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Curated book resources for designers and developers.
Bite-sized psychology insights for designers. Each of the 100 chapters covers one principle — how people see, read, remember, think, focus, feel, decide, and act — with direct design implications.
Added Feb 2026
The definitive guide to interaction design by Alan Cooper, now in its 4th edition. Covers goal-directed design methodology, personas, interaction patterns, and interface design principles that have shaped the UX field for over two decades.
Added Jan 2025
How to explain and defend your design choices to non-designers. Covers meeting dynamics, responding to feedback, building relationships, and framing design in business terms. Essential for designers who present to stakeholders.
A Rosenfeld Media book exploring how to design conversational interfaces — chatbots, voice assistants, and AI interactions. Essential reading as conversational UI becomes a core design discipline alongside visual and interaction design.
An Apple engineer's insider account of creating the iPhone keyboard. Reveals Apple's demo-driven culture and iterative design process. Rare glimpse into how taste and craft shaped the most influential product of our time.
Alice Rawsthorn examines how design shapes and reflects our world, from the refugee crisis to Silicon Valley. A thought-provoking read that broadens your understanding of design beyond screens and into systems, politics, and human experience.
Alice Rawsthorn's expanded exploration of design's role in society, from humanitarian applications to speculative futures. This new edition adds coverage of design's response to climate change, social justice, and the pandemic.
Blunt advice on the business side of design — getting clients, contracts, presenting work, handling feedback, and getting paid. Monteiro's no-nonsense style cuts through the romantic notions about creative work.
A practical guide to building design systems that grow with your organization. Covers component architecture, governance, contribution models, and the organizational dynamics that determine whether a design system thrives or withers.
Alina Wheeler's comprehensive guide to the entire brand identity process — from research and strategy through design and launch. Used as a textbook in design programs worldwide, it covers everything from logo design to brand architecture with real case studies.
Why design guidelines exist, explained through cognitive psychology. Covers perception, attention, memory, and decision-making — the science behind why certain UI patterns work and others fail.
Steve Krug's classic on web usability that every designer should read at least once. Written with humor and packed with practical advice, it explains how people actually use websites and how to make interfaces self-evident. The revised edition adds mobile usability.
Stephen Eskilson's comprehensive survey of graphic design from the Victorian era to the digital age. This richly illustrated history contextualizes design movements, key figures, and technological shifts that shaped visual communication.
Nir Eyal's framework for building products people can't put down. The Hook Model — trigger, action, variable reward, investment — explains the psychology behind habit-forming products and gives designers a practical toolkit for driving engagement ethically.
A beginner-friendly introduction to design thinking and UX methodology. Walks newcomers through empathy mapping, ideation, prototyping, and testing with clear explanations and exercises — a solid starting point for those new to human-centered design.
A practical guide to doing user research without getting lost in methodology. Covers interviews, surveys, competitive analysis, and synthesizing findings — all focused on getting actionable insights quickly.
Ten psychological principles that shape user behavior — Fitts's Law, Hick's Law, Miller's Law, and more. Each law is explained with examples and practical applications. A quick, beautiful reference for evidence-based design decisions.
The definitive guide to UX writing — buttons, error messages, empty states, onboarding, and every small piece of text in your interface. Practical patterns and examples for writing clear, helpful, human microcopy.
Actionable UI design tips distilled from years of professional experience. Each tip includes visual examples showing exactly what to do and what to avoid. A quick reference for leveling up interface design skills.
A no-fluff guide to making interfaces look polished without formal design training. Covers color, spacing, typography, and visual hierarchy with concrete before/after examples. Essential for developers who design and designers who want sharper visual skills.
Stephen Anderson explores how to create pleasurable, engaging experiences by applying principles from psychology, game design, and storytelling. Goes beyond usability to show how emotional design and playful interactions make products memorable.
Google Ventures' five-day process for answering critical business questions through prototyping and user testing. A practical playbook for running design sprints that compress months of work into one week.
A practical step-by-step guide that bridges the gap between UX theory and practice. Walks you through the entire design process from user research to final deliverables, making it ideal for designers who learn by doing.
Don Norman's foundational work on human-centered design that coined terms like 'affordance' and 'signifier' for the design world. This revised edition applies timeless principles of good design to modern technology, explaining why some products satisfy while others frustrate.
The classic five-plane model that maps UX from strategy to surface. Garrett's framework — strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, surface — remains the clearest mental model for understanding how UX layers work together.
An encyclopedia of 150+ design principles organized alphabetically — from the 80/20 rule to Zeigarnik effect — each explained with examples across disciplines. An invaluable desk reference for designers making evidence-based decisions.
Victionary is a Hong Kong-based publisher specializing in beautifully curated books on graphic design, typography, illustration, and visual culture. Their catalog is a treasure trove of visual inspiration with titles covering everything from packaging to pattern design.
