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Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web
Have you ever been angry at your computer or cell phone? Do you sometimes wonder why it's so hard to set your watch to the correct time, or why getting your DVR to record your favorite shows is such a chore? Do you dream of making products that are free of these issues and that your customers can actually figure out how to use? This book shows you how to design applications and websites that people will not only use but will absolutely love.
In this book for designers, developers, and product managers, expert developer and user interface designer Lukas Mathis explains how to make usability the cornerstone of every point in your design process, walking you through the necessary steps to plan the design for an application or website, test it, and get usage data after the design is complete. He shows you how to focus your design process on the most important helping people get things done, easily and efficiently.
The author presents a collection of valuable tips - organized in four distinct parts, filled with clever illustrations, and supported by fascinating psychological research. He teaches techniques that help you plan and evaluate your user interface design, and inspires you to look at design in a whole new way. He tells you exactly what to look for, and what to avoid, in creating applications and websites that people will be excited to use.
In this book for designers, developers, and product managers, expert developer and user interface designer Lukas Mathis explains how to make usability the cornerstone of every point in your design process, walking you through the necessary steps to plan the design for an application or website, test it, and get usage data after the design is complete. He shows you how to focus your design process on the most important helping people get things done, easily and efficiently.
The author presents a collection of valuable tips - organized in four distinct parts, filled with clever illustrations, and supported by fascinating psychological research. He teaches techniques that help you plan and evaluate your user interface design, and inspires you to look at design in a whole new way. He tells you exactly what to look for, and what to avoid, in creating applications and websites that people will be excited to use.
344 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2011
29 people are currently reading
561 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 1, 2020
As a beginner to this topic, I found it very useful since it tackles various ideas of UX, gives advice, contains lots of references to articles and books in each chapter. Also, information is concise making it easy to read. It's a good starting point.
September 18, 2017
Excellent text that covers the whole arc of product design, from initial research to design to implementation to evaluation (testing). I probably wouldn't use every idea listed in the book (nor need to), but there is useful content here both in terms of specific methods (e.g., card sorting) and abstract considerations (e.g., "features are not requirements", discoverability, and "instead of interrupting, offer undo"). Very readable!
March 4, 2018
It's profoundly frustrating when products don't behave as ex expected. Products with great usability on the other hand are a pleasure to use and have an easier time to create value for their customers.
Designed for Use is the best book you can get about usability of web & mobile applications. It covers a wide range of usability concepts and research in a way that’s very accessible even if your background is in so
Designed for Use is the best book you can get about usability of web & mobile applications. It covers a wide range of usability concepts and research in a way that’s very accessible even if your background is in so
April 11, 2024
This book felt a little uneven. It covered good topics around usability of software, but some chapters felt extremely cursory of rushed, while others went into too much detail about specific techniques. I felt like I got too much and not enough information at the same time. Overall, it’s an important topic, and this book gives a good overview, but I would skip the detailed technique chapters.
September 25, 2019
The book offers a good overview on how the different parts of UX fit together. I missed new ideas and approaches that are not already covered in any other book on this topic.
September 29, 2024
The principles in this book were sound, but the examples were dated (2nd ed., 2016).
March 23, 2024
Though I'm reading this for a class it was very easy to follow. I appreciated the summaries at the end of every chapter and the further reading links. I will definitely refer back to it in my future UX experiences.
August 23, 2011
I spend most of my programming time working on the back end of systems but have been called on to contribute to user interface portions of solutions. I'll admit that UX is not a passion of mine but I thought it would be wise to better understand the thinking that goes into creating a usable interface, so I picked up a copy of the book. At the very least, it would allow me to better contribute in meetings when I get asked my opinion on which option I think is best.
Much like the rest of the software engineering world, there is no "one way to rule them all". You have to understand what is out there, try something and test, test, test. The book is split into techniques and ideas where techniques are concrete steps you can use to create a usable interface, such as paper prototyping. Ideas, on the other hand, are more abstract and general covering topics such as how to write usable text or animations. Being a UX newbie, most of the ideas in the book were new to me and I found them to be very interesting. I especially liked the notion of capturing your user's context prior to exiting an application in an attempt to determine if they succeeded in their task or gave up frustrated. Tracking what features your users actually use was also interesting probably because I've been in many discussions over adding complexity to a feature that nobody uses. Maybe there are ways to prove or disprove that assertion? Apparently, much of UX is testing your design and getting useful feedback and there are discussions on various ways to do that.
Overall, I found the book to be useful as it gave me broad coverage in the topic and pointed me to resources in case I wanted more depth.
Much like the rest of the software engineering world, there is no "one way to rule them all". You have to understand what is out there, try something and test, test, test. The book is split into techniques and ideas where techniques are concrete steps you can use to create a usable interface, such as paper prototyping. Ideas, on the other hand, are more abstract and general covering topics such as how to write usable text or animations. Being a UX newbie, most of the ideas in the book were new to me and I found them to be very interesting. I especially liked the notion of capturing your user's context prior to exiting an application in an attempt to determine if they succeeded in their task or gave up frustrated. Tracking what features your users actually use was also interesting probably because I've been in many discussions over adding complexity to a feature that nobody uses. Maybe there are ways to prove or disprove that assertion? Apparently, much of UX is testing your design and getting useful feedback and there are discussions on various ways to do that.
Overall, I found the book to be useful as it gave me broad coverage in the topic and pointed me to resources in case I wanted more depth.
December 9, 2016
A good book on usability. The different chapters look on different aspects you may want to consider. I found the clear distinction between technical chapters and idea chapters very useful. You instantly know which one will be deeper and may be more useful when you try to adapt them. While the idea chapters should transport an idea that you don’t need to implement right away.
While the structure is well designed to answer a specific question, they also strictly separate the content. Without continuation you may quickly start again reading after a break for a few weeks. However, if you read it from cover to cover it has too few interconnections that push your reading forward. Another point that is missing is when should you sacrifice certain ideas. While this depends on the concrete use case, a few examples on how to intentionally ignoring good practices to achieve a greater good would be helpful.
While the structure is well designed to answer a specific question, they also strictly separate the content. Without continuation you may quickly start again reading after a break for a few weeks. However, if you read it from cover to cover it has too few interconnections that push your reading forward. Another point that is missing is when should you sacrifice certain ideas. While this depends on the concrete use case, a few examples on how to intentionally ignoring good practices to achieve a greater good would be helpful.
March 30, 2012
A good overview of the process of designing systems or websites in a user-centered way and then testing them to uncover usability issues. Chapters are short, easily digestible and mostly give a high-level overview of a particular usability testing technique or design concept. Experienced designers may find many of the principles and methods familiar, but it's good to be reminded of them from time to time; also, the suggestions for further reading are extensive and enticing.
November 20, 2012
This is a very useful book. I way, it’s similar to Dan Saffer’s albeit more modern, perhaps that’s why I’ve skimmed through some of the chapters. I’m sure I’ll come back to it later, though, to refresh my memory, because the topics it raises are important, and it’s extremely well written.
October 24, 2011
A solid book that goes over theoretical and practical ways to improve the design of software products. There's quite a bit on conducting usability studies, which I wasn't too interested in, but I'm sure others will find it useful. Overall, it's a quick and easy read that covers critical but often forgotten good principles.
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March 31, 2014This book is a fast read, and full of short chapters that lend themselves well to dipping into and out of.
There's enough practical content here to start improving how you build products immediately, and is extremely accessible, enough pointers where to go for more depth in a subject as well.
Great to refer to after reading through, for reference.
Recommended
There's enough practical content here to start improving how you build products immediately, and is extremely accessible, enough pointers where to go for more depth in a subject as well.
Great to refer to after reading through, for reference.
Recommended
Read
March 10, 2014Very hands on. So much that it even has example manuscripts for how to ask questions in usability tests. Spanning basically the whole design process it covers many subjects, giving actionable advise on most. Good, fresh examples with recent tech.
June 10, 2012
It's a good introduction to the methods used in UX. It covers most of the techniques, together with tips and thoughts. If you're interesting in knowing more about working with UX this could be a interesting read.
August 9, 2016
A good book in a sense that it covers most of the people, principles and practices that you need to know. It's more like a UX dictionary. It's pretty basic and probably won't be useful for your next project. But it tells you what resources you can refer to in depth.
November 29, 2015
Very detailed book on how to build products that meet their users' needs. Loved how it is so very well organized. Gives a clear idea of the meaning and need of each technique without losing losing sight of how it fits in the product development cycle.
July 6, 2011
A good into to usability principals, but a little basic if you've ever studied the topic.
May 14, 2012
Skip the chapters about usability testing... some pretty good chapters about design
December 26, 2012
Good insight about how to have a good design process to create a new product, mostly web based solutions.
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February 25, 2014Product design 101
July 21, 2018
A great overview over nearly everything that a UI or UX Designer needs! to know.
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