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Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design Review by J. Robinson
This book is great for anyone designing any type of interface
Jenifer Tidwell, an interaction designer and software developer for The Mathworks, makes it easy for people from all different designing backgrounds (beginner to expert) to learn how to design an effective and "good" interface in her book "Designing Interfaces." Her book is presented in two parts; the first section is a broad look at all types of interfaces:
1. What Users Do
2. Organizing the Content
3. Getting Around
4. Organizing the Page
5. Doing Things
The second half of the book deals with more specific idioms. This section includes chapters on:
6. Showing Complex Data
7. Getting Input from Users
8. Builders and Editors
9. Making It Look Good
In every chapter, Tidwell helps the reader plan out and develop their interface by starting off with a brief introduction of the topic, and then going into lots of "patterns" (tool) that correspond with the topic. With each pattern, she describes what it is, when to use it, why it is important and how to use it. She then follows these up with many real world examples.
I found the structure of this book very beneficial. In each chapter, I could expect to learn the basics behind a topic (like what goes into organizing a website's content) and then learn the "patterns" on how to apply what I just learned about to the real world (and more specifically my interface). Also, the book has many text and picture examples of each "pattern." I happen to be a very visual learner, and found that the pictures helped me with any confusion I may have had understanding what the author was talking about.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the last chapter "Making It Look Good." As a person who loves designing ads, I found this chapter a very useful guide on how to approach making an interface (a website in my case) visually appealing and unique. The multiple examples on how one site can look completely different was a great addition.
That being said, the book does have a few disappointing aspects. While the author does a good job of covering many aspects of interface design, it is not possible to get into much depth with every topic. The author does a good job at addressing this issue by telling the reader that there are plenty of other books that go into great detail for the different topics. I also feel that some of the topics are very basic, even for a beginner like myself. This might make more expert designers irritated, or felt down-talked to. But the beauty of it being in a book is that the reader can skip over the parts that they already know.
All in all, I give this book 5/5 stars. It is interesting, to the point, well written, and a great book for designers of all skill levels. If you are designing an interface, I would recommend buying this book to have as a tool by your desk.