Books I Enjoyed Reading
A list of design-related books I’ve found helpful, interesting, thought-provoking, or just enjoyable in one way or another. In no particular order. You can also find me on oku.
Design for the Real World
by Viktor Papanek · 1971
About the social and environmental impacts of product design. Originally published in 1971, but timeless and sometimes surprisingly timely, e.g. when it comes to sustainable mobility, climate change, global inequality and inclusion.
Speculative Everything
Design, Fiction and Social Dreaming
by Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby · 2013
About using design to bring imaginative ideas one step closer to reality. Allowing society to explore, discuss and question various possible, plausible and preferable futures.
Design is Storytelling
by Ellen Lupton · 2017
Very entertaining with lots of illustrations and puns yet also insightful and full of practical advice on design methodologies.
Just Enough Research
by Erika Hall · 2013
A hands-on guide on incorporating user research in the design process.
Mismatch
How Inclusion Shapes Design
by Kat Holmes · 2018
About the unlocked potential and importance of designing for diverse human abilities and experiences.
Make Time
How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky · 2018
While written as a self-help guide to stay in control of one's time in the age of the abundant attention-grabbing digital products, it also provides plenty clues about designing such products to be less encroaching and annoying.
Ruined by Design
How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It
by Mike Monteiro · 2019
About the individual responsibilities of designers and a reminder to prioritize human well-being over profit. It is a bit of a digital age take on 'Design for the Real World', originally published in 2019, and written with a sharp tongue.
Design Systems
A Practical Guide to Creating Design Languages for Digital Products
by Alla Kholmatova · 2017
How to create a Design System that serves an organization or a product well. It covers the whole process from research and design to implementation and maintenance.
Design Is a Job
by Mike Monteiro · 2012
How to keep providing value to clients as a professional designer. With lots of advice on some of the day to day challenges of running a design business.
Sprint
How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Brad Kowitz · 2016
A hands-on guideline on how to apply 'sprints' – a common concept in agile software development – to design to quickly test ideas. By doing so, teams should be able to reduce time spent on discussing theories and be enabled to innovate faster.
The Design of Everyday Things
by Donald A. Norman · 2013
The revised edition of “Psychology Of Everyday Things” – a classic about industrial design from 1988 about the importance of designing for people. Cannot not think about this one whenever taking a shower in a hotel.
The Lean Startup
How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries · 2011
This book advocates for the application of concepts from agile software development and hypothesis-driven experimentation from science on a business level. Read this to learn about concepts like Build-Measure-Learn, MVPs, Validated Learning, Pivot/Persevere or Innovation Accounting.
Persuasive Technology
Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do
by B.J. Fogg · 2002
How technology can change attitudes and behaviors, by providing incentives, reducing barriers, and increasing abilities. Also discusses the role of trust, reciprocation and social validation.
Expressive Design Systems
by Yesenia Perez-Cruz · 2019
Usability, accessibility and aesthetics surely are the main pillars of design systems. There's no need for Yet Another Design System, though, if it is not also unique in expressing a brand's identity. This book shows how it can be done.
Flow
The Psychology of Optimal Experience
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi · 1990
About “being in the zone” – that magic state of mind when one is fully immersed in a task, and time seems to fly by: What triggers it, and how can we get there more often?
Currently reading
Kern and Burn
Conversations With Design Entrepreneurs
by Tim Hoover & Jessica Karle Heltzel · 2000
Waiting on the shelf
User Friendly
How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live, work, and play
by Cliff Kuang & Robert Fabricant · 2000
Hooked
How to Build Habit-Forming Products
by Nir Eyal · 2000
Don't Make Me Think
Revisited – A Common Sense Approach to Web and Mobile Usability
by Steve Krug · 2000
