Best Books on How to learn UI/UX design

If you are contemplating entering the field of UI/UX design, one most important thing you should know is “Well begun, half done”. A right direction is, sometimes, more important than hard work. Then, how to find the right direction? For me, the answer is to read the best books on the field. Today I list 6 books on How to learn UI/UX design, which I think will get you a really good start.

books on ui ux

About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design

Let’s start from this one. The first edition of About Face was published in 1995. At that time, the idea of designing products based on human goals was still a revolutionary concept. This book will teach you the principles of good product behavior and introduce you to Cooper's Goal-Directed Design method, from conducting user research to defining your product using personas and scenarios.

About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design

The best interface is no interface

Why best interface is no interface? These days, people have spent increasing time on staring at their phones. What’s worse, they gradually get used to it since it seems like a reasonable cost of doing business. This book is a sharp and incisive critique of screen-based design thinking. Indeed, Design has turned into a science of addiction rather than the art (and science) of empathy and human needs now. That’s what we should think about carefully when learning UI/UX design.

The best interface is no interface

Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited

This book talks about web design and its usability. The author Steve Krug believes that a good program or website let people accomplish their tasks as quickly and easily as possible, which is now agreed by lots of designers. It’s a perfect guide for those who want to learn web design from scratch.

Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited

The Design of Everyday Things

It’s one of the best-selling books on design. To learn UI/UX design, you must read it, since it is written by Donald Norman. Yes, the one who coined the term “user experience”. In this book, the cognitive scientist and usability engineer tells us how design serves as the communication between object and user. You’ll definitely benefit a lot from it. However, one must stay humble to finish reading it as Norman believes that every malfunction of objects is resulted from a lack of intuitive guidance. There is no wrong operation of users in this world.


A Project Guide to UX Design

This is a canonical book for those young designers who just entered or are contemplating entering the UX field. However, this book is clearly written to those who work as web designers, so, if you want to learn web design, this guide book to learn UI/UX design is perfect for you.


Designing with the mind in mind

Behind user interface design rules there is cognitive psychology basis. This book is so tightly written that readers speak highly of it as “One could replace half a library shelf with this small volume.” You’ll better understand those design rules and make use of them after reading it.


These 6 books are not only favored by me, but also recommended by most of excellent designers on their LinkedIn, blogs, etc. They’ll definitely help you to get a good start if you want to learn UI/UX design.

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