Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services [Paperback]

Kim Goodwin has written a book that I've been hoping for for years.

It's the book I turn to when I want thorough yet approachable guidance or reminders for how to do design.

I told a colleague of mine: "Finally! The textbook and handbook for the practice of interaction design!" Much inspiring and useful work has come before, but I haven't found such a comprehensive and useful how-to book for practicing and aspiring interaction designers.

If I could only have three books on my shelf to refer to in my interaction design (or if I were on a desert island where I was going to be designing interactive systems with people), I'd have:
* Kim Goodwin's Designing for the Digital Age for process,
* Jennifer Tidwell's Designing Interfaces for patterns, and
* Alan Cooper et al's About Face (3) for principles.

Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services serves as an excellent guide and reference for new and experienced human centered design practitioners. Kim Goodwin (VP of Cooper) does a great job translating her goal-oriented design processes into clear and understandable terms. Human/user centered design books can easily be littered with heavy jargon or unintelligible references that make it difficult or impossible to understand or practice. Goodwin makes a conscious effort to explain and visualize many of the concepts introduced in each chapter and keeps the research lingo within reason. For example, in Chapter 12: Defining Requirements, Goodwin dispels what requirements aren't (i.e. features or specifications) and promptly outlines what is needed to generate effective requirements (i.e. data needs, functional needs, product / service qualities, constraints). In addition, Goodwin's writing style guarantees a cognitive learning experience with most readers by providing multiple exercises and scenarios that engage and evoke a desire for comprehension. The photography, diagrams, and charting are plentiful and supplement the subject matter effectively also.

I believe that this book is easily a pylon supporting the ever-swelling weight of UCD with its hoard of overlapping design disciplines. I recommend it to anyone interested in design or the design process...

Table of Contents:

Getting Started
Chapter 1: Goal-Directed Product and Service Design
Chapter 2: Assembling the Team
Chapter 3: Project Planning
Research
Chapter 4: Research Fundamentals
Chapter 5: Understanding the Business
Chapter 6: Planning User Research
Chapter 7: Understanding Potential Users and Customers
Chapter 8: Example Interview
Chapter 9: Other Sources of Information and Inspiration
Modeling
Chapter 10: Making Sense of Your Data: Modeling
Chapter 11: Personas
Requirements
Chapter 12: Defining Requirements
Chapter 13: Putting It All Together: The User and Domain Analysis
Framework
Chapter 14: Framework Definition: Visualizing Solutions
Chapter 15: Principles and Patterns for Framework Design
Chapter 16: Designing the Form Factor and Interaction Framework
Chapter 17: Principles and Patterns in Design Language
Chapter 18: Developing the Design Language
Chapter 19: Communicating the Framework and Design Language
Detailed Design
Chapter 20: Detailed Design: Making Your Ideas Real
Chapter 21: Detailed Design Principles and Patterns
Chapter 22: Detailed Design Process and Practices
Chapter 23: Evaluating Your Design
Chapter 24: Communicating Detailed Design
Ensuring Success
Chapter 25: Supporting Implementation and Launch
Chapter 26: Improving Design Capabilities in Individuals and Organizations

I have been looking for a book like this for over 10 years. Designing for the Digital Age puts forth a comprehensive framework for ux design and development. I have a large library of ux books that go into great detail on the the various phases of the UX process, they are all great, but it is up to the reader to blend a process from all of these disparate subjects. Kim's book is a logical step-by-step guide to creating meaningful solutions for clients and users. What i like most about this book is that it creates a foundation for the profession. Not that it is definitive, but it creates a starting point for ux professions to move forward from.