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Designing Products People Love: How Great Designers Create Successful Products
How can you create products that successfully find customers? With this practical book, you’ll learn from some of the best product designers in the field, from companies like Facebook and LinkedIn to up-and-coming contenders. You’ll understand how to discover and interpret customer pain, and learn how to use this research to guide your team through each step of product creation. Written for designers, product managers, and others who want to communicate better with designers, this book is essential reading for anyone who contributes to the product creation process.
321 pages, Paperback
First published December 25, 2015
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1009 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 8, 2019
Обзорная книга по работе продакта. Есть историческая часть, теория и практика. Интервью с продуктологами известных компаний включены. Полезно и для менеджеров не занимающихся продуктами, но взаимодействующих с дизайнерами и разработчиками.
July 15, 2019
Simple, readable, actionable, funny.
July 25, 2018
You should re read this book!
Full of practical tips about creating product that loved by lot of people. This book suit for beginner to an expert since, lot of the tips from Scott are so simple, basic but we likely to forget about that. The writer have a great way to narrated and describing how to adopt design thinking for all your team member.
Full of practical tips about creating product that loved by lot of people. This book suit for beginner to an expert since, lot of the tips from Scott are so simple, basic but we likely to forget about that. The writer have a great way to narrated and describing how to adopt design thinking for all your team member.
January 9, 2017
For someone new to product design I think this book gives a very good insight on what to expect and what actions to take. If you would like to pursue this path, of the product designer, there are plenty references in the book that are extremely useful.
May 18, 2017
A very brief intro with a few examples to areas such as prototyping, users psychology, usability, and animations, each of which is probably better introduced with a separate book. And the general lessons (especially the perspectives in the interviews) would be better understood if combined with some hands-on experience. So I would say it's a light reading for intermediate UI people. (Beginners like me might want to look for something more concrete before returning to this).
A partial summary of useful principles:
1. Know the users well. Build a product that actually cures users's pain instead of perfecting a product that serves an empty need.
2. Avoid the pitfall of user behaviour research: asking people to verbally tell what they (think they) need (or, say, how much they like a product), instead of observing what they genuinely need (or how frequent they use a product).
3. Prioritise different stages of design. Start with descriptions of the essential contents or personality, and then the basic skeleton, before diving into subsidiary elements like fonts or colour.
4. Minimise awkward UI situations, like blank pages (use loading indicator, or partially load the skeleton of a website), extended loading time (which might dramatically reduce the number of times a user uses a function)...
And much more besides these.
A partial summary of useful principles:
1. Know the users well. Build a product that actually cures users's pain instead of perfecting a product that serves an empty need.
2. Avoid the pitfall of user behaviour research: asking people to verbally tell what they (think they) need (or, say, how much they like a product), instead of observing what they genuinely need (or how frequent they use a product).
3. Prioritise different stages of design. Start with descriptions of the essential contents or personality, and then the basic skeleton, before diving into subsidiary elements like fonts or colour.
4. Minimise awkward UI situations, like blank pages (use loading indicator, or partially load the skeleton of a website), extended loading time (which might dramatically reduce the number of times a user uses a function)...
And much more besides these.
April 22, 2022
A roundup of tips culled from interviews with top digital product designers. It provides a decent overview of the current state of the field, and an antidote to some of the counterproductive extremes that many businessfolk have drawn from the "agile design" and "mobile first" trends lately. (In other words, it preaches the gospel of learning who your audience is and what real problems you intend to solve before starting to build things, tailoring to that real-world context, and continuing to work with real people from your audience to evolve the product.)
I though it put a bit too much emphasis on using online forums for early research and not enough emphasis on observing people out and about in the real world.
Also note: This is focused on *digital* product design – specifically apps and web-based products – and not on the design of new physical products.
It provides a solid overview for newcomers and offers some good advice, but it's much longer than it needs to be. A good editor could improve it significantly and I hope that's what happens in a future edition. (For example: many points and even long paragraphs are repeated over and over and over again – sometimes verbatim. That's something that's easy for an author to overlook but that a good editor should catch.)
I though it put a bit too much emphasis on using online forums for early research and not enough emphasis on observing people out and about in the real world.
Also note: This is focused on *digital* product design – specifically apps and web-based products – and not on the design of new physical products.
It provides a solid overview for newcomers and offers some good advice, but it's much longer than it needs to be. A good editor could improve it significantly and I hope that's what happens in a future edition. (For example: many points and even long paragraphs are repeated over and over and over again – sometimes verbatim. That's something that's easy for an author to overlook but that a good editor should catch.)
October 31, 2019
О ЧЕМ КНИГА:
Если у вас стоит задача - создать новый продукт в сфере IT и вы хотите повысить свои шансы на успех, то эта книга будет хорошим руководством. Автор изучил опыт работы продуктовых дизайнеров успешных компаний из Кремниевой Долины и на основе большого количества интервью с ними разложил процесс создания продукта от начала до запуска. После прочтения я стал придавать продуктовому дизайну больший вес в успехе бизнеса.
КАКАЯ БЫЛА ЦЕЛЬ ЧТЕНИЯ:
- Разобраться в подходах к созданию новых IT продуктов.
ГЛАВНЫЕ ВЫВОДЫ:
- Сегодня технологии позволяют получить практически мгновенный доступ к аудитории. Но это не значит, что изменились люди. У них по-прежнему есть проблемы. И они хотят, чтобы другие люди решили эти проблемы за них.
- Важно не путать функции и задачи менеджера продукта и продуктового дизайнера. Первый контролирует «пространство проблем», а второй «пространство решений», то есть разрабатывает решения для проблем, которые выявил менеджер по продукту.
- По мнению клиентов, интерфейс — это и есть продукт. Пользователя не волнует, что внутри коробки, до тех пор, пока коробка делает всё, что им нужно.
ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ:
- «Матрицу боли» для визуализации данных опросов и анализа потенциальных клиентов.
ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
Роб Фицпатрик "Спроси маму"
Если у вас стоит задача - создать новый продукт в сфере IT и вы хотите повысить свои шансы на успех, то эта книга будет хорошим руководством. Автор изучил опыт работы продуктовых дизайнеров успешных компаний из Кремниевой Долины и на основе большого количества интервью с ними разложил процесс создания продукта от начала до запуска. После прочтения я стал придавать продуктовому дизайну больший вес в успехе бизнеса.
КАКАЯ БЫЛА ЦЕЛЬ ЧТЕНИЯ:
- Разобраться в подходах к созданию новых IT продуктов.
ГЛАВНЫЕ ВЫВОДЫ:
- Сегодня технологии позволяют получить практически мгновенный доступ к аудитории. Но это не значит, что изменились люди. У них по-прежнему есть проблемы. И они хотят, чтобы другие люди решили эти проблемы за них.
- Важно не путать функции и задачи менеджера продукта и продуктового дизайнера. Первый контролирует «пространство проблем», а второй «пространство решений», то есть разрабатывает решения для проблем, которые выявил менеджер по продукту.
- По мнению клиентов, интерфейс — это и есть продукт. Пользователя не волнует, что внутри коробки, до тех пор, пока коробка делает всё, что им нужно.
ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ:
- «Матрицу боли» для визуализации данных опросов и анализа потенциальных клиентов.
ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
Роб Фицпатрик "Спроси маму"
December 4, 2016
This book is good for anyone who is making software - Designers, Product Managers and Engineers.
The book isn't about specifics of design like typography and design patterns but provides great advice on the process of designing a loveable product.
I dug how each chapter concluded with "Shareable Notes" and "Do this Now" where the author gave explicit action items for a Product Manager or Designer to start doing immediately.
There are many interviews in the book as well. It was good to hear different opinions formed from different perspectives from people at some of the most recongizable software companies.
The book isn't about specifics of design like typography and design patterns but provides great advice on the process of designing a loveable product.
I dug how each chapter concluded with "Shareable Notes" and "Do this Now" where the author gave explicit action items for a Product Manager or Designer to start doing immediately.
There are many interviews in the book as well. It was good to hear different opinions formed from different perspectives from people at some of the most recongizable software companies.
January 24, 2017
Очень крутая книга для людей, которые разрабатывают продукты. Прочищает мозг и заставляет задуматься о том, что можно сделать по другому. Куча практики и полезных советов. Лучшей книги на тему продуктового дизайна я ещё не встречала.
July 27, 2018
I thought this was a great read - the author provides many visual examples and incorporates snippets from his engaging interviews in each of the chapters. I quite liked how he explained the UI Stack, and the idea of a Minimum Lovable Product is great.
July 1, 2019
This comprehensible guidance on developing the kind of products that are more likely to be loved, covers every single stage of product development. A fantastic resource *to get started* in product design. I wish I read this before!
May 27, 2022
Though this book is designed for the mobile products, such as app, IT product, etc, it is suitable for the design of other field. The author has made many unique principles for the product definition, development, test, release etc.
This is an middle-level book for the designers.
This is an middle-level book for the designers.
January 23, 2017
Regardless of the methodologies, artifacts and deliverables in between, good product design begins and ends in observing customer behaviour.
January 31, 2019
This book contains of good examples for this topic. Interviews from many different people makes the book more lively.
But - the whole content and its message can be shortened to half size.
But - the whole content and its message can be shortened to half size.
April 9, 2019
Overall it’s good book
But the content and some examples are outdated as we are in 2019 nw
Also a lot of the content shared over medium articles
But the content and some examples are outdated as we are in 2019 nw
Also a lot of the content shared over medium articles
November 9, 2019
Loved the book. A lot of useful stuff to learn about and extremely valuable quotes and citations. And the best part is Further reading list at the end of the book
December 17, 2019
UX strategy methods / Product Management
February 12, 2020
Superficial, a lot of water, little meaning.
February 22, 2024
Solid. Slightly older, but the core principles still apply.
February 7, 2017
This book had a couple of useful ideas, although a great deal of it was just rehashing concepts that are second nature to many professional UX and product designers. The book might(?) make a more interesting read for product managers or graphic designers.
Two things it said that I found useful were:
1. A "Sales Safari" is a form of attitudinal/formative research that you can use without accidentally influencing the people you're observing. It means lurking in online fora where your target audience hangs out in order to learn about their needs and frustrations.
2. Beginning design for a new page with a basic text file brings focus to the order and priority of the content and can make it simpler to organize it into a wireframe afterward.
And (in what promises to be a tangent that takes up half the space of my review) I question the validity of Hurff's conclusions around tappable areas for mobile screens. On page 159, he mentions research in early 2013 indicating which hand people use their smartphones with. From this research, he focuses on the finding that the largest percentage used phones one-handed. On page 160, he mentions that the share of people using phones with large screens is increasing, and he provides a chart as evidence. From this trend, he concludes that it's increasingly important to take the tappable area into account for all the many people who will be using larger screens one handed. He follows up with several pages of diagrams showing where a single thumb can reach on various sized screens, assuming that each of these screens is used one-handed: "the sheer amount of 'Ow' space [...] becomes startlingly apparent with the 5.5-inch screen."
Yet on page 159, he included the number of people from that early 2013 study who use both hands: it's 15%. And in that chart on the very next page, if you look at early 2013, the percentage of people owning large phones is quite close to 15%. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that there's a strong correlation between a phone's size and how it's held. Hurff seems to have assumed that because the plurality of people hold phones in one hand, designs for all screen sizes (even large screens) should assume a single-handed hold. But what if people hold larger screens differently?
Two things it said that I found useful were:
1. A "Sales Safari" is a form of attitudinal/formative research that you can use without accidentally influencing the people you're observing. It means lurking in online fora where your target audience hangs out in order to learn about their needs and frustrations.
2. Beginning design for a new page with a basic text file brings focus to the order and priority of the content and can make it simpler to organize it into a wireframe afterward.
And (in what promises to be a tangent that takes up half the space of my review) I question the validity of Hurff's conclusions around tappable areas for mobile screens. On page 159, he mentions research in early 2013 indicating which hand people use their smartphones with. From this research, he focuses on the finding that the largest percentage used phones one-handed. On page 160, he mentions that the share of people using phones with large screens is increasing, and he provides a chart as evidence. From this trend, he concludes that it's increasingly important to take the tappable area into account for all the many people who will be using larger screens one handed. He follows up with several pages of diagrams showing where a single thumb can reach on various sized screens, assuming that each of these screens is used one-handed: "the sheer amount of 'Ow' space [...] becomes startlingly apparent with the 5.5-inch screen."
Yet on page 159, he included the number of people from that early 2013 study who use both hands: it's 15%. And in that chart on the very next page, if you look at early 2013, the percentage of people owning large phones is quite close to 15%. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that there's a strong correlation between a phone's size and how it's held. Hurff seems to have assumed that because the plurality of people hold phones in one hand, designs for all screen sizes (even large screens) should assume a single-handed hold. But what if people hold larger screens differently?
September 8, 2020
(Review from a few years back) This is a wide, practical overview of current software product design practices. Based primarily on interviews with designers & product managers, and focusing on recent smartphone apps. Misc. insights:
- Lean Startup's "fail fast" approach runs counter to historic practices which put great effort into deep, structured observation of people's behavior (ethnography) before building -> the author advocates to focus more on ethnography (foundational research)
- Write before you draw or code. Write your blog post before you build. Write your screens before you sketch.
- Design for 5 UI states: ideal state, empty state, partial state, error state, loading state
- Products & features need both a Motivation (e.g. pleasure, social belonging) and Trigger (e.g. specific need, notification) to be used
- Variable (unpredictable) rewards create a strong psychological response (they are addicting) -> reminded me of Nir Eyal's "Hooked"
- Aesthetics are important, because people associate it with usability and credibility ("perceived usability")
- "Consider your users to be smart but busy"
- Lean Startup's "fail fast" approach runs counter to historic practices which put great effort into deep, structured observation of people's behavior (ethnography) before building -> the author advocates to focus more on ethnography (foundational research)
- Write before you draw or code. Write your blog post before you build. Write your screens before you sketch.
- Design for 5 UI states: ideal state, empty state, partial state, error state, loading state
- Products & features need both a Motivation (e.g. pleasure, social belonging) and Trigger (e.g. specific need, notification) to be used
- Variable (unpredictable) rewards create a strong psychological response (they are addicting) -> reminded me of Nir Eyal's "Hooked"
- Aesthetics are important, because people associate it with usability and credibility ("perceived usability")
- "Consider your users to be smart but busy"
February 8, 2016
This is a must read book about product design in the more general way. More general because it talks about the importance of understanding users, learning via customer research and understanding their pains. But the book goes beyonf that to talk about interface design, prototyping, user experience and how to hook your users with psychology, receiving feedback and more.
One of the best chapters(and already worth the price of the book) for me was chapter 6 "The Mechanics of Interface Design". It details the "UI Stack" which show the five states of interfaces: the Blank state, the loading state, the partial state, the error state and the ideal state. The book is full of examples of many different apps and sites that demonstrate the concepts.
Read it now if you work developing software products!
One of the best chapters(and already worth the price of the book) for me was chapter 6 "The Mechanics of Interface Design". It details the "UI Stack" which show the five states of interfaces: the Blank state, the loading state, the partial state, the error state and the ideal state. The book is full of examples of many different apps and sites that demonstrate the concepts.
Read it now if you work developing software products!
May 20, 2016
Very well structured book, laser focused on the different aspects of product design and with extensive notes. The idea of adding the transcripts of the interviews is pretty spot on, since it's nice to revisit the topics via the interviews.
June 15, 2016
A great book to understand the key underlying concepts of product design. Right up in my alley due to the fact that it points out the simple (and not so) things/changes which can get you to a top level when implemented.
July 2, 2016
A great read on how a digital product is made. Very practical and insightful. If you are a "product" person, you definitely should give this book a try ;)
April 10, 2017
Don't think it was for me, but it was a good read ;)
July 8, 2018
A great overview of defining how to craft a good product
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews