UX Design 2020: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to User Experience

by Theo Farrington

Look, style, trends. They are all around us, and it’s just fine, but when they are devoided of meaning, and they far too often are, they just add to the growing shallowness of the world.
Design should be more than just aesthetic, design should be for the people. And, in fact, it is.
This is where User Experience comes in. UX Design is a human-centered approach heavily focusing on empathy that is transforming the business industry for the good. Better products, interfaces, contents, spaces, and services designed to make life easier for people. Companies are beginning to understand that useful products and customer person satisfaction are essential elements to the success of any business. And that is why UX design jobs are on the rise (one of the 25 highest paying entry-level jobs of 2019, according to Glassdoor). And that is why you’re probably reading this, too.

My name is Theo Farrington. I’m a senior UX designer and director helping worldwide businesses create value by combining product, business, and user goals. I’ve started my career as a graphic designer, then fell in love with the user experience world, and made the move that led me to a fulfilling career in the field.
In this book, I will introduce you to the fundamentals of UX design, such as:
• What is UX, and how bad and good design secretly shape our behavior
• The key principles to make valuable design for users
• The Design Process from goal definition to user research and launch
• How to wireframe, test, develop and iterate to fit people needs
• An introduction to visual design principles
• How to get out of your head, and design for real life
• How to put empathy at the center of your design process
• How UX designers can use their superpowers to foster social impact
• What are the user experience job opportunities out there, and how to lend a high salary UX job

User experience is everywhere, from the dress you’re wearing to the smartphone you’re holding. As UX designers we are the architects of everyday human interactions and experiences. That gives us tremendous power. Like saving lives by designing brilliant medical apps, or shaping the future world by designing the internet of things.

Genres: Website Design, Design

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2020

Reviews

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book because I am interested in transitioning from a career in Graphic Design to UX and wanted something that could give me a glimpse into what that world would be.

I think this book provided a good outline of terminology and the barest essentials of the process. I really can’t think of a better word than outline because it lacked greatly in in-context examples. Most examples were to show a situation in a different field or something that might happen in every day life perhaps to make it easier to understand the concept, but again, no examples of it applied in the UX world.

This book really could have used some exercises or brief field stories to help illustrate the phases of the process and different content as well as time lines at different company sizes.

My other complaint is that the page count is pretty misleading. This book has very large margins. While this works for the inside margin, there is a ton of wasted space in the outside margin. The font size is also rather large and there are many blank pages throughout, even more so by the end of the book. This 320pg book could be slimmed up to probably 200 and you really just can’t get in enough information to be more a more thorough beginner’s guide.

I will likely reference back to this book like a dictionary for terms and the basic process outline but will need to continue my learning with a more robust book.

[Raul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Overview

Finished this book in a couple of hours and found it more informative than scouring YouTube and random blogs to get a generalized overview of random blogs. Although I haven’t yet some of the books mentioned, I feel confident that reading this book beforehand was the correct move. Def worth the read if you’re even just thinking about UX design. It’s def a lot more encompassing than I thought it was.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a brief introduction, into a new area, UX, for me. Being a bit, of an old gronard, some of my computing experience predates the Xerox GUI. The UX movement, is an extension, of an attempt to understand, computing interfaces. From the GUI, towards a new integration, which includes physical aspects of the design.

[Momo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done! I enjoyed from the beginning to the end. Perfect for beginners that want a A to Z summary of what UX is. Clear, simple, concise but complete and great layout.

[Eduardo Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really basic stuff. Good for beginners

[Jose L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo que necesitaba saber

Este libro es esencial para cualquier diseñador, principalmente para los de UI, para que puedan entender mejor el trabajo que hace UX y ahorrarles tiempo

[Adrienne Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great intro/overview for beginners, using realistic, real-world examples. Unfortunately, 6 months after the revisions, Amazon is still printing the version from before with all the typos.