100 Must-read books on analytics, design, information architecture, usability and of course UX
Bookmark this page, now! You’ll want to refer to it again and again. And be sure to share it with your cool UX friends too! These are the books that you must read if you want to know the who, what, where, why, when and how of User Experience. And before you ask, no, you don’t have to read them all. Just use this handy-dandy list to refer to books on the subject of interest. I curated this list from my extensive library and interest in the subjects, and no, I have not read every single one of these either, but it would be a great use of time!
That’s it, enjoy!
Analytics
Design
Information Architecture
UX
Usability
ANALYTICS:
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik
Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics by Brian Clifton
Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Tim Ash
Google Analytics by Justin Cutroni
Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster by Alistair Croll
Practical Web Analytics for User Experience: How Analytics Can Help You Understand Your Users by Michael Beasley
Building a Digital Analytics Organization: Create Value by Integrating Analytical Processes, Technology, and People into Business Operations by Judah Phillips
Data Science for Business: What you need to know about data mining and data-analytic thinking by Foster Provost
Ecommerce and Beyond: 9 Steps to Skyrocket Your Sales Without a Degree in Rocket Science by Rodolfo Melogli
DESIGN:
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk
The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition by Don Norman
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Don Norman
Experience Design: A Framework for Integrating Brand, Experience, and Value by Patrick Newbery
Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring by Stephen Few
Design for Hackers: Reverse Engineering Beauty by David Kadavy
Data Driven Design: How Today’s Product Designer Approaches User Experience to Create Radically Innovative Digital Products by Phillip A. Harris
Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated by Jill Butler (Author), Kritina Holden (Author), William Lidwell (Author)
Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules by Jeff Johnson
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity by Alan Cooper
Interdisciplinary Interaction Design by James Pannafino
Essential Mobile Interaction Design: Perfecting Interface Design in Mobile Apps by Cameron Banga (Author), Josh Weinhold (Author)
About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper (Author), Robert Reimann (Author), David Cronin (Author)
Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge
Android Design Patterns: Interaction Design Solutions for Developers by Greg Nudelman
Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions Hardcover by Bella Martin (Author), Bruce Hanington (Author)
Technical Communication by Mike Markel
User Experience Design 38 Success Secrets by Dale Salas
Basics Interactive Design: Interface Design: An introduction to visual communication in UI design by David Wood
UI is Communication: How to Design Intuitive, User Centered Interfaces by Focusing on Effective Communication by Everett N. McKay
Adventures in Experience Design (Web Design Courses) by Carolyn Chandler (Author), Anna van Slee (Author)
Interface Design for Learning: Design Strategies for Learning Experiences by Dorian Peters
The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda
Set Phasers on Stun: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error by S. M. Casey (Author), Steven Casey (Author)
Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte
Letting Go of the Words, Second Edition: Writing Web Content that Works by Janice (Ginny) Redish
Building Websites All-in-One For Dummies by David Karlins (Author), Doug Sahlin (Author)
Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell
Evil by Design: Interaction Design to Lead Us into Temptation by Chris Nodder
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences by Sarah Horton (Author), Whitney Quesenbery (Author), Aaron Gustafson (Foreword)
Digital Design Essentials: 100 Ways to Design Better Desktop, Web, and Mobile Interfaces by Rajesh Lal
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE:
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites, 3rd Edition by Peter Morville (Author), Louis Rosenfeld (Author)
Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (2nd Edition) by Christina Wodtke (Author), Austin Govella (Author)
Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing Cross-Channel User Experiences by Andrea Resmini (Author), Luca Rosati (Author)
The Art of Enterprise Information Architecture: A Systems-Based Approach for Unlocking Business Insight by Mario Godinez (Author), Eberhard Hechler (Author), Klaus Koenig (Author), Steve Lockwood (Author), Martin Oberhofer (Author), Michael Schroeck (Author)
Designing Information: Human Factors and Common Sense in Information Design by Joel Katz
Designing the Search Experience: The Information Architecture of Discovery by Tony Russell-Rose (Author), Tyler Tate (Author)
Pragmatic Enterprise Architecture: Strategies to Transform Information Systems in the Era of Big Data by James Luisi
UX:
Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience by by Jeff Gothelf (Author), Josh Seiden (Editor)
Undercover User Experience Design by Cennydd Bowles (Author), James Box (Author)
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) by Jesse James Garrett
The UX Book: Process and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User Experience by Rex Hartson (Author), Pardha Pyla (Author)
UX for Lean Startups: Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design by Laura Klein
Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences by Stephen P. Anderson
Hooked: A Guide to Building Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal (Author), Ryan Hoover (Contributor)
A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making (2nd Edition) by Russ Unger (Author), Carolyn Chandler (Author)
Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski
The Modern Web: Multi-Device Web Development with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript by Peter Gasston
Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS3 by Ben Frain
Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences by Jesmond Allen (Author), James Chudley (Author)
Storytelling for User Experience by Whitney Quesenbery (Author), Kevin Brooks (Author)
The Tao of User Experience by Robert Hoekman Jr
Get Agile!: Scrum for UX, Design & Development by Pieter Jongerius (Author), Anna Offermans (Contributor), Anton Vanhoucke (Contributor), Patrick Sanwikarja (Contributor), Jeroen van Geel (Contributor)
UX/UI Bibliography by Safari Content Team (Author)
Communicating the User Experience: A Practical Guide for Creating Useful UX Documentation by Richard Caddick (Author), Steve Cable (Author)
The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide by Leah Buley
Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook by Saul Greenberg (Author), Sheelagh Carpendale (Author), Nicolai Marquardt (Author), Bill Buxton (Author)
User Experience Management: Essential Skills for Leading Effective UX Teams by Arnie Lund
UX Design Process (Smashing eBook Series) by Smashing Magazine
Mobile User Experience: Patterns to Make Sense of it All by Adrian Mendoza
Designing Multi-Device Experiences: An Ecosystem Approach to User Experiences across Devices by Michal Levin
Institutionalization of UX: A Step-by-Step Guide to a User Experience Practice by Eric Schaffer (Author), Apala Lahiri (Author)
USABILITY:
Don’t Make Me Think Revisited by Steve Krug
Handbook of Usability Testing by Jeffrey Rubin (Author), Dana Chisnell (Author), Jared Spool (Foreword)
Observing the User Experience, Second Edition: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research by Elizabeth Goodman (Author), Mike Kuniavsky (Author), Andrea Moed (Author)
Usable Usability: Simple Steps for Making Stuff Better by Eric Reiss
Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set…Test! by Carol M. Barnum
Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems by Steve Krug
Mobile Usability by Jakob Nielsen (Author), Raluca Budiu (Author)
Eye Tracking the User Experience: A Practical Guide to Research by Aga Bojko
Eye Tracking in User Experience Design by Jennifer Romano Bergstrom (Author), Andrew Schall (Author)
Measuring the User Experience, Second Edition: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics by William Albert (Author), Thomas Tullis (Author)
Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights by Steve Portigal
Quantifying the User Experience: Practical Statistics for User Research by Jeff Sauro (Author), James R Lewis (Author)
The UX Five-Second Rules: Guidelines for User Experience Design’s Simplest Testing Technique by Paul Doncaster
Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests by Jeffrey Rubin (Author), Dana Chisnell (Author), Jared Spool (Foreword)
A Field Guide To Usability Testing (Smashing eBook Series) by Smashing Magazine
NISTIR 7742: Customized Common Industry Formal Template for Electronic Health Record Usability Testing by U.S. Department of Commerce
Moderating Usability Tests: Principles and Practices for Interacting by Joseph S. Dumas (Author), Beth A. Loring (Author)
Prioritizing Web Usability Jakob Nielsen (Author), Hoa Loranger (Author)
A Step-by-Step Guide to Usability Testing by Peter Mitchell
It’s Our Research: Getting Stakeholder Buy-in for User Experience Research Projects by Tomer Sharon
Foundations of Software Testing by Cem Kaner (Author), Rebecca L Fiedler (Author)
The Moderator’s Survival Guide: Handling Common, Tricky, and Sticky Situations in User Research by Donna Tedesco (Author), Fiona Tranquada (Author)
Current Trends in Eye Tracking Research by Mike Horsley (Editor), Natasha Toon (Editor), Bruce Knight (Editor), Ronan Reilly (Editor)
Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-scale Online User Experience Studies by William Albert (Author), Thomas Tullis (Author), Donna Tedesco (Author)
Survey Research Methods (Applied Social Research Methods) by Floyd J. Fowler
A Practical Guide to the System Usability Scale: Background, Benchmarks & Best Practices by Jeff Sauro
Visual Usability: Principles and Practices for Designing Digital Applications by Tania Schlatter (Author), Deborah Levinson (Author)
Conclusion: 100 Must-read UX Books
100 Must-read UX books is a list I hope you’ll find helpful, and that you’ll refer to from time to time. There is some amazing content in these books, so feel free to use them to improve your skills, no matter whether for analytics, design, information architecture, usability or just UX in general. Enjoy!
And if I left off one of YOUR favorite books on one of these topics PLEASE add a comment with your fav, thanks!
Note: For some of these links I receive a small, modest, minimal reimbursement if you, dear reader, happen to click on and purchase said book, but let’s be real here for a second, the whopping 5, 10 or 40 cents or so that I receive for that is hardly worth mentioning, but I’m just letting you know about it so we all know what’s going on, because being informed is so very cool, and in reality, the money is so small that I wouldn’t even be able to afford a Tall (by the way, what’s up with labeling your smallest cup of coffee “Tall” I mean, really, that’s pretty much false advertising, it’s not tall at all, frankly it should be called “Short” which is much more accurate because it absolutely is the smallest of the three sizes, “Tall” “Venti” and “Grande,” but whatever, I think you’ll agree with me on that one, anyway where was I, oh yeah) I couldn’t even afford a “tall” cup of coffee from my nearest coffee place, and well, I suppose if you and all your friends purchased books then just perhaps I could get a “tall” cup of coffee, but actually wouldn’t because the cost of the gas in my car to drive over to my nearest coffee place would more than make up for the minor amount I received and actually cause me to go cash negative, which explains precisely why I’m not one of those multi-gazillion dollar guys like Warren Buffett, although he apparently eats at McDonalds because he says he likes the food but I suspect the actual reason is he’s ultra tight with his money which is why