Requested Reading Recommendations
January 6, 2009
Upon the request of readers, we asked faculty to recommend books for an interaction design reading list. These could be landmark texts, underdogs, or critical reads, or stepping stones to other fields. The following is what resulted from our request, comprising in part: a sneak preview of what will be assigned in courses; what some consider to be cornerstone interaction design texts; and what some consider important connections to other fields.
- About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design, Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin
- The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman
- Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge
- Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices, Dan Saffer
- Designing for People , Henry Dreyfuss
The Fundamentals
Information Design
- Envisioning Information, Edward R. Tufte
- Graph Design for the Eye and Mind, Stephen Kosslyn
- Powers of Ten , Philip Morrison, Phylis Morrison and the office of Charles and Ray Eames
- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte
- While You’re Reading, Gerard Unger
Networks and Data
- How to Lie With Statistics, Darrell Huff, Irving Geis
- Global Networks, Robert Hobbs, Mark Lombardi, Judith Richards
Physical Computing and Electronics
- Getting Started with Arduino (Make: Projects), Massimo Banzi
- Getting Started in Electronics, Forrest M. Mims III
- Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers, Tom Igoe, Dan O’Sullivan
Storytelling and Visual Narratives
- Comics and Sequential Art, Will Eisner
- Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design, Bill Buxton
- Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud
Usability and Web Design
- Building Accessible Websites, Joe Clark
- Don’t Make Me Think!, Steve Krug
- The Trouble with Computers: Usefulness, Usability, and Productivity , Thomas Landauer
See Also
While it may be cheating, the categories of sustainability, philosophy, architecture, writing, and many more have texts too vast to list here. Below are just a couple outlined by the faculty.
- The Architecture of Happiness, Alain De Botton
- Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Thing, William McDonough and Michael Braungart
http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/blog/entry/requested_reading_recommendations/