So you wanna be a user experience designer — Step 1: Resources

June 30th, 2009 · Comments · User Experience

Pretty much every single day I get a tweet, email, or in person request for information on how to get started in the field of user experience. I’ve recently had a few people reach out to me even asking me to mentor them throughout the process. Given that I often find myself repeating the same answers over and over again, I decided to put all of my resources in a single blog post so that folks could easily access a consolidated version of my advice.

So you wanna be a user experience designer?

The best way to learn a new language is to go to a country where it’s spoken and immerse yourself in the confusion. Soon the unfamiliar will become familiar, and before you know it you’ll be fluent.

If you’re interested in getting to know more about user experience, I recommend doing the same. You may choose to simply understand the terminology, or become conversant. You might later decide to tackle some of the more complex concepts.

There are many steps to the process, but I am starting with Resources because I believe you need a great arsenal before kicking off any journey. In future posts I’ll discuss:

Guiding Principles
Process
Tools
Transitioning from other careers
Practice Landscape

…as well as any other topics that come up along the way.

I have organized the resources below in what I perceive to be lightest to deepest engagement — publications and blogs, books, local events, organizations, mailing lists, webinars, workshops, conferences, and schooling.

DISCLAIMER: These are my personal recommendations, and plenty of people will disagree with me on many points, I’m sure. But this is what has worked for me — the people/places/events/organizations that have kept my interest throughout my schooling and career — and where I believe anyone who wants to immerse themselves in user experience should start their journey. Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

UX Books

UX Primer

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Design Thinking

Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Don Norman
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper

Strategy

Subject To Change by Peter Merholz, Todd Wilkens, Brandon Schauer, and David Verba

Process

The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett
About Face 3 by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, and David Cronin
A Project Guide to UX Design by Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler

UX Blogs

Konigi by Michael Angeles
Tips, tools and techniques for being a better user experience designer
Disambiguity by Leisa Reichelt
The ins and outs of designing a product with an existing, and passionate, community
EverydayUX by Alex Rainert
A fresh look at the world around us through UX-tinted glasses
Graphpaper by Christopher Fahey
Critical analysis of some of the toughest issues facing UX designers today
inspireUX by Catriona Cornett
Cubical-wall worthy quotations from a variety of practitioners on how and why to create positive user experiences
Bokardo – Social Design by Joshua Porter
For everything you need to consider when designing socially-focused stuff
Logic + Emotion by David Armano
Reusable visualizations and valuable synthesis at the intersection of user experience design, marketing and business
Putting People First by Experientia
A great resource for all things UX from around the globe
Brain Sparks by User Interface Engineering (UIE)
Inside the brilliant minds of user research pioneer Jared Spool and his team
Design for Service by Jeff Howard
Insights into all the ways companies need to be communicating with their customers, outside of their websites
UX Booth by Redd Horrocks, Matthew Kammerer, David Leggett, and Andrew Maier
A group blog written by up-and-coming designers and developers with fresh perspectives on user experience design. They represent the next generation of our community

UX Publications

Boxes and Arrows
Journal dedicated to discussing, improving and promoting the work of the information architecture community
interactions
Magazine including timely articles, stories, and content related to the interactions between experiences, people, and technology, published by the Association for Computing Machinery
UXmatters
Insights and inspiration for the user experience community written by many distinguished practitioners
Core77
Industrial Design content and community site – articles, discussions, interviews and resources

Local Events

Organizations

Mailing lists

Webinars

UIE’s Virtual Seminars
A monthly series of online seminars giving you the chance to hear the latest perspectives in the world of design from the field’s premier experts.
$129 each. 90 minutes.
Rosenfeld Media’s Future Practice Webinars
The cutting edge of contemporary user experience research and design methods and practices.
$99 each. 60 minutes.
Adaptive Path’s Virtual Seminars
$129 each. 75 minutes.
Smart Experience online material

Workshops

UIE Roadshow
In this full-day, in-depth seminar you’ll discover the key experience-design factors, analyze your team’s strengths and weaknesses, create an experience vision, and learn the role of delight.
AdaptivePath’s UX Intensive
This four-day workshop series is for experienced professionals wanting to take their practice to the next level.
Cooper U
A practical collection of courses that help product team members improve their effectiveness from early planning all the way through implementation.

Conferences

Inspirational

Good Experience Live (GEL)
A conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms — in business, art, society, technology, and life.
IDEA Conference
The world’s foremost thinkers and practitioners sharing the big ideas that inspire, along with practical solutions for the ways people’s lives and systems are converging to affect society.
Adaptive Path’s Managing Experience (Mx)
Thought leaders from major corporations show you how smart and visionary management will help you successfully compete in a difficult economy.

Practical

UIE’s User Interface Conference
Examining the biggest issues in the world of web design, information architecture, and usability.
NN/g’s Usability Week
A three-day usability camp, a three-day intensive session on interaction design, and several specialized, day-long tutorials on core usability topics. Come for as few or as many days as you want.
UPA
Tutorials, workshops, Experienced Practitioners program, then two and a half days packed with presentations, Idea Markets, and opportunities to network with other user experience professionals.

Mixed

IxDA Interaction Conference
Three days of inspirational and tactical sessions geared at anyone who practices Interaction Design, as well as a day of pre-conference workshops.
IA Summit
The premier gathering place for information architects and other user experience professionals. Two days of pre-conference sessions, two keynotes and over 50 presentations.
Adaptive Path’s UX Week
A mix of inspiring talks from recognized thought leaders and hands-on workshops delivering takeaway skills, this event delivers for user experience professionals at all levels — directors, managers, and practitioners.
UIE’s Web App Summit
The four-day Summit includes two days of intensive full-day workshops and two more days of featured presentations from world-renown experts, to give you fresh perspectives and new insights on today’s web app design challenges.
UX Australia
3-day user experience design conference, with inspiring and practical presentations, covering a range of topics about how to design great experiences for people.
UX London
A unique three-day event combining inspirational talks with in-depth workshops presented by some of the industry’s biggest names.

Academic

ACM’s CHI
The premier international conference for the field of human-computer interaction.

Schooling

Human Computer Interaction

Human Computer Interaction Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University
(where I received a bachelor’s and master’s degree)
Master of Science in Information – HCI Specialization
at University of Michigan
Full list of HCI degree programs

Interaction Design

Master of Design in Interaction Design
at Carnegie Mellon University
Master of Fine Arts in Interaction Design
at School of Visual Arts
(starting fall 2009)
Undergraduate minor in Interaction Design
at Savannah College of Art and Design

Misc

Interactive Telecommunications Program
at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts
Institute of Design
at Illinois Institute of Technology

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Tags: Learning·User Experience

Tej

Hi Whitney, thanks for your comments on www.scaryevilcomputer.com. The above post is great but you already know I think that. :-) I was wondering if you could do a post about the 5 worst things you hate about UX Design. I'd be really interested in your thoughts.

WDYWFT

If any of you are 'young managers' in the user experience industry and have the desire to share your stories, get tips and support from fellow managers, then join our community at whatdoyouwantfromthem.com

uxdesign_com

Solid ground to launch from here, Whitney. I'll add your site to the searchable "UX Network": http://uxdesign.com/search-ux-network (content aggregators excluded).

I'm a little surprised to find the IA "polar bear book", and JJG's Elements, not under UX Primer, given their role in midwifing user experience design in to popular consciousness, if not existence. But your call.

uxbooks.com may be useful to some, too.

Andrew Maier

Whitney, thanks so much for the include! We're working hard over at UX Booth to provide a unique perspective on UX Design. The list of resources you note here at the end is especially helpful. I'm going to pick up a couple of new books for the holidays!

Stu Collett

This is the best list of UX resources that I've seen to date.

You're a genius Whitney!

Jiri Jerabek

Hi Whitney, what an excellent article! I'm glad you mentioned my favourite Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things and The Design of Everyday Things (and Steve's Don’t Make Me Think), I think everybody can find here lots of study materials. Thank you!

MelindaYoung

Hi Whitney, I am a very newer in UX, i am wondering if I should consider the "Windows/Mac/Java UX Guide" as a premier books?

Whitney Hess

I'm afraid I don't know which book you're referring to. Link?

MelindaYoung

Uhmm i mean the guides for Windows/Mac/ platform application designing.Links as:For Mac platform: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserEx... Java platform: http://java.sun.com/products/jlf/ed2/book/For Windows platform: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa51125... How do you think the requirement being familiar with these user experience guides for a UX newbie?

MelindaYoung

Really helpful list, BIG thanks to you!

AjithM

Thanks a lot. I have be going around on this big big web searching for this. Thanks that you put it all in one place.
I am going to benefit a lot from this.

Isaac Sane

Wow! Bookmarked this post.

Thank you for taking the time to put this awesome resource together and sharing it.

Sandy

Awesome list and Great Job!!!!

Thanks so much..

Ivo Bosma

Great job on putting the list together. I have read a lot of the books you mention, but I certainly will look into a few others. Thanks!

mbloomstein

This is great Whitney! If it's not comprehensive, I think it's pretty darn close--and the balance of making it complete rests with the reader, anyhow. One that I hope folks discover if it's not currently on their blogroll: http://www.alistapart.com.

Your notes about higher ed interaction design programs left me thinking. The program at CMU evolved from its top-ranked design and computer science programs. I'm curious what other schools offer excellent education on user experience and designing experiences without actually labeling them as such; I'd bet there are other courses and programs buried at RISD, Washington University, and IIT that just quietly live within their respective design programs, surfacing only in self-designed majors. Perhaps a topic for another post!

Nicky Smyth

Coming at this from a design strategy/design thinking perspective - I think a good compliment to Subject To Change by Peter Merholz would be Design Management: Managing Design Strategy, Process and Implementation by Kathryn Best and Design Management by Brigitte Borja de Mozota. Also, I would add Ideo to the blog/website listings.

Zaphod

I *WAS* going to read this, but I am afraid the title put me off.

I did "want to" but I discovered after reading the title that I didn't "wanna" any longer.

James Deer

And the value of that comment is......where?

James Deer

Awesome Whitney, looking forward to the rest of the series.

Lisa Rex @lisarex

Thanks for this list, Whitney. I'll be adding a few more to the Amazon wishlist then...

I've just received Designing Web Interfaces by Bill Scott and Theresa Neil and it looks good.

Yikes, I have so much reading to do!

Vladimir Tsvetkov

Why is there not a single reference to The Humane Interface by Jeff Raskin?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humane_Interface

Whitney Hess

These are just my personal sources of inspiration, and while I'm well aware of Raskin's work it isn't something that I directly call upon. Thank you for mentioning it here.

Vladimir Tsvetkov

Yesterday I came across another pretty interesting title:
Search User Interfaces - http://searchuserinterfaces.com/book/
The book is still not published on paper, but the online version is freely available.

I've read just excerpts of the book and my first impressions are that this is very very comprehensive work on Search UI - so many cases and usages have been covered.

martinpolley

Thanks for putting this list together -- very helpful indeed!

However, your list of schools is (understandably) very US-centric. There are a number of schools in Europe with IxD programs, including the Royal College of Art in London, the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (Denmark), Umeå Institute of Design (Sweden), Malmö University (Sweden), TU Delft (The Netherlands), etc. And many more offering HCI courses.

Cheers,

Martin

Whitney Hess

Martin, I sincerely appreciate you listing some schools outside of the US. I have much less familiarity with those, and though I knew I was leaving them out, I don't feel that I know enough about each to make recommendations. Glad you posted here.

martinpolley

Well, I'm not sure I'm particularly qualified either, but these are the ones whose names keep coming up.

Tonia

Kent State University has a Master of Science in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management (IAKM). There are a few different focuses you can take - information architecture, knowledge management, and usability. Great faculty and just an amazing experience and learning environment.

Whitney Hess

I had no idea! Thanks, Tonia.

Steve 'Doc' Baty

Whitney, what a great collection of resources! I'd highly recommend people take a look at Johnny Holland - http://johnnyholland.org - for some interesting reading in the interaction design and user experience space.

Cheers
Steve

Whitney Hess

Thanks for the link, Steve. I happened upon one of your articles recently and made a mental note, but forgot to come back to it. How long have you been publishing it?

Nick Finck

There are a few blogs missing from the list (cough) :P
http://www.nickfinck.com/

ok, fine, maybe my blog wasn't good enough to make the cut.. but UXarray is good too!
http://www.uxarray.com/

And lets not forget the UX Book Club events:
http://uxbookclub.org/

The UX workshop events are also pretty good:
http://www.theuxworkshop.tv/

The UX Workshop

Thanks for the Link-love, Mr. Finck.

Thanks for the killer resource, Ms. Hess

Whitney Hess

Thanks, Nick! UX Book Club is definitely on the top of my list (and listed under local events). Thanks for sharing the other links.

Carrie Eberhardt

Excellent list! I look forward to more in this series. Another resource, of sorts, is to use and observe all the free apps out there: Flickr, Mint.com, all Google apps, del.icio.us, etc.

Ruth Ellison

What a wonderful list of resources. I love "Set phases on stun" book - one of my favourites.

Thanks for taking the time to put these together.

Fred Sampson

Great list, Whitney, adding to my bookmarks. . . but one nit: While CHI has a long-time reputation as a conference for academics and researches, it isn't. Over the last few years there has been an increasing presence of UX practitioners. Take a look at the program for this year's conference, you might be surprised: http://www.chi2009.org/Attending/CHI09Program.pdf.
At the very least you could move CHI into the "mixed" category of conferences.

Disclosure: I'm an officer in ACM SIGCHI, the sponsoring organization.

Whitney Hess

Thanks for your input, Fred. Good to hear that CHI is becoming more practical. I think unfortunately it's been inaccessible to practitioners for some time.

Lynne Polischuik

Great list Whitney--these are all excellent resources! A couple of books/primers I'd add are 'Designing the Obvious' and 'Designing the Moment' by Robert Hoekman (@rhjr). I found these both to be super useful for quick reference. In terms of schooling Simon Fraser University's new School of Interactive Arts + Technology here in Vancouver offers an undergraduate degree program in Informatics.

I'd also agree with @dpan that following smart IA/IxDA/UX folks on Twitter is a good idea. Aside from the nudges towards useful content and resources I get almost everyday there are some really helpful, wonderful people in this industry who are welcoming to newbs and generally willing to answer silly questions :)

Whitney Hess

Lynne, thanks for this. I look forward to picking up these books.

Also, I'll definitely posting a list of UX practitioners on Twitter. That has absolutely been a powerful resource for me; I feel the people that make up the practice deserve their own post.

maureen

For "History" people might want to read Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge

http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interactions-Bi...

Don't worry about the full list of HCI programs. Just go to UM (go blue!)

Whitney Hess

A book that's been on my To Read list for quite some time. Thank you!

David Panarelli

D'oh... forgot the link to the UX peeps on Twitter: http://www.openthewindow.net/?p=506

jasonrobb

Wow. Ditto, great list.

David Panarelli

First off, phenomenal list of resources here. Kudos to you!

Also, I'd recommend following prominent UX people on twitter. Here's the list I came up with a little while ago (far from perfect but maybe a good starting point).

Nick Heise

Amazing as always! This is like one stop UX resource shopping.

Whitney Hess

Aww thanks! :)

Aaron Irizarry

Awesome!... such a great list of resources! I am personally very excited for this series, as I am trying to delve more and more in the UX world.

thanks!

~ Aaron I

katerobinson

This is a really helpful (and overwhelming) set of resources. Thanks for posting.

Whitney Hess

One day at a time!

Andrew Korf

Definitely recommend adding Kim Goodwin's "Designing for the digital age" to the book list - seminal. Great Post whitney. Going to be NYC this weekend any recommendations for current shows or goings on?