Books on interaction design

Books for new media, information technology, and design for use.

Designing the Real World
Humorous and enlightening, this collection of fifty of Barfield’s columns is introduced with inspirational chapters on observing interaction, and set in an impressive layout by P. Maxwell.

samples of columns

This amusing and authoritative Addison Wesley classic has been reissued by Bosko Books. Still used around the world by practitioners and educators of user-interface design, it covers the user issues of product design and migrates these ideas to the world of computer systems.

Design for New Media
An entertaining and informative introduction to the ingredients for interactive media design. From the basic building blocks like color and text to concepts such as narrative and navigation.

support pages for the book (webcodes)

ABC Programmer's Handbook
ABC is a programming language designed from the ground up to be easy to use. Every single thing about it has been well thought out. The result is a language that is ideal for teaching and learning about programming, but also a language that is uniquely powerful and flexible.

download FREE ABC programming tools

This book discusses the technologies and the processes involved in print on demand in a simple and concise manner. It includes an extensive section showing the different techniques for improving the quality of illustrations and photographs.

Bob Hughs writes with a passion about digital technology, creativity and the struggle between the organisation and the digital craftsman struggling to do 'good stuff'. It is a read that is as fascinating as it is thorough.

Professor Robert Sommer's widely used text studies how people relate to the design of the space around them and how that design can affect their behaviour.

In 1902 Archibald Williams wrote with enthusiasm about the state of the art of remote communication, recording and sending text, images and sound and at the various technologies for creating animation. A fascinating read for watchers and designers of today's media and communication technology.

If you are involved in information architecture in any way then you will keep coming across the terms 'card sorting' and 'taxonomy'. This book takes a quick and highly approachable look at the two concepts, what part they play in information architecture, and how they work together. Written in a gentle style, it nonetheless explains the area in detail, enabling you to get a rapid grasp of this key discipline.

Anybody getting involved in the digital side of art and design needs to know what the key concepts are: the file formats, the technologies and the tools. This book sets it all out in a logical, non-technical manner and is entertaining in the process.