As a quiet “new” discipline (it has been around for some decades but has really taken off the last years), Ux is in continuous evolution. You won’t find big manuals in book stores and to get familiar with the field your best shot is to browse the web: it is full of precious information and the number of blogs and articles is growing exponentially.
Said this, some might feel slightly disoriented by the overload of choices available.
If you want to start reading about UX but don’t know where, I think the following 3 pages are a great read if you’re new to UX.
As they say on their website, Adaptive Path is a consultancy firm that was founded before UX was the new black and they kept the eye on the ball ever since. Since they couldn’t do everything themselves they set out to inspire and educate designers by writing great articles, organizing events and workshops. Jessie James Garrett, author of Elements of user experience is one of the co-founders.
Adaptive path is a great resource for everyone because:
- The goal is to educate and inspire
- They share their experience as a consultancy firm and you’ll find tools and methods of successful UX design
- They let you peek into the practice of UX design in their interviews with UX professionals
- They organize workshops and seminars and cover those on their blog
Has been around since 2001. As their about page states: the blog “is devoted to the practice, innovation, and discussion of design; including graphic design, interaction design, information architecture and the design of business.”
Boxes and Arrows is a great read for everyone because
- It has a great variation of posts and articles
- It is written for everyone (no acronyms or technical language)
- Its focus is less on Ux specific processes and methodology but instead features great articles on innovae thoughts and ideas behind UX and design.
- “It’s been a peer-written journal promoting contributors who want to provoke thinking, push limits, and teach a few things along the way.”
The Nielsen Norman Group was founded by some serious heavy-weights in the industry: Jakob Nielsen (he holds 79 United States patents, mainly on ways of making the Internet easier to use) and Don Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer).
On the website you find a very valuable section full of interesting articles about UX and there is also a section of essays by Don Norman. Many of the articles have a psychology-spin to it which is great to understand some basic psychological concepts underlying user experience.
The site is a good read for everyone because:
- Many articles include scientific evidence and research (research in UX, cognitive psychology, social psychology) but are still easy to digest
- They always dig a little deeper into concepts and assumptions than other pages do
- The articles are not exclusively about digital products and design but about a more general view of user/product interaction and experience.
- The articles often open up a whole new universe to the reader because of the science based, holistic approach the writers take.
These 3 are the ones that makes me come back for more time and time again. Sure, I didn’t mention some of the most prominent UX blogs because I think they are more specific and a better read later on.
Enjoy!
P.S. If you want to learn more about UX, here is my list of must-read books.
