Libros recomendados para UX designers

Tengo una biblioteca bastante extensa de libros que he leído y de los cuales he extraído mucho conocimiento para cada cosa que he hecho.

NOTA: Todos los libros los he leído en inglés (desconozco si han sido o no traducidos al español, lo que me lleva a pensar que unos de los «key skills» (habilidades principales) de un diseñador es saber leer inglés. Nos guste o no, es la lingua franca que une a todos los diseñadores del mundo)

Aquí va la lista de libros que considero casi una lista de lectura obligatoria si quieres tener fundamentos sólidos en UX design:

Nota: Este listado está basado en mi lista en «Listopia» en Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/list/user_vote/2369144.

Lo más básico de lo más básico

• The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web by Jesse James Garrett
  A classic, a pillar-stone. The model has left out many aspects of UX design, but still holds.
• Don’t Make Me Think!: a Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
  If there is only one book someone will ever read about usability, this is it. Even a tie-and-suit 1.0 manager will find it interesting.

Libros de la A a la Z de UX

• The UX Book: Process and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User Experience by Rex Hartson
  Published late last year, it quickly became a favourite. I truly, truly like this book. This is the first book I recommend to any aspiring Interaction Designer.
• Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services by Kim Goodwin.
  The guide to all things UX. A must read reference, even if it should be expanded and updated to include more agile methodologies. A classroom must.
• Undercover User Experience Design by Cennydd Bowles.
  Glorious little book. Even if it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, it was great, great way of feeling less alone, and reassured that my guerrilla tactics are actually rather standard. Unless you are in an environment where UX is understood, desired, held in respect, this is one book you must read
• Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design by Robert Hoekman Jr.
  Sweet, short, powerful. Nice read, recommended

Para entender y aprender Diseño de Interacción (y cómo comunicarlo)

• Designing for Interaction: Creating Innovative Applications and Devices by Dan Saffer.
• About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper
  The Bible of Interaction Design. Say no more. A good reference book, great for explaining to others, great to remind you of the basics.
• Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design by Bill Buxton.
  I’ll read anything by Bill Buxton, if only because the man has been around forever, and anything he has to say regarding design, I want to hear
• User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development by Mike Cohn
  A tad too technical, but great for a systematic approach to some complex issues in UX design. I’ve applied quite a few ideas from this book.

Principios, reglas, best practices, métodos

• Universal Principles of Design: 100 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design by William Lidwell.
  UPDATED to link to new edition with 25 more «ways» (gracias @Gonzalo por el comment!)
  One of my reference book, always on my desk, and often open. Every designer should know its content by heart
• Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions by Bella Martin
  Nice reference guide. Keep it handy…
• Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski
  To break the rules you must know them. This guy wrote the Rule Book for Form Design. Go, read, learn, then close the book and be innovative and intuitive 😉

Diseñando con las emociones, motivaciones y goles de tu usuario en mente

• Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior by Indi Young
  Interesting in-depth look at what are mental models. Useful to get a bit more in depth into on a topic that has become a common place when talking about users and design. Let’s hope she gets on with her new book now.
• Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
  A classic!
• The Essential Persona Lifecycle: Your Guide to Building and Using Personas by John Pruitt
  Easy read, practical how-to guide on how to build personas.
• 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People by Susan M. Weinschenk 
  I got an engineer all excited about Interaction Design after reading this book. So easy, like reading the People Magazine of Psychology for Designers.
• Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences by Stephen P. Anderson
  I just love the Maslow pyramid adaptation he did for UX. I use it to explain what we do. And the rest, nice to have it in mind when designing.
• Designing With the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules by Jeff Johnson
  Yet another one of the fad «psydesign» books. It is a simple guide, and for that, it is a should-read book
• Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? by Susan M. Weinschenk
  Easy read, nice primer for designers that start to consider understanding how the brain works when making design choices
• A Pocket Guide to Psychology for designers by Joe Leech
  Impossible to design without knowing how the brain works (not that anyone knows, really), but still, another contribution to applying psychological principles to your creativity
• Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites by Andrew Chak
  Not sure about this, but it is kind of mentioned everywhere.

Testear y validar tus hipótesis (diseños)

• Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems by Steve Krug
  An all-time classic. This book should come in liquid format to be mixed with the morning coffee of your coworkers and clients.
• Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests by Dana Chisnel
  Always-on-desk reference. Kind of learning manual for my team.
• Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-Scale Online User Experience Studies by Bill Albert
  Great reference book.
• Remote Research by Nate Bolt
  The guy is the brains and muscle behind Ethnio (an easy-as-pie user intercept recruitment service), and also the Design Research Manager at Facebook, so he kind of knows what he is talking about. Thing is: there is no better way to do a user evaluation of your design than with users that are actually using your product, while they use it. Nate Bolt has written a simple but clear book on how to go about it.
• Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches by Lawrence W. Neuman
  This is the book that gave me some light on all things research, back when I was studying Sociology and Cultural Anthropology. This is university-class material, but highly recommended if you are serious about design research and studies. No pics, no summaries – the Real Deal here. Not for faint hearted, but great for those who really want to start learning how social research should be done.

Aprender a organizar contenido, y escribir para la web

• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites by Louis Rosenfeld
  Not partial about this book, as it did change my life back in 2000 when I was an Information Architect for massive B2B projects. A must read, classroom list of material book.
• Card Sorting by Donna Spencer
  Card sorting is one of those techniques that it was all the rage when IA was all the rage. Well, I still use it a lot, and this is where you go and learn all about it.
• Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson
  Ms Halvorson put «Content Strategy» on the map. Please, read the book, and try to figure out how to combine this with you IA skills if you are not lucky enough to have a Real Content Strategist in your team
• Content Strategy for Mobile by Karen McGrane
  I have a soft spot for Karen McGrane (disclaimer: I brought her and Josh Clark for a workshop in Barcelona, so I am not too partial). She’s one fierce lady with some strong convictions (I guess this is a trait for all content strategists). She has worked a lot with Josh Clark and together have been focusing on mobile. Plus, this is one of the very few books on Content Strategy and the first one to be focused on mobile
• Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand by Gerry McGovern 
  Punchy, colourful, not too much depth but it reads so easy that it doesn’t hurt.
• Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Interactive Technologies) – by Janice (Ginny) Redish
  Sweet, punchy book on writing web content by a very experienced professional

Cómo trabajar en UX

• Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience by Jeff Gothelf
  A must-read if you want to learn the basics about lean UX. Even if you don’t follow the «rules», it is good food-for-thought. I strongly recommend reading it, if only because Jeff is the most vocal supporter of this new way of working, and has quite a few interesting things to share.
• The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
  Not really focused on design, but a must read to keep your mind open on how to collaborate and approach projects, in any environment.
• Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning by Dan M. Brown
  Unless you are a dogmatic lean UXer, this book should give you one of two very good ideas on how to work on the best documentation for your projects

Cómo gestionar UX

• User Experience Management: Essential Skills for Leading Effective UX Teams by Arnie Lund
  If you are in management, then read this book. Please be patient with all the war stories, there is meat in there. The man has been running in UX, IxD, and HCI management since computers worked with punch cards, so listen…
• Adapting User Experience for Global Projects: Towards a Universal UX by Paul Sherman
  The only book so far on global UX – very useful if you are working on a global team, or on UX at a global scale
• Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders  by Jurgen Appelo

Entender datos de analíticas y búsquedas – crítico para saber que no romper 😉

• Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik
  First book on web analytics from Avinash. Meet the Trilogy and let your life change forever
• Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity [With CDROM] by Avinash Kaushik
  The follow up book
• Search Analytics for Your Site: Conversations with Your Customers by Louis Rosenfeld
  I read anything that Louis Rosenfeld writes. He is one really smart man, and his writing is down-to-earth, clear and very useful.

Menos teoría, más experiencia…

• UX Storytellers: Connecting the dots by Jan Jursa (Editor)
  Jan has compiled a nice recollection of UX practitioners sharing their experiences. Not a wow book, but interesting to leaf through

Más allá del diseño de una web o app: aprender a diseñar un servicio «end-to-end»

• This is Service Design Thinking: Basics – Tools – Cases by Marc Stickdorn (Idea)
  Gorgeous print edition, such a pleasure to hold this book in your hands. Way too superficial for my taste, but a nice primer.

La A-Z del diseño para móviles

• Mobile Design and Development: Practical Concepts and Techniques for Creating Mobile Sites and Web Apps by Brian Fling
  Not the greatest of books, but it helped me getting a handle of mobile development. Helped me a lot in the approach to design»

Branding

There is, has been and still will be a lot of debate about the overlapping of the so-called «Brand Experience» and its complex, overlapping relationship with UX. In any case, UX must achieve objectives for the user and the company, who owns a brand. So learn all about it. I recommend a nice trilogy by Marty Neumeier

• The Brand Gap
• Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands
• The Designful Company: How To Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation

Para reflexionar

• Living with Complexity by Donald A. Norman
  I still remember an auditorium full of people, Don Norman on stage, and on screen a ppt with the picture of the salt and pepper shakers. Half the audience thought the salt shaker had one hole, half the audience though it obvious it was the many-holed one. We live in a complex world, and simple solutions are not always the answers – try «uncomplicated» better. Read the book.

Si este listado se te queda corto, tengo en total más de 100 libros en mi biblioteca – la mayoría ya leídos, unos muchas veces, otros una o hace años que no toco. La librería completa la puedes encontrar en http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7147188

Si te interesa saber porqué utilizo Goodreads para compilar y curar mi biblioteca, puedes seguir leyendo.  Si no, déjame un comentario con algún libro que hayas leído y que no esté en la lista…

PD: Por qué utilizo Goodreads: la experiencia de mantener una librería personal

A lo largo de los años, he probado con diversos métodos para organizar y mantener mis libros en orden. He probado con UXZeitgeist, Shelfari, Amazon Wish List, etc), pero mantener tantas listas es una pesadilla.

Finalmente me decidí por GoodReads, simplemente porque

• Tienen una aplicación para iPhone con la cual puedo escanear los códigos de barra
• Puedo importar, exportar, y encontrar todos los libros que quiero
• Tiene una masa crítica de usuarios importante, con lo cual en general me puedo dar una idea de la valoración (comparada con las valoraciones de Amazon, UXZeitgeist, etc)