What books, articles, podcasts and other online resources should you read in order to develop and hone your UX knowledge? Here are the experts with their favourites…

Join us as we pull the plastic sheet off our fondest wing-back armchair (which we haven’t been allowed to sit in it since 2016 due to a chocolate cake incident), don our most luxurious velour lounge-wear, whisk up an obscenely large hot chocolate, finish off any remaining chocolate cake while standing over the sink, and finally throw a log on the fire/switch over to the fireplace video on Netflix – because it’s reading time!

Whatever your own personal routine is when preparing to enter the wonderful world of learnin’ (I imagine yours is even more complex than ours), we hope that the following reading list provides an exhaustive (but not exhausting) literary view into the world of UX for all levels and disciplines.

Most of these have been recommended by our UX community on Twitter as part of our weekly #UXchat, which was eruditely chaired by Jane Ruffino, a user-centered content designer and ‘recovering archaeologist’.

Thanks to Jane and everyone below for their recommendations.

Essential UX books

I LOVE the User Experience Team of One by @leahbuley. Practical, reassuring, and acknowledges that reality is messy #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

Exciting topic! The first UX book I read was Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think. Easy to read, recommended to someone starting out #UXChat — OJ Quevedo (@OJQD) August 17, 2017

Agreed–so relevant. Funny, too, so it’s an easy read. — Anne Jackson (@annedesigns) August 17, 2017

Yes! That’s a good one, too! It’s interesting to me that the ‘classics’ are still, well, the classics #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

My own personal recommendation, The Design of Everyday Things is absolutely essential for any designer – whether of physical and digital products, and confirms how integral ‘good’ human-centred design can shape the world and how thoughtless design can ruin it.

And of course @mulegirl’s Just Enough Research is fantastic. Helps build a clear case for research without being overwhelmed #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

In the same vein, Mental Models by Indi Young is fantastic. Highly recommend if you haven’t read it already https://t.co/mR2BQ2MmEr #uxchat — Marianthi Makra (@marianthux) August 17, 2017

Read more about the world of mental models and UX in this guide.

Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Redish

I also love Ginny Redish’s Letting Go of the Words https://t.co/c8Ttf6lGca Practical, opinionated, and easy to digest. A classic! #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

Design for Real Life by @meyerweb is powerful and important to share with your non-UX people https://t.co/PjWgCcplkF #UXread #UXchat — Stacy Holmstedt (@StacyHolmstedt) August 17, 2017

According to uxdesign.cc (another terrific resource), Measuring the User Experience “provides the first single source of practical information to enable usability professionals and product developers to measure the usability of any product.”

We interviewed Steve Portigal about his collection of user research ‘war stories’ – a fascinating collection of bizarre, funny and occasionally heartbreaking tales from the user research frontline, that will help you prepare for anything.

Bridges the gap between “what digital companies think they know about their users and the actual user experience.” And according to Kai-Ting Huang, interaction designer at Google, required reading for the human-computer interaction master’s program at University of Washington.

Appearing on most ‘must-read’ lists, Donna Spencer’s ebook includes dozens of case studies that will inspire you to tackle your IA project, large or small.

For an in-depth and entertaining guide to getting started with user research, read our free-to-download, comprehensive ebook ‘User Experience Research 101’

Download ‘UX Research 101’

Here you’ll discover:

Planning for UX Research

When to start, getting to know your users, making a UX research plan, choosing the best UX research method

Conducting UX Research

Asking actionable and relevant questions, observing participants and removing bias

Collecting and analyzing data for action

Prioritizing issues, selling your recommendations, telling a compelling story

Online resources

The GDS blog is a vital resource for any organisation – it’s just so open and transparent about every step of the government’s digital transformation and provides endless practical advice. Its research on accessibility was integral to our article on designing websites for blind and partially sighted people.

#UXChat One of my fav #UX resource hubs…very accesible/entertaining! credit to @think_ui for pointing me to it https://t.co/4sAlNKqUq4 — Mira Nair (@MiraTeachMe) August 17, 2017

This recent article blew my mind. Helped me make better cases for content as signposting/wayfinding https://t.co/b5uht9F1Zp #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

A super-helpful Medium post from Kai-Ting Huang that lists a huge array of resources for UX self-starters.

Material design is a visual language created by Google with an overriding goal to develop one system that allows for a unified user experience across all devices, platforms and screen sizes. Handy for inspiration when it comes to synthesising the physical world with digital, and for adhering to consistent principles.

Podcasts

The @NPRInvisibilia podcast is such a good exploration of the depth&breadth of human experience, helps me challenge my assumptions #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

Produced in beautiful downtown, Oakland, California, 99% Invisible is ostensibly a ‘design’ podcast, but it’s more about the things we don’t think about. The smaller elements that have shaped our world drastically, yet have largely gone unnoticed. 99% Invisible is also one of the most wide-ranging, entertaining and enlightening podcasts in my subscriptions folder, and is by far the one podcast that I ‘must listen to first’ when it pops up in my notifications.

Non-UX reading material that you should read anyway

Mark Monmonier’s How To Lie with Maps is also useful context/reminder that interfaces are always selective&have an argument #uxchat — janeruffino (@janeruffino) August 17, 2017

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by @TimHarford there’s a lot said about the value of listening and getting feedback #uxchat — OJ Quevedo (@OJQD) August 17, 2017

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Kind of like design simplicity for your life #UXchat — Stacy Holmstedt (@StacyHolmstedt) August 17, 2017

And… uh… The Secret History by Donna Tartt is pretty good too. Although it won’t teach you much about user research. Unless you’re plotting to murder a fellow Classics student, in which case I’d say it’s reasonably helpful.

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