About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author), David Cronin (Author)
Key Phrases: persona hypothesis, key path scenarios, cursor hinting, Designing Interaction Details, Understanding Goal-Directed Design, Microsoft Word (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3rd edition (May 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470084111
• ISBN-13: 978-0470084113
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,877 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nearly a complete course in the "Cooper Method", October 8, 2007

By	...Bill (St. Paul, MN United States) - See all my reviews

I read (and still have) the previous two editions of this book. Unlike the usual "complete revised and updated" hype for new editions, this one has had some serious re-work and expansion.

The whole structure of the book is new and very close to being a complete course/textbook in the Cooper approach to Goal-based Design. All the sections have been expanded based upon reactions to the previous version(s) as well as their collective experience. The most obvious changes are towards describing in greater detail the process and how to integrate it into the large design/development cycle.

For those who have not read (about) Cooper (and his firm's) work, this book is the complete approach in detail. It is written for professional UI designer and developers and makes some assumptions about the background of the reader.

Executives, stakeholders or those needing a more general overview should pick up his other book "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" which was written for that audience. That book includes more business cases and rationale without the heavy details.

As a UI professional for over 20 years find his approach to be the most useful in creating truly useful and usable applications. This book continues to point out how get beyond mere incremental design enhancements to truly revolutionary and winning designs.

68 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, bad publisher, May 8, 2007

By	Darwin's Bulldog (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews

This book, as with Alan's earlier editions, is quite good, certainly 5 stars. Not only a good read, but thought provoking. There is very little repetition of ealier material or examples.

However the quality of the paper is just a step above newsprint, the illustrations are all in B&W and the cover lamination peeling off after only 3 chapters read. Published by Wiley.

Compare this with Martin Evening's "Photoshop CS2 for Photographers" at the same price. Martin's book is in full color, coated papers and fine binding. Published by Focal Press.

Really makes you feel like you are getting ripped off by the publisher.

Alan... get a better publisher!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Software Designers - Please Read this Book!, June 24, 2007

By	Barbara Tallent (Silicon Valley) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With more and more applications moving toward the web and websites becoming exceedingly more complex than ever intended for their original design, Alan's new version of this book is well-timed. Now how do we get both web and software designers to read it?

Alan, Robert, and David walk you through the complete process of orienting your product to your customers' goals. They provides you with the tools to build a product that will delight, rather than baffle, your customers.

In this day and age of great application frameworks, it is fast and easy to get a web-based application up and running. But please don't do it, at least not until you have read this book!

I'm buying copies as early Christmas presents for all my software designer friends in hopes that I will see the end result as when I try to use some of these products.