Donald Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, (First published in 1988 as The Psychology of Everyday Things and reprinted many times with its current title), Basic Books, ISBN 0-3852-6774-6
This book is an introduction to the inadequacies of much design and provides ammunition for those promoting a user-centred approach. Norman has written a sequence of books on user-centred design and this represents his initial position in an evolving point of view. The book has passionate supporters and detractors.
Donald Norman, Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things, Basic Books, 2003, ISBN 0-465-05135-9
This is Norman’s most recent book in which he extends his analysis of design to include the visceral (immediate, sensual) appeal and reflective (social and cultural) significance of ‘everyday things’ as well as the functional aspects covered in his earlier books. Using compelling examples Norman shows how people will sometimes sacrifice some aspects of optimal design (eg functionality) if other aspects (visceral or reflective) are satisfied.
Randolph Bias and Christine Mayhew (eds), Cost-Justifying Usability, Academic Press, 1994, ISBN 0-1209-5810-4
This is a collection of perspectives from experienced usability professionals in the software industry. It sets out the costs of adopting a user-centred approach - and the costs of failing to do so. In detailed case studies it quantifies the impact of poor interface design and explains strategies for introducing a user-centred approach. Although its focus is on large-scale software development, the issues it raises are relevant to other design sectors.
Harvey Molotch, Where Stuff Comes From, Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0-415-94400-7
An analysis of how ‘lash ups’ of culture, politics, timing and history, as much as the designer’s influence, result in products taking the form they do. Not a ‘how to’ book in any sense but a useful stimulus for questioning assumptions about the role of user-centred design in the design process.
John Thackara, In the Bubble, MIT, 2005, ISBN 0-262-20157-7
A very personal account of the complexity of designing products and services to enhance people's lives. Again, not a 'how to' book but a map of what designers need to create user-and-society-centred products and services.
Brenda Laurel (ed) Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, The MIT Press, 2003, ISBN 0-262-12263-4
A wide-ranging book on current design research methods including some chapters on user-centred research. Better as a guide to the range of methods people use than as a guide to using any particular method.
C Lindholm, T Keinonen, H Kiljander, Mobile Usability, McGraw Hill, 2003, ISBN 0-07- 138514-2
From an initial account of the development of the Nokia mobile phone interface, this book broadens into a wider treatment of user- and usabililty-focused product development, describing a range of research methods used in the context of real design projects.
Klaus Kaasgaard, Software Design & Usability: Talks with Bonnie Nardi, Jakob Nielsen, David Smith, Austin Henderson & Jed Harris, Terry Winograd and Stephanie Rosenbaum, Copenhagen Business School Press, 2000, ISBN 8716134958
Interviews with a range of people who have shaped user-centred design in the software industry.
Scott Jenson, The Simplicity Shift: Innovative design tactics in a corporate world, 2003, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052152749X
Highly readable and quotable, this book focuses on the cultural and systematic barriers to the design of usable products and suggests ways to overcome them.
Patrick Jordan, Designing Pleasurable Products, 2000, ISBN 0-7484-0844-4
Included here because it takes the reader beyond 'traditional' usability to a consideration of the influence of pleasure on people's experience of products and services. It wasn't until Norman's book Emotional Design, that it has been articulated so explicitly in user-centred design.
Peter Vink (ed), Comfort and Design , 2005, CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-2830-6
A collection of articles, mostly case studies, on the development of comfortable products. Almost all the articles illustrate user-centred design in practice, with some fascinating future concept studies. Additional review articles at the beginning and end of the collection provide insights into the relationship between comfort and performance.
Joe Langford and Deana McDonagh, Focus Groups, 2003, Taylor and Francis, ISBN 0-415-26208-9
This collection of papers shows a range of innovative examples of the use of focus groups to gather input from users. If there is no option other than focus groups, read this book first!
Jeffrey Rubin, Handbook of Usability Testing, Wiley, 1994, ISBN 0471594032
Standard reference text on usability testing techniques.
Gillian Tett, Office Culture, FTmagazine, 21 May 2005.
Report on the role of anthropologists in product and service development.
Less is More, interview with Scott Jensen (coinciding with Microsoft conference held in Cambridge in April 2005) on simplifying the complexity of technology for users. The conference proceedings are to be published by Springer.
Jane Fulton Suri, The experience evolution: developments in design practice fromThe Design Journal, 2003 6/2
Gives an account of IDEO's user-focused methods, with examples.
Don Norman, Industrial Design: Claims without substance
Challenges some of the claims designers make for the usability of their products. A sobering read.
Interactions
www.acm.org/interactions
Journal produced by ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) focused on the design of interactive products and services. Six issues per year. Recently included an article by David Gilmour, 'Understanding and Overcoming Resistance to Ethnographic Design Research' (Interactions, 2002, IX/3, pp29-35) that is particularly relevant to user-centred design.
SIGCHI Proceedings
http://store.acm.org/acmstore
Annual conference proceedings from the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Special Interest Group in Human Factors and Computer Human Interaction. Technical, but gives an overview of the field as it stands.