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.

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?

Design is Storytelling

by Ellen Lupton · 2017

Not done yet, but love it already. Very entertaining with lots of illustrations and puns yet also insightful and full of practical advice on design methodologies.