework for thinking and talking about UX design. If you only read one book on UX design it should be The Elements!

And couple extras:

UX Strategy

UX is not just about the user. Successful products are built for users but they also work to sustain and grow businesses. This is where strategy comes in.

These books were written for business people, but don’t let this turn you off. It is crucial to be able to see the UX design from a business perspective.

User Research

Very practical advice on how to conduct user research, and how to capture the findings.

Prototyping

Prototyping is a great way to test ideas. Discover some creative ways to make the most of your efforts.

Communication

Design has very little value if it is not communicated clearly and efficiently. I ask my team to read these two books at least twice a year. They are that good!

Interface Design

User Interface (UI) is an integral part of any product. Understanding the principles that make and break the UI is critical to anyone working on a product, not just UI designers.

Data Visualization

User Testing

Basic Principles of Design

And a great a primer on basic principles of design (beyond UX and UI):

Free UX Courses

There are lots of UX design courses out there. Some of those courses are expensive, like hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Are they worth it? I’d say no. Read more on that in Getting Started in UX?

Here are the good news. If you are just getting started in UX design there are some high quality online UX courses for beginners out there that are either free or fairly inexpensive. These are the ones I chose to list below.

Coursera

Most Coursera courses are free to audit, meaning you don’t get a certificate but you get access to all the same classes. They have a number of UX courses for beginners and intermediate level students:

Udacity

The number of UX and design courses offered on Udacity is fairly limited as it is targeted mostly at developers, but there are some gems there available for free.

Other Free UX Courses

There is also a number of courses on Skillshare that are very good. Skillshare is a subscription based service. It’s like Netflix for courses. By using links below you can try their premium membership for 2 months.

They do require your credit card information, and you will get charged a subscription fee once your trial is over, so watch out for that.

UX Blogs

I don’t follow any particular UX blogs. I prefer reading books. But I do find blogs are a great supplement to books. You can often find practical examples, or alternative explanations of concepts you first learn about in the books. Besides many times blog articles are authored by the same people who write books.

Here is my short list of UX design blogs I find I visit most often (in no particular order):

And couple UX publications:

UX Podcasts

Listening to UX podcasts is a great way to keep in touch with the industry and trends as well as learn from the industry leaders. You can listen to podcasts on the way to work or school or while you are working out.

If you are just starting out in UX design a lot of the things you hear in these podcasts might go over your head. Nevertheless, it is a great way to acquire the language of UX design. I encourage you to scroll through the lists of episodes and find topics that are most interesting and relevant to you. Start there, and keep coming back for more as you see fit.

Please note that some UX podcasts on the list are not releasing new episodes. It is still worth while going through archives.

UX Design Principles

Design principles is something every company and designer has. In larger companies, like Apple, Google and Microsoft design principles are often product specific. Principles are values, fundamental beliefs or philosophies that guides teams and designers in their decision making process.

Design principles are often shared publicly, and they offer great insight into values and processes of world-class companies and designers, so they are very well worth looking at!

UX Design Youtube Channels

Youtube is a very video popular platform. It is also 2nd largest search engine. Surprisingly there are not that many Youtube channels on UX design. There are many channels that talk about UX, but not many focus solely on UX design.

By far the best UX Design channel on Youtube at the moment (in 2019) is A&J Smart.

A&J Smart is by far the best UX Design channel on Youtube at the moment

Content is fresh, engaging and well presented. It wins the first prize of The Best Youtube Channel on UX Design in my books

Other well established channels worth looking into are

There are also several new and upcoming channels worth keeping an eye on:

Abandoned (as of May 2019) UX Design channels with good information:

Honorable mentions

These channels are not dedicated solely to UX design, but cover UI, Web-design, as well as design software tutorials, and talks/presentations on design and creativity:

UX Design Communities

Not all UX communities are created equal. You will find that depending on your stage in UX journey some communities will be more helpful than others. They are free to join, so there is no harm in joining in and lurking for a while.

Communities are a great way to connect with more experienced designers as well as fellow learners. Your interactions will lead to connections organically. Just keep these couple things in mind:

Don’t ask questions that you can Google

Don’t ask questions before searching the community to make sure they weren’t answered before

Try to be concise in your questions and comments

Be respectful no matter what

Don’t pretend you know. Skip discussions that you cannot contribute to in a meaningful way

Facebook

Slack

Reddit

LinkedIn

Quora

Other

What are your favourite UX communities? Let me know in the comments!

UX Meetups and Events

Meetups are a great way to connect with other UX designers. Two places where you can find local meetups for UX designers are Meetup and Eventbrite.

Meetup is nice as it allows to browse events by topic and all around the globe. There are tons of UX related events there:

On Eventbrite you will have to search for events as it seems to allow browsing events only in a specified location.

Search for UX, or Design, or Product Design. If you cannot find any designer specific meetups, it might be worth looking into meetups arranged by your local software development companies. That might be a good way for you to meet people in the industry and possibly connect with them for future job opportunities.

Also there is a number of UX events and conferences happening regularly around the globe:

What other ways to connect with others do you use? Let me know in the comments!

UX Job Boards

General Job Boards

Specialized Job Boards

That was a long list! What are your favourite UX resources? Please let me know in the comments, and I will review and add them to the list!