Top Five Design Summer Reads

In preparation of summer, we wanted to share five reads our Design Team suggests for keeping those creative juices going.

1.
Creativity, Inc.

Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace | Book link

Creativity, Inc., a book by Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, is about creativity in business. The whole book is full of great insights on how to manage a team and make great movies come to life. Rather than giving recipes and to-do lists, Ed offers his experience and the situations he was dealing with. After achieving a lifelong dream to make a computer animated movie, Ed really focused on motivating people and growing the company — in a manner so it doesn’t lose its soul and the creativity it’s based on. A great summer read.

—Andrej Radišić, Lead Designer

2.
Show your work!

Austin Kleon | Book link

I read this book a few weeks back. It’s an extremely fun pocket-sized book that you can read over the weekend.  The book is about putting yourself and your work out in the word. Throughout its ten chapters, it forces you to think about sharing your work and the creative process. “You can’t find your voice if you don’t use it.” When you contemplate about it, it’s as simple as that. When you are creating something, it is far better to open yourself to the world… It allows you to see and learn from people around you, people who tend to work on similar things, think about your creative process and your work.

— Domagoj Kapulica, UI Designer

3.
Seductive Interaction Design

Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter)

Stephen P. Anderson | Book link

Stephen P. Anderson, with his light and easy writing style, goes through examples of websites and applications that utilize seductive design. If that’s not enough, he delves into the fundamental psychological theories behind those products and explains why each of the examples works so well. This easy to digest mix of psychology and technology will give you insights into catalysts and triggers of human behaviour and arm you with tools to use those triggers for creating long lasting experiences. A great read for any type of summer vacation.

— Andrea Zeman, UX Designer

4.
Just enough research

Erika Hall | Book link

For somebody who hasn’t had that much experience with research, this book is a real eye opener. It provides an array of techniques and practical insights that give you the confidence to do, well, just enough research for your project. Using day-to-day situations people can relate to, it gives you the pro’s and con’s of different research methods. “Just Enough Research” is a true lighthouse for inexperienced researchers while still being a good source of insights for the more experienced folk.

— Ivan Bjelajac, UI Designer

5.
Simple and Usable

Giles Colborne | Book link

The author keeps it simple, enjoyable and quick. I love positive, strategy focused books like this. Plus, Giles makes the book easy to read, as he suggests making UI easy to navigate. Good introductions for user experience research and design principles in general. The book gives a crisp overview of all the foundational activities that you’ll encounter as a UX designer. I enjoyed this book very much and I learned a great deal. Highly recommended.

— Marko Stupić, UI Designer

What about you?

What are your recommendations for the summer? Continue this conversation and discuss your favorite titles on Twitter.