In today's technology-driven world, understanding the principles of product design is crucial for creating successful and engaging products. This field encompasses a wide range of disciplines, including user experience (UX), interaction design, and visual design, all working together to craft intuitive and delightful experiences for users. The best books for product design explore these principles, offering valuable insights and practical guidance for both seasoned professionals and aspiring designers.
This carefully curated list highlights the works of leading experts in the field, covering a variety of approaches and methodologies. From understanding user psychology and behavior to creating engaging user interfaces and building habit-forming products, these books offer a comprehensive exploration of the product design landscape. Whether you're seeking to deepen your understanding of existing methodologies or discover innovative approaches, these books provide a valuable resource for anyone looking to enhance their product design skills and create products that resonate with users.
Table of Contents
1. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
Contributor: Ryan Hoover(Editor)
Offering a fresh perspective, Nir Eyal, Ryan Hoover delivers an expertly crafted narrative in 'Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products', published by Portfolio in 2014. The book delves into the psychology behind user engagement, exploring how successful companies design products that users repeatedly return to. Eyal introduces the Hook Model, a four-step process outlining how products subtly encourage user behavior through "hook cycles," leading to habitual usage without relying on heavy advertising. Through practical insights, actionable steps, and engaging examples, 'Hooked' serves as a guide for product managers, designers, and anyone interested in understanding the forces that shape user behavior and create products that users love.
Who should read Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products?
- Product Managers
- Designers
- Marketers
- Startup Founders
Awards
- Goodreads Choice Award (2014)
- $21.00 for hardcover
- $16.99 for kindle
✨ Read more: best books about user experience
2. Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better Products & Services by Jon Yablonski
Published by O'Reilly Media in 2020, 'Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better Products & Services' by Jon Yablonski is a thought-provoking read that offers a thorough understanding of its key topics. The book highlights the significance of psychology in user experience (UX) design, emphasizing how understanding user behavior and cognitive processes can lead to more intuitive and human-centered products. Yablonski deconstructs familiar apps and digital interfaces, illustrating how UX designers can apply psychological principles to create experiences that seamlessly adapt to user perception and processing.
3. Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams by Jeff Gothelf, Josh Seiden
Published by O'Reilly Media in 2016, 'Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams' by Jeff Gothelf, Josh Seiden analyzes books for product design, which is essential for understanding the broader story. The book advocates for a user-centered approach to interaction design that aligns with Agile development principles. 'Lean UX' emphasizes collaboration between designers, developers, and product managers, encouraging early and frequent user feedback throughout the development process. This approach, inspired by Lean and Agile methodologies, prioritizes continuous learning and iteration, enabling product teams to create more effective and user-centric experiences.
Price- $23.64 for hardcover
4. Designing Products People Love: How Great Designers Create Successful Products by Scott Hurff
"'Designing Products People Love: How Great Designers Create Successful Products' by Scott Hurff delivers a well-researched analysis that guides readers through complex ideas with clarity and precision. The book explores the key principles and practices employed by leading product designers to create successful products. Hurff emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs and pain points, using this research to guide product development. The book provides practical insights for designers, product managers, and anyone involved in the product creation process, offering strategies for effective communication and collaboration throughout the design lifecycle.
Lesson learned
'Designing Products People Love' emphasizes the importance of user-centric design, highlighting that successful products are created by deeply understanding and addressing customer needs. The book underscores the value of gathering user feedback and iterating on product designs to ensure they meet real-world requirements and resonate with target audiences.
5. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
With a focus on 'books for product design', ''Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love'' by Marty Cagan showcasing the key aspects of this intricate topic. The book provides insights into the product development strategies employed by leading technology companies. Cagan emphasizes the importance of a strong product vision and a collaborative approach between product managers, designers, engineers, user researchers, and data scientists. 'Inspired' guides readers through the process of creating products that resonate with customers, highlighting the importance of market research, user feedback, and continuous improvement.
Who should read Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love?
- Product Managers
- Designers
- Engineers
- User Researchers
Lesson learned
'Inspired' emphasizes that creating successful tech products requires a strong product vision, a collaborative approach, and a commitment to user-centric design. The book advocates for a focus on customer needs, iterative development, and continuous learning to create products that resonate with users and drive long-term success.
Price- $9.99 - $14.91 for hardcover
6. Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience by Tom Greever
"'Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience' by Tom Greever is a thorough study of books for product design, allows readers to explore the central themes of the book. The book emphasizes the importance of effective communication skills for designers, particularly when explaining design decisions to non-design stakeholders. Greever provides a practical guide for designers to communicate their ideas clearly and persuasively, building consensus and ensuring that design decisions align with project goals and user needs. The book offers principles, tactics, and actionable methods for engaging with stakeholders, fostering collaboration, and delivering a superior user experience.
Who should read Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience?
- Designers
- Product Managers
- Developers
- Anyone involved in product development
Lesson learned
'Articulating Design Decisions' highlights the critical role of effective communication in design. The book emphasizes that designers need to be able to clearly and persuasively explain their choices to stakeholders, building consensus and ensuring that design decisions are understood and supported. By mastering communication skills, designers can create a more collaborative and productive environment, ultimately leading to better user experiences.
7. Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design: Second Edition by Bjarki Hallgrimsson
Offering a fresh perspective, Bjarki Hallgrimsson delivers an expertly crafted narrative in 'Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design: Second Edition'. The book delves into the crucial role of prototyping and model making in product design, emphasizing how these practices facilitate exploration, testing, and refinement of ideas before actual product development. Hallgrimsson provides detailed instructions on various materials, tools, and techniques for creating prototypes, offering step-by-step tutorials and real-world examples to illustrate the application of these methods. The book highlights the importance of a comprehensive prototyping approach for making informed design decisions and de-risking the product development process.
Lesson learned
The book "Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design" emphasizes the importance of rapid prototyping and model making as integral parts of the design process. It teaches designers to create tangible representations of their ideas, allowing for iterative experimentation, user feedback, and problem-solving throughout the design cycle, ultimately leading to more successful and user-centered products.
Price- $2.99 for kindle
8. Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services by Kim Goodwin
Contributor: Alan Cooper(Foreword)
The work 'Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services' provokes thought by Kim Goodwin and Alan Cooper, delving into the core ideas surrounding 'books for product design'. The book emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to design, combining expertise from interaction design, visual design, and industrial design to create user-centered digital products and services. It provides practical guidance on assembling design teams, conducting user research, defining requirements, collaborating on design solutions, and documenting the final design for successful implementation. The book advocates for a holistic design methodology, emphasizing the crucial role of user research and iterative development in the digital product design process.
Who should read Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services?
- Product designers
- UX designers
- Interaction designers
- Project managers
Lesson learned
"Designing for the Digital Age" emphasizes the importance of human-centered design in creating successful digital products and services. The book stresses the need for collaboration between various design disciplines, user research, and iterative development to understand user needs and create intuitive, engaging, and user-friendly experiences.
9. Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions & Answers by Artiom Dashinsky
"Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions & Answers" by Artiom Dashinsky is a resource for aspiring product designers and UX professionals, focusing on practical exercises used in interviews by leading tech companies. The book provides a structured approach to solving design challenges, offering a 7-step framework and showcasing examples of exercises used by companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. By working through these exercises, readers can develop their product design skills, prepare for job interviews, and build a stronger design portfolio.
Who should read Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions & Answers?
- Aspiring product designers
- UX designers preparing for interviews
- Design students
- Design hiring managers
Lesson learned
"Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions & Answers" emphasizes the importance of a structured and practical approach to solving product design challenges. The book teaches readers a framework for analyzing problems, generating solutions, and effectively communicating design ideas, equipping them to excel in design interviews and build a strong portfolio showcasing their problem-solving skills.
10. Expressive Design Systems by Yesenia Perez-Cruz
"Expressive Design Systems" by Yesenia Perez-Cruz explores the concept of creating design systems that go beyond mere standardization and foster creativity. The book argues that effective design systems should not only maintain consistency and efficiency but also provide a framework for expressing brand identity, collaborating across teams, and fostering experimentation. It guides readers on building design systems that balance structure and flexibility, enabling both consistency and creative freedom within a product ecosystem.
11. Generating Product Ideas: Actionable Techniques for Finding New Business Ideas by Artiom Dashinsky
A detailed exploration awaits in Artiom Dashinsky's "Generating Product Ideas: Actionable Techniques for Finding New Business Ideas", where important concepts are laid out in an accessible yet informative way. The book focuses on equipping readers with practical techniques for identifying business opportunities and developing new product ideas. It offers a range of approaches, from analyzing market trends and open data to leveraging personal experience and exploring unrelated industries, helping readers to discover and prioritize potential product ideas for profitable businesses.
12. The Best Interface Is No Interface: The Simple Path to Brilliant Technology by Golden Krishna
Published by New Riders Pub in 2015, 'The Best Interface Is No Interface: The Simple Path to Brilliant Technology' by Golden Krishna is a thought-provoking read that offers a thorough understanding of its key topics. The book challenges the overreliance on digital interfaces, arguing that a more intuitive and meaningful technology can be achieved by designing beyond screens. It explores the potential of alternative approaches and outlines three key principles for creating technology that seamlessly integrates into our lives without requiring constant interaction with digital interfaces.