The IxD Library

Davidson, Mary Jo, Dove, Laura, and Weltz, Julie, “Mental Models and Usability,” 1999

An inaccurate mental model of what is happening in a system leads to errors. Many systems place too many demands on the humans that use them. Users are often required to adjust the way they work to accommodate the computer. Sometimes the result is a minor frustration or inconvenience, such as changes not being saved to a file. Inaccurate mental models of more complex systems, such as an airplane or nuclear reactor, can lead to disastrous accidents.

Chad Vavra, The Ten Principles of Interaction Design, 2011

To steal a metaphor from E.L. Doctorow, “[Interaction Design] is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you can still get to your destination”. When a task seems too big, start by picking two things, like a page and a button. Establish their relationship and interaction. Once that is done, pick something else that relates and keep going. Everything will come together thanks to the brain’s natural ability to spatially model the world.

Lukas Mathis, Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web, 2011

“Weaving together hands-on techniques and fundamental concepts, you’ll learn how to make usability the cornerstone of your design process. Each technique chapter explains a specific approach you can use during the design process to make your product more user friendly, such as storyboarding, usability tests, and paper prototyping. Idea chapters are concept-based: how to write usable text, how realistic your designs should look, when to use animations.”

Paul Heckel, The Elements of Friendly Software Design (1991)

Rob Tannen, “Ergonomics for Interaction Designers” Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 (2009)

William Lidwell, Universal Principles of Design (2003)

Dan Saffer, Designing for Interaction: Creating Innovative Applications and Devices (2nd Edition) (2009)

Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

Paul Seys, “11 Principles of Interaction Design Explained” (2010)

Om Malik, “User Experience Matters: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From ‘Objectified’” (2010)

Introduces the “Of Course” Factor.

Dan Saffer, “Controls are Choices” (2009)

Paul Graham, “Six Principles for Making New Things” (2008)

Don Norman, “Simplicity is Highly Overrated” (2007)

Michael Bierut, “This is My Process” (2006)

Jared Spool, “What Makes a Design Seem Intuitive?” (2005)

Michael Bierut, “On (Design) Bullshit” (2005)

Scott Berkun, “The Myth of Discoverability” (2003)

Bruce Tognazzini, “First Principles of Interaction Design” (2003)

Robert Reimann, “So You Want to Be an Interaction Designer” (2001)

Richard Buchanan, “Good Design in the Digital Age” (pdf) (2000)