This completely updated volume presents the effective and practical tools you need to design great desktop applications, Web 2.0 sites, and mobile devices. You’ll learn the principles of good product behavior and gain an understanding of Cooper’s Goal–Directed Design method, which involves everything from conducting user research to defining your product using personas and scenarios. Ultimately, you’ll acquire the knowledge to design the best possible digital products and services.
About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
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From the Back Cover
When the first edition of About Face was published in 1995, the idea of designing products based on human goals was a revolutionary concept. Thanks to the work of Alan Cooper and other pioneers, interaction design is now widely recognized as a unique and vital discipline, but our work is far from finished. This completely updated volume presents the effective and practical tools you need to design great desktop applications, Web 2.0 sites, and mobile devices. This book will teach you the principles of good product behavior and introduce you to Cooper′s Goal–Directed Design method, from conducting user research to defining your product using personas and scenarios. In short, About Face 3 will show you how to design the best possible digital products and services.
About the Author
For over 30 years Alan Cooper has been a pioneer of the modern computing era. His groundbreaking work in software design and construction has influenced a generation of programmers and business people—and helped a generation of users. He is best known as the "Father of Visual Basic," inventor of personas, and founder of Cooper, the leading design consultancy. As Director of Design R&D at Cooper, Robert Reimann led dozens of design projects and helped develop many of the methods described in About Face 3. Currently, he is Manager of User Experience at Bose Corporation and President of IxDA, the Interaction Design Association. David Cronin is Director of Interaction Design at Cooper, where he′s led the design of products for such diverse users as surgeons, museum visitors, online shoppers, automobile drivers, financial analysts, and the elderly.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Jeremy Mcgee
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Deeply relevant and very influential: if you're a software developer, you owe it to your users to buy this book.
The book is organised into three distinct parts, each of which has a rather different tone. The first part is an introduction to "personas" and their goals. Much emphasis is placed on detailed research such as interviews with sample users, which is a fine luxury if you have the resources and time! However, even developers working in smaller teams will find the general principles useful.
The second part is concerned with the overall approach that an application should take. It discusses "posture": whether an application should be "full-screen" and sovereign or an infrequently used utility, and how this changes the top-level design.
This second part includes my favourite chapter, "Eliminating Excise", which is really pretty funny - it points out why we find prompts from Word annoying and why Motorola phones are just plain frustrating. However, the advice to fix these frustrations might be a bit over the top unless you have an infinite development budget: I too would love to have multi-level undos that are persistent across application sessions.
The final part covers specific advice on layouts and controls. It brings together more concrete suggestions based on the previous two parts.
It's quite possible that the ideas in this book influenced the design of applications such as Office 2007 and iTunes. Although few developers have the challenge of designing Web sites or applications for the mass market, the advice in this book is worth considering even for corporate applications. Just watch the budget!
The book is organised into three distinct parts, each of which has a rather different tone. The first part is an introduction to "personas" and their goals. Much emphasis is placed on detailed research such as interviews with sample users, which is a fine luxury if you have the resources and time! However, even developers working in smaller teams will find the general principles useful.
The second part is concerned with the overall approach that an application should take. It discusses "posture": whether an application should be "full-screen" and sovereign or an infrequently used utility, and how this changes the top-level design.
This second part includes my favourite chapter, "Eliminating Excise", which is really pretty funny - it points out why we find prompts from Word annoying and why Motorola phones are just plain frustrating. However, the advice to fix these frustrations might be a bit over the top unless you have an infinite development budget: I too would love to have multi-level undos that are persistent across application sessions.
The final part covers specific advice on layouts and controls. It brings together more concrete suggestions based on the previous two parts.
It's quite possible that the ideas in this book influenced the design of applications such as Office 2007 and iTunes. Although few developers have the challenge of designing Web sites or applications for the mass market, the advice in this book is worth considering even for corporate applications. Just watch the budget!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By King George
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I brought this along with 'Dont Make Me Think', which is the 'classic' book on this sort of stuff, and I must say im impressed. Personally I like the extra ooomppff of a heavy accademic approach to anything. This goes into a lot of detail and depth on things, which gives it a lot of credibility. In comparison to 'Dont Make Me Think' which is out of date I think, its not 'subjective'. It provides you with a technical framework to understand the issues it deals with. 'Dont Make Me Think' gives an emotive framework and is subjective. It gives you a rich vocabulary with which to deal with the issues with customers. For example, personas, user levels and interfaces.
My only observation is that it is focussed more on computer interfaces than web sites. Although its all the same, I think its important to bear in mind as many references focus on product development and not web development which is more fluid in my opinion. As such, a lot of the methodology is better suited to teams that have the time to go to the next level to get userability right before a product launch in comparison to web sites which are oftem more lightweight and flexible.
Definatly recommended for people that dont want a phamphlet on the subject, ie the sort of book designed to be read on a plane trip like many others are.
My only observation is that it is focussed more on computer interfaces than web sites. Although its all the same, I think its important to bear in mind as many references focus on product development and not web development which is more fluid in my opinion. As such, a lot of the methodology is better suited to teams that have the time to go to the next level to get userability right before a product launch in comparison to web sites which are oftem more lightweight and flexible.
Definatly recommended for people that dont want a phamphlet on the subject, ie the sort of book designed to be read on a plane trip like many others are.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Luis Morais
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Maybe you have heard of Interaction design and is already practising in the fields of Graphic Design, Information Architecture or User Experience for digital products. If you are one of those who think that a better integration amongst those fields would work wonders in digital projects, look no further, this is your book.
Alan Cooper, Reimann and Cronin give you the best immersion of this area I have read in years. Although Usability is an area which is not really covered by Interaction Design the work is so thorough that you will know in which stages of digital projects you will be able to include the Usability workflow.
A masterpiece.
Alan Cooper, Reimann and Cronin give you the best immersion of this area I have read in years. Although Usability is an area which is not really covered by Interaction Design the work is so thorough that you will know in which stages of digital projects you will be able to include the Usability workflow.
A masterpiece.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A landmark book
A must-have with the easiest to understand overview of the domain that I have ever come across. Highly recommended for both breadth and depth on the subject, and plenty of concrete... Read more
Published 3 months ago by g.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the best single book on interaction design
Revised version of a book that's been around for some time. This is absolutely essential reading for anybody working in interaction design or other areas of user experience. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. L. M. Mcivor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book from one of the thought leaders of IxD.
Having thoroughly enjoying Alan Cooper at this years UXLondon I really thought I should grab a copy of this book. Essential reading for every interaction designer. Buy it now!
Published 9 months ago by JamesG
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must read
Simple message:
Read it, enjoy it, apply the concepts.
Mix with "The design of everyday things" and you will become better. Read more
Read it, enjoy it, apply the concepts.
Mix with "The design of everyday things" and you will become better. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mat Hisgood
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent.
Having worked in a Research & Development department for the past 15 years, I initially bought this book to study user interface design. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Page
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant discussion on interface design
This book is not a set of templates to apply to a given project. Instead it is a philosophy on how to design good software from the ground up. Read more
Published on 5 April 2011 by Dan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best UI book you can get!
This book covers every aspect you could think of in the field of UI design - UX, usability, cognitive psychology. Read more
Published on 29 July 2010 by Aaron D. Mc Adam
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but lacks practical examples
It is a good book but it lacks practical examples and thus falls short of being truly great. Personas and goal-directed design are all described on a theoretical level and there is... Read more
Published on 5 April 2010 by S. Andersson
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must have
This book is a must have for anyone working in UX fields, its hard going to read from cover to cover but is an excellent reference.
Published on 2 Dec 2009 by M. Cawood
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