Ask HN: Best UI/UX book relevant to 2021 and the rise of Figma?
I mention 2021 as it seems that Figma is now king on many design fronts, but I understand that some books may pre-date it and be timeless.
- The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman is the classic for learning design.
- Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug is another classic, and very digestible.
- Refactoring UI is a good book for those coming from a developer perspective: https://refactoringui.com/book/
- Mismatch by Kat Holmes talks about the importance of inclusive design for both usability and innovation.
- Not a book, but Apple's Human Interface Guidelines are excellent: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...
- Similarly, just try reading the design principles of companies with good design, like Shopify: https://polaris.shopify.com/experiences/crafting-admin
- If you're interested in building a design system, I would start with InVision's Design Systems Handbook: https://www.designbetter.co/design-systems-handbook
Ultimately, good design is informed by research - what is the problem you're trying to solve? What is the user's goal and how can you make that easy for them to achieve? What are you trying to communicate? Start with interviewing 5+ potential users, distilling that data into actionable opportunities, and sketching wireframes on paper before jumping into Figma.
However, I recently read The Design of Everyday Things and was really disappointed. The sections about door handles, stoves, and elevator buttons are interesting but that's only 1/3 of the book. The rest is about iterative design and system failure, for which there are better books like The Lean Startup and Drift Into Failure.