I would like to consider myself an experienced and successful designer, researcher, and educator. I'm an Associate Professor in Communication Design and the Head of Education for the School of Design at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom, where I've taught and researched for the last twenty years so I'm super passionate about this subject and love explaining how design works. Before joining academia, I worked internationally as a designer and creative director for numerous prestigious design and media organizations, including Philips, Time-Warner, Windmill Lane Pictures, and WPP in the UK, Ireland, USA, and Southeast Asia. Working in these different businesses and locations gave me a broad perspective on the role and importance of design.
I wrote
The Principles and Processes of Interactive Design
I absolutely love this tome! It is not a coffee table book, but it is by far the best book at explaining the minutiae of interaction design principles and the thinking behind them.
It's not a quick read at 700 plus pages, nor does it contain the latest on-trend examples, but as a reliable reference, it is hard to beat. I wouldn’t be without my copy to refer to. I often suggest my book as a primer and a more accessible starting point for this one.
A new edition of the #1 text in the human computer Interaction field!
Hugely popular with students and professionals alike, the Fifth Edition of Interaction Design is an ideal resource for learning the interdisciplinary skills needed for interaction design, human-computer interaction, information design, web design, and ubiquitous computing. New to the fifth edition: a chapter on data at scale, which covers developments in the emerging fields of 'human data interaction' and data analytics. The chapter demonstrates the many ways organizations manipulate, analyze, and act upon the masses of data being collected with regards to human digital and physical behaviors, the…
As a graphic designer who moved into UX/UI design, this book really appeals to me.
It is super smart, as it takes branding firmly into the digital age by integrating classic visual identity design with the latest thinking on building digital brand experiences. It represents what graphic design in the twenty-first century should be about…
The book is also beautifully laid out and illustrated with lots of infographics explaining the design process from start to finish, taking the reader from discovery, planning, and designing to delivering and distributing design to the marketplace.
Digital design plays a crucial role in how customers experience a brand. However, corporate websites and online shops are only part of interactive brand identity; complex user experiences closely interlink conception, design and technology, and integrate consistent prototyping and testing. The importance of mobile experience has grown exponentially in recent years, while interactive ads, chatbots and digital billboards are increasingly found in the real world. The interface is now the brand, and this changes the professional profile of designers.
This extensively updated edition of Branded Interactions is a practical handbook for professional digital designers and those just starting out. It…
This essential book by Don Norman does not need any more plugging, but it would be impossible to leave it out.
The book forms a brilliant introduction to User Experience Design by explaining how the design of everyday objects relies on an intuitive understanding of how they work. Once we translate this thinking from the physical to the digital world, we are halfway there as UX/UI designers.
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious,even liberating,book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The…
A former student and friend who works in-house as a UX Design Director recommended this book to me.
It bridges the gap between successful design and business management. Most young designers start off by only seeing or interacting with their designs rather than being part of a much larger service design ecosystem. This book shares the essential principles of service design and, in the process, introduces designers to the strategic value of good design.
Service design is a rapidly growing area of interest in design and business management. There are a lot of books on how to get started, but this is the first book that describes what a 'good' service is and how to design one. This book lays out the essential principles for building services that work well for users. Demystifying what we mean by a 'good' and 'bad' service and describing the common elements within all services that mean they either work for users or don't.
A practical book for practitioners and non-practitioners alike interested in better service delivery, this book…
There is so much understandable suspicion about how organisations use or misuse your personal data that it's hard to see the many potential benefits of data sharing. This book restores a little faith in technology and those who develop it for public benefit.
It is a compelling read, learning how data can be used for good and bad, with many references to the author’s personal journey, from working in customer services to being an internet entrepreneur before becoming a researcher.
'An essential read' Diane Coyle, University of Cambridge
'We are currently living in a moment of extreme pessimism about data. This book will change your mind.'
It's impossible to escape digital technology. And with that comes fear. But whatever the news has told you about data and technology, think again. Data expert and tech insider turned Cambridge researcher Sam Gilbert shows that, actually, this data revolution could be the best thing that ever happened to us.
Good Data examines the incredible new ways this information explosion is already helping us - whether that's…
My book is aimed at new designers and creatives from across the design and media disciplines who want to learn the fundamentals of designing for user experience and user interface (UX/UI) projects.
The blurring of boundaries between disciplines is leading to a new breed of hybrid designers and creative practitioners who are fusing different discipline perspectives, principles, and processes to support their new practices. It is these shared principles and processes that this book explores, which include the fundamentals of design research and UX development, classic visual design topics such as colour, image, layout, and typography, and essential media-specific topics such as working with data, interactivity, motion, and sound. It also provides essential guidance on how to present your work.
Every picture tells a story, but it’s not always the one we expect or remember. Christmas Actually is a festive drama about family and forgiveness and a snapshot of modern family life, addressing Instagram to motherhood and everything in between.
Why Christmas? My publisher wanted my new novel to have a festive theme, specifically set in Australia–sun, surf, sunburn, and prawns. Christmas in Australia is very different from Christmas in the UK, USA, and Canada. We typically wear shorts and t-shirts, eat salad and seafood for Christmas lunch, and play beach cricket in the afternoon. Despite the season, conflicts, secrets,…
Time spent with family can be challenging, especially at Christmas actually…
Kate Cavendish is stuck in a rut. That is until a former colleague contacts her and offers her a chance to fulfil her lifelong dream of becoming a successful photographer.
With her focus pulled in all directions by her children, her pregnant sister, her newly-dating mother, and the niggling worry that her husband might be having an affair, Kate is filled with self-doubt.
Then as the countdown to Christmas begins, and memories of her own childhood resurface, Kate’s anxiety deepens – both personally and professionally. Can she move on…
