Books that have inspired me.

I am sometimes asked what reading materials could be useful for those starting out in user experience and product design. In no particular order, here are some of the books I have found useful and recommend to others.

Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres

A brilliant book that builds on the Lean UX principles to provide an actionable process for developing new products.

UX for Lean Startups by Laura Klein

A great approach and advice for researching, validating, and launching products one small step at a time.

Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion by Nathalie Nahai

Fascinating insights into the human mind and how to tailor designs to the way your audience thinks.

Jobs to be Done by Stephen Wunker

Good introduction to this now widespread approach to understand and designing for users.

Sprint by Jake Knapp

A great distillation of many different design methodologies into a 5 day process.

Value Proposition Design by Various

Visual book explaining how to design and test value propositions that match your customer’s needs and desires.

The Design Thinking Playbook by Various

Provides a visual overview of the much talked about design approach, with practical and actionable tips and tools.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The now classic book explaining how our decision making process works, and how we might use that knowledge to make better decisions as individuals. As designers we can use that information to make more compelling and successful products and services.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Priceless principles for what makes everyday usable and useful product design, transferable to digital product thinking.