Will and Dave have done a fantastic job of assembling a really high impact group of books. By that I meant, they did not throw every book in the lot... but assembled a manageable list of really high impact readings... certainly the core of what is needed.
http://blog.semanticfoundry.com/2010/02/11/the-ux-canon-essential-reading-for-the-user-experience-designer/ But I think it is also time to add a another category. Working in a small shop, on your own, or even in a startup allows a designer room to work in a very pure structure. But the lions share of design work is in cross discipline, multi influence structures where the 'designing' is not the entirety of the job. Reviewing student work is always a challenge for me. It's usually a bit idealistic (and appropriately so). Students should reach for the stars and do unreasonable things... stretching the notion of what is 'possible'. But I always find myself wanting to tell them that the work they have executed as 'design' is only about a third of the job. Laying the ground work... and presenting, selling and even politic'ing are additional critical skills to seeing your design through. If your designs aren't realized, they can do very little good... and it's a terrible waste of no only the effort but the potential. Donald Reinertsen posits in 'Managing the design factory' that the unrealized design is probably the single largest point of waste in any organization. I think I agree. So... Maybe we need another category that includes those skills and tools. I would suggest that Bill Buxton's 'Sketching the User Experience', for instance talks a lot to those skill sets and might be better placed in this category. I would also submitt that Roger Martin's 'designing the business' is another... and 'managing the design factory' a third. Any other suggestions? ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
