 | American Psychological Association | |
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 | Usability Professionals Association | |
 | Human Factors & Ergonomics Society | |
HCI Books for Hardware and SoftwareThe books described here are relevant to Human Factors Design and are available from Amazon. Please let us know if you would like to suggest additional titles.
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Because of overlapping subject matter, some books may be represented more than once. The books listed here are roughly divided into the following categories:
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Titles A to E User Interface Design Books
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by Alan Cooper, Robert M. Reimann
March 17, 2003
First published seven years ago-just before the World Wide Web exploded into dominance in the software world-About Face rapidly became a bestseller. While the ideas and principles in the original book remain as relevant as ever, the examples in About Face 2.0 are updated to reflect the evolution of the Web. Interaction Design professionals are constantly seeking to ensure that software and software-enabled products are developed with the end-user's goals in mind, that is, to make them more powerful and enjoyable for people who use them. About Face 2.0 ensures that these objectives are met with the utmost ease and efficiency. Alan Cooper (Palo Alto, CA) has spent a decade making high-tech products easier to use and less expensive to build-a practice known as "Interaction Design." Cooper is now the leader in this growing field. Mr. Cooper is also the author of two bestselling books that are widely considered indispensable texts. About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design, introduced the first comprehensive set of practical design principles. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum explains how talented people and companies continually create aggravating high-tech products that fail to meet customer expectations.
by Rosalind W. Picard
September 19, 1997
Today's computers are cold, logical machines. They needn't be. In this important book, Rosalind Picard presents a compelling image, not only of how machines might come to have emotions, but why they must. Emotions: not just for animals and people." -- Donald A. Norman, Hewlett-Packard; Professor Emeritus, Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego; Author of Things that make us smart The latest scientific findings indicate that emotions play an essential role in decision making, perception, learning, and more--that is, they influence the very mechanisms of rational thinking. Not only too much, but too little emotion can impair decision making. According to Rosalind Picard, if we want computers to be genuinely intelligent and to interact naturally with us, we must give computers the ability to recognize, understand, even to have and express emotions. Part 1 of this book provides the intellectual framework for affective computing. It includes background on human emotions, requirements for emotionally intelligent computers, applications of affective computing, and moral and social questions raised by the technology. Part 2 discusses the design and construction of affective computers. Although this material is more technical than that in Part 1, the author has kept it less technical than typical scientific publications in order to make it accessible to newcomers. Topics in Part 2 include signal-based representations of emotions, human affect recognition as a pattern recognition and learning problem, recent and ongoing efforts to build models of emotion for synthesizing emotions in computers, and the new application area of affective wearable computers.
by Peter Morville
September 1, 2005
How do you find your way in an age of information overload? How can you filter streams of complex information to pull out only what you want? Why does it matter how information is structured when Google seems to magically bring up the right answer to your questions? What does it mean to be "findable" in this day and age? This eye-opening new book examines the convergence of information and connectivity. Written by Peter Morville, author of the groundbreaking Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, the book defines our current age as a state of unlimited findability. In other words, anyone can find anything at any time. Complete navigability. Morville discusses the Internet, GIS, and other network technologies that are coming together to make unlimited findability possible. He explores how the melding of these innovations impacts society, since Web access is now a standard requirement for successful people and businesses. But before he does that, Morville looks back at the history of wayfinding and human evolution, suggesting that our fear of being lost has driven us to create maps, charts, and now, the mobile Internet.
by Brenda Laurel
January 1, 1990
A treasury of ideas and opinions from leading thinkers in the computer industry, 'Art of Human-Computer Interface Design' delves into the strategies, reasoning, and future direction of human-computer interaction and the overall relationship between computers and people. This book started as an interior project at Apple, then grew into a more diversified attempt to survey the varied philosophies, design methods, and technological approaches that have recently evolved. It draws on essays from interface design specialists, as well as works by those involved with drama and narrative, industrial design, animation, and cognitive and interpersonal psychology.
by William Sims Bainbridge (Editor)
October 30, 2004
This rich two-volume reference presents the history and current state of research for a broad range of topics. Written by experts in the field, the articles are lengthy; but the content is directed toward educated general readers and will be useful to undergraduate students. The broad themes of methods, challenges, interfaces, components, breakthroughs, and approaches are addressed in articles on such topics as avatars, browsers, data mining, digital cash, embedded systems; digital divide, hackers, identity authentication, privacy, security, and viruses; fly-by-wire, haptics, multiuser interfaces, olfactory interaction, and smart homes; WYSIWYG, N- grams, fonts, Braille, and peer-to-peer architecture; Altair, Alto, Arpanet, and ENIAC; and ethics, task analysis, and website design. Each article concludes with a list of references. Appendices comprise a bibliography, a glossary, and a list of books, movies, and other popular media representations of HCI. The majority of the 175 contributors are academics in the US; editor Bainbridge is with the National Science Foundation.
by Terry Winograd, John Bennett, Laura De Young, Bradley Hartfield, Brad Hartfield Editor
April 2, 1996
In this landmark book, Terry Winograd shows how to improve the practice of software design by applying lessons from other areas of design to the creation of software. The goal is to create software that works -- really works -- because it is both appropriate and effective for the people who use it. The book contains essays contributed by prominent software and design professionals, interviews with experts, and profiles of successful projects and products.
by James D. Foley, Andries van Dam, Steven K. Feiner, John F. Hughes
August 4, 1995
Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice is the most exhaustive overview of computer graphics techniques available. This textbook's 21 chapters cover graphics hardware, user interface software, rendering, and a host of other subjects. Assuming a solid background in computer science or a related field, Computer Graphics gives example programs in C and provides exercises at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge of the material. The guide has over 100 beautiful, four-color photographs that illustrate important topics and algorithms, such as ray tracing and bump maps, and also inspire you to acquire the skills necessary to produce them. Encyclopedic in its coverage, the book has a good table of contents so that you can immediately turn to information on the z-Buffer algorithm or the chapter on animation.
by Hugh Beyer, Karen Holtzblatt
August 1, 1997
This book introduces a customer-centered approach to business by showing how data gathered from people while they work can drive the definition of a product or process while supporting the needs of teams and their organizations. This is a practical, hands-on guide for anyone trying to design systems that reflect the way customers want to do their work. The authors developed Contextual Design, the method discussed here, through their work with teams struggling to design products and internal systems. In this book, you'll find the underlying principles of the method and how to apply them to different problems, constraints, and organizational situations.
by Randolph G. Bias, Deborah J. Mayhew
May 1, 1994
Today's increasingly competitive and fiscally constrained business environment is fostering the need to cut costs and justify expenditures. Usability engineering is not yet universally accepted, nor is it yet an integrated aspect of software engineering, and would-be usability champions need more help than ever to win the funding necessary to introduce and promote usability engineering techniques. Cost-Justifying Usability is the first book to address pragmatically and in detail the question of how usability engineering professionals and their managers can cost-justify their proposals and efforts. The book offers specific techniques for quantifying costs and benefits, making a convincing and successful business case for investment in usability engineering. This book comprises a thorough and well-integrated collection of chapters written by experienced and prominent usability experts. Taken together, these chapters provide readers with: An overall framework for cost-justifying usability engineering programs that can be applied to any context. An examination of the unique factors and issues in cost-justifying usability efforts for three very different types of organizations: vendor companies, international development organizations, and contractor companies Case studies of successful cost-justification efforts. A look at some special issues regarding cost-justification of usability, including "discount" usability engineering techniques, success factors for introducing usability engineering into development organizations, specialized tools for usability cost-justification, and a look to the future of usability engineering Practical and effective insight for human factors professionals, interface designers, software development managers, and human factors educators.
37signals, Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried
March 2004
Save sales by preventing web site errors from happening to your customers - the top reason impatient customers bail out. Anticipate unexpected user errors and apply contingency plans on how to get users back on track when purchasing on your web site. Learn from 37 Signals, a highly recognized team of expert designers and usability specialists whose clients include Wells Fargo, National Public Radio(NPR),Monster.com, and Getty Images. Includes real world examples that readers will "a-ha" over. Defensive Design for the Web is about creating a contingency plan for the unexpected errors users may experience with your web site. It is about keeping customers at your web site and preventing user frustration with navigation and/or purchasing. 37 Signals knows how to prevent customers from leaving. In this book they share their highly sought-after knowledge by using their real world examples.
by Janet M. Noyes
November 9, 2001
In this book, Jan Noyes provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of human-machine interaction and the design of environments at work. Focusing on topics relevant to user-centered design, she includes coverage of the capabilities and limitations of humans, human-machine interactions, work environments, and organizational issues. Health and safety issues underpin a large amount of work on the human factors of design, and these are addressed fully throughout the book. Furthermore, each chapter includes case studies to demonstrate the real-world relevance of the points being made and concludes with a list of key points.
by Ellen Isaacs, Alan Walendowski
December 10, 2001
Written from the perspectives of both a user interface designer and a software engineer, this book demonstrates rather than just describes how to build technology that cooperates with people. It begins with a set of interaction design principles that apply to a broad range of technology, illustrating with examples from the Web, desktop software, cell phones, PDAs, cameras, voice menus, interactive TV, and more. It goes on to show how these principles are applied in practice during the development process -- when the ideal design can conflict with other engineering goals. The authors demonstrate how their team built a full-featured instant messenger application for the wireless Palm and PC. Through this realistic example, they describe the many subtle tradeoffs that arise between design and engineering goals. Through simulated conversations, they show how they came to understand each other's goals and constraints and found solutions that addressed both of their needs -- and ultimately the needs of users who just want their technology to work.
by Ben Shneiderman, Catherine Plaisant
March 31, 2004
The much-anticipated fourth edition of Designing the User Interface provides a comprehensive, authoritative introduction to the dynamic field of human-computer interaction (HCI). Students and professionals learn practical principles and guidelines needed to develop high quality interface designs - ones that users can understand, predict, and control. It covers theoretical foundations, and design processes such as expert reviews and usability testing. Numerous examples of direct manipulation, menu selection, and form fill-in give readers an understanding of excellence in design. Recent innovations in collaborative interfaces, online help, and information visualization receive special attention. A major change in this edition is the integration of the World Wide Web and mobile devices throughout the book. Chapters have examples from cell phones, consumer electronics, desktop displays, and Web interfaces.
by Kevin Mullet, Darrell Sano
December 5, 1994
Ironically, many designers of graphical user interfaces are not always aware of the fundamental design rules and techniques that are applied routinely by other practitioners of communication-oriented visual design -- techniques that can be used to enhance the visual quality of GUIs, data displays, and multimedia documents. This volume focuses on design rules and techniques that are drawn from the rational, functionalist design aesthetic seen in modern graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and architecture -- and applies them to various graphical user interface problems experienced in commercial software development. Describes the basic design principles (the what and why), common errors, and practical step-by-step techniques (the how) in each of six major areas: elegance and simplicity; scale, contrast, and proportion; organization and visual structure; module and program; image and representation; and style. Focuses on techniques that will not only improve the aesthetics of the visual display, but, because they promote visual organization, clarity, and conciseness, will also enhance the usability of the product. Includes a catalog of common errors drawn from existing GUI applications and environments to illustrate practices that should be avoided in developing applications. For anyone responsible for designing, specifying, implementing, documenting, or managing the visual appearance of computer-based information displays.
by Len Bass, Joelle Coutaz
May 1, 1991
Serves two purposes: first, to explain the concepts behind the development of user interfaces both from the end user's perspective and from the developer's perspective; second, to provide a categorization of the levels of abstraction of various tools and systems. For programmers and software engineers.
by Deborah Hix, H. Rex Hartson
April 1993
"This book is an important milestone in our progress toward embracing user-centered design. This is the first book to emphasize process-- (it) details a pragmatic approach to the interface development process in a way that is immediately useful to practitioners struggling to produce usable interfaces." --James D. Foley, Georgia Tech So you want to develop user interfaces for interactive systems? This practical book will show you how to do just that. Developing User Interfaces is about ensuring high usability through the user interface development process independently of widgets, software, toolkits, and implementation considerations. The hands-on approach of this book uses practical exercises to apply the material presented with a suggested solution for each exercise. You will learn a quantitative approach to usability goals, usability evaluation, and management of the interface development process.
June 15, 1998
In the early days of computing, technicians in white coats controlled refrigerator-sized computers housed in sealed rooms, far from ordinary users. Today, computers are inexpensive commodities, like television sets, and ordinary people control and interact with them. This new paradigm has led to a burgeoning demand for graphics-intensive and highly interactive interfaces. Developing User Interfaces is targeted at the programmer who will actually implement, rather than design, the user interface. Most user interface books focus on psychology and usability, not programming techniques. This book recognizes the need for programmers to collaborate with usability experts and psychologists, so topics such as the principles of visualization, human perception, and usability evaluation are touched upon. Yet the primary focus remains on those tools and techniques required for programming the complex user interface.
by Everett N. McKay
April 1, 1999
Create better user interfaces by designing from the outside in. How important is user interface design? A poorly executed interface can frustrate users - and cost your organization time and money - while an effective design can improve productivity by helping users get their work done. So what makes good interfaces good and bad interfaces bad? Which design choices can improve the user's experience with a program? Emphasizing practical results over theory, this concise, Windows-focused handbook distills industry best practices and the author's 25 years of software development expertise into straightforward and effective methods you can apply right now to create more usable user-driven software. Coverage includes: Basic concepts of user interface (UI) design - knowing the standards; establishing consistency Practical development techniques - specific ways to improve the UI for applications built with the Win32 API or MFC Understanding the user experience - putting the goals of the user ahead of yours; focusing your creativity the "right" way Windows user interface components - mastering the fundamentals; making appropriate choices Testing and evaluation - ensuring software quality and usability.
by Paul Kunkel
June 1, 1999
For the past half century, the Sony Corporation has been highly successful at tapping the seductive nature of consumer electronics. Around the globe their ubiquitous products are recognized as symbols of cutting-edge technology and innovative design, making Sony the undisputed leader in high tech and one of the most recognized brand names in the world. Digital Dreams takes an unprecedented look inside the world's most influential design center and their products--many never before published--for the next millennium. With nearly 250 industrial designers; graphic, packaging, and logotype designers; user-interface specialists and Web designers working in offices from Tokyo to San Francisco to Cologne, the Sony Design Center is responsible for nearly 2,000 new products, concepts, packaging schemes and design strategies every year, driving sales of products and services totaling nearly $50 billion per year. By shaping the most pivotal technologies of our time, the Design Center exerts a greater influence on popular culture and current trends in industrial and graphic design than any other single entity. As Sony stands perched on the new millennium, its design team is now redefining virtually every major product line in the company's vast consumer electronics sector--launching Sony's definitive leap from analog to digital technology. Until now, the work of the Design Center has been shrouded in secrecy. Digital Dreams is the first comprehensive preview of the technological and aesthetic vision that will dominate the landscape of the next century. This book surveys Sony's twenty-first-century product line, examining more than 100 new products, concepts and prototypes. Following the transition to digital technology, Digital Dreams reveals the corporation's techniques and design philosophy at work. Everyone who listens to music, watches movies or TV, carries a Walkman, or communicates by telephone or the Internet will be affected by the "digital dream" now taking shape at Sony.
by Steve Krug
October 13, 2000
People won't use your web site if they can't find their way around it. Whether you call it usability, ease-of-use, or just good design, companies staking their fortunes and their futures on their Web sites are starting to recognize that it's a bottom-line issue. In Don't Make Me Think, usability expert Steve Krug distills his years of experience and observation into clear, practical--and often amusing--common sense advice for the people in the trenches (the designers, programmers, writers, editors, and Webmasters), the people who tell them what to do (project managers, business planners, and marketing people), and even the people who sign the checks. Krug's clearly explained, easily absorbed principles will help you sleep better at night knowing that all the hard work going into your site is producing something that people will actually want to use.
by Karen A. Schriver
December 31, 1996
From an international leader in document design, research-based insights about writing and visualizing documents that people can use . . . This book is for writers and graphic designers who create the many types of documents people use every day at home or school, in business or government. From high-tech instruction manuals and textbooks to health communications and information graphics, to online information and World Wide Web pages, this book offers one of the first research-based portraits of what readers need from documents and of how document designers can take those needs into account. Drawing on research about how people interpret words and pictures, this book presents a new and more complete image of the reader - a person who is not only trying to understand prose and graphics but who is responding to them aesthetically and emotionally.
by Jesse James Garrett
October 11, 2002
Smart organizations recognize that Web design is more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. A site that really works fulfills your strategic objectives while meeting the needs of your users. Even the best content and the most sophisticated technology won't help you balance those goals without a cohesive, consistent user experience to support it. But creating the user experience can seem overwhelmingly complex. With so many issues involved-usability, brand identity, information architecture, interaction design-it can seem as if the only way to build a successful site is to spend a fortune on specialists who understand all the details. The Elements of User Experience cuts through the complexity of user-centered design for the Web with clear explanations and vivid illustrations that focus on ideas rather than tools or techniques. Jesse James Garrett gives readers the big picture of Web user experience development, from strategy and requirements to information architecture and visual design. This accessible introduction helps any Web development team, large or small, to create a successful user experience.
by Donald A. Norman
December 23, 2003
By the author of The Design of Everyday Things, the first book to make the connection between our emotions and how we relate to ordinary objects-from juicers to Jaguars. Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Why sales of Macintosh computers soared when Apple introduced the colorful iMac? New research on emotion and cognition has shown that attractive things really do work better, a fact fans of Don Norman's classic The Design of Everyday Things cannot afford to ignore. In recent years, the design community has focused on making products easier to use. But as Norman amply demonstrates in this fascinating and important new book, design experts have vastly underestimated the role of emotion on our experience of everyday objects. Emotional Design analyzes the profound influence of this deceptively simple idea, from our willingness to spend thousands of dollars on Gucci bags and Rolex watches to the impact of emotion on the everyday objects of tomorrow. In the future, will inanimate objects respond to human emotions? Is it possible to create emotional robots? Norman addresses these provocative questions-drawing on a wealth of examples and the latest scientific insights-in this bold exploration of the objects in our everyday world.
by Robert Solso, M. Maclin, Robert L. Solso, M. Kimberly Maclin
December 4, 2001
By presenting a principle or problem in experimental design, the authors then show how the problem has been dealt with in psychological literature. Readers can read, critique, and analyze actual cases/experiments from all aspects of psychology that exemplify various design principles. The book is organized into two parts (Basic Principles of Experimental Design and Analysis of Experiments), the book combines a text and case approach to examine the methods of experimental psychology. For psychology students studying research methods, experimental methods, or research design.
Titles A to E User Interface Design Books
