About this List
With the exception of the list of tools, these are resources that I consider more timeless and evergreen.
I also (occasionally) maintain a more informal collection of sites on topics that I’m actively investigating.
Tools for Mockups, Wireframes, Prototyping
UX Collective: Designer Tool Stack 2020
UX Tools: 2019 Survey
Social Compare: Matrix of prototyping and mockup tools
Publications
User Experience
About Face 4.0 – Book by Alan Cooper
Designing for the Digital Age – Book by Kim Goodwin
Universal Principles of Design – Book by Lidwell, Holden, Butler
Dieter Ram’s 10 principles for good design
Design as Art – Book by Bruno Munari (+ Brainpickings article)
Art as Experience – Book by John Dewey (chapter “Having an Experience“)
52 Weeks of UX – Blog by Joshua Porter + Joshua Brewer
Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction – Online resource by Interaction Design Foundation
User Research
Talking to Humans (free pdf) – Book by Giff Constable
Universal Methods of Design – Book by Bruch Hannington + Bella Martin
Interviewing Humans and Just Enough Research – Article and Book by Erika Hall
Practical Empathy – Book by Indi Young
The Little Book of Design Research Ethics – eBook by IDEO
Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond – Book by Anne Galletta
Handbook of Usability Testing – Book by Jared Spool, Dana Chisnell, Jeffrey Rubin
Measuring the User Experience (companion website to the book) – Tom Tullis and Bill Albert
Nielsen Norman Group UX Research Cheat Sheet – Article
Cognitive Science
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People – Book by Susan Weinschenk
The Design of Everyday Things – Book by Don Norman
Nir Eyal’s blog – Website
The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (video – here’s a transcript) – Charlie Munger
Cognitive Bias Cheat Sheet – Article by Buster Benson
Drawing, Sketching, and Prototyping
Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook (and resources from the book) – Saul Greenberg, Sheelagh Carpendale, Nicolai Marquardt, and Bill Buxton
Drawing Ideas – Book by Mark Baskinger + William Bardel
Visual Thinking School – Dave Gray
Christina Wodke’s list of Resources for Drawing Ideas
Catriona Shedd’s list of 50 sketching resources for UX designers
Six Steps to Superior Product Prototyping: Lessons from an Apple and Oculus Engineer – Interview with Caitlin Kalinowski
What do Prototypes Prototype? – Article by Stephanie Houde, Charles Hill
Presumptive Design (companion site to the book) – Leo Frishberg, Charles Lambdin
Design Documentation + Deliverables
Example UX documents – UX for the Masses website
Erin Jo Richey’s User Research docs templates
UX Design Methods + Deliverables – Article by UX Design Collective (Caio Braga and Fabricio Teixeira)
Service Design
Mapping Experiences – Book by James Kalbach
Designing for the Common Good – Book by Kees Dorst
Service Design in British Columbia Public Service (+ Playbook)
UK and Australia’s Futuregov
Government Digital Service UK (+ Service Tookit)
The Business of Design
Strategy: Art of the Long View – Book by Futurist Peter Schwartz (this book is an oldie so maybe borrow it). Harvard Business Review overview of his work with Shell.
Business Development: Win Without Pitching – Book/Manifesto by Blair Enns
Client Management: Make it Bigger – Book by Paula Scher
Storytelling + UX
Storytelling for User Experience – Book by Whitney Quesenberry
Leadership in collaboration: film making and interaction design – Article by Scott Berkun
How Story Works in Back to the Future (excerpt from The User’s Journey) – Donna Lichaw
Writer’s Journey – Book by Christopher Vogler
Understanding Comics – Book by Scott McCloud
99 Ways to Tell a Story – Excerpt from book by Matt Madden
Computers as Theatre – Book by Brenda Laurel (an oldie so the examples are dated)
General Storytelling + Writing
7 Essential TED talks on Storytelling – Compiled by NY Film Academy
Anatomy of a Scene – Article in New York Times
Writers on Writing series – Series by the New York Times
David Ogilvy’s 11 principles reinterpreted
22 Rules for Storytelling by Emma Coats based on her experiences at Pixar
How to Write with Style Article – Article by Kurt Vonnegut
Collected Lectures of Joseph Campbell – at the Joseph Campbell Foundation
The Moth series – Episodes of Oral storytelling
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality + Design Fiction
Designing for Mixed Reality – Book by Kharis O’Connell (free)
Practical VR – Article by Ryan Betts
Speculative Everything – Book by Fiona Raby + Anthony Dunne
Make it So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction – Book by Nathan Shedroff
The Future is Now – Article by David Kirby
Bruce Sterling Interview – Article
Design Fiction Lecture – Slides by Tobias Revell
Technology
As We May Think – Essay by Vannevar Bush
Design-related Films:
Maya Lin: A strong, clear vision – Freida Lee Mock
Objectified – Gary Hustwit
Charles and Ray Eames: The Architect and the Painter – Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey
…and just because:
Brain Pickings website by Maria Papova
Storycorps website
Films by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Michel Gondry
Poetics – Book by Aristotle
Art of Living – Book by Epictetus