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Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design
 
 
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Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design [Paperback]

William Lidwell (Author), Kritina Holden (Author), Jill Butler (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 1, 2010 1592535879 978-1592535873 Second Edition, Revised and Updated

Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work—until now.

Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated is a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design. Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, it pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the concepts applied in practice. From the "80/20” rule to chunking, from baby-face bias to Occam's razor, and from self-similarity to storytelling, every major design concept is defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge.

This landmark reference will become the standard for designers, engineers, architects, and students who seek to broaden and improve their design expertise.


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Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design + 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter) + Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Lidwell is a partner and chief research and development officer at the Applied Management Sciences Institute. He writes, speaks, and consults on topics of design and engineering and is the author of multiple books including the best-selling design book Universal Principles of Design, which has been translated into 16 languages. He lives in Houston, TX.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Rockport Publishers; Second Edition, Revised and Updated edition (January 1, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1592535879
  • ISBN-13: 978-1592535873
  • Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Will writes, speaks, and consults on matters of design and engineering psychology. He is particularly interested in cross-disciplinary design and the means by which organizations achieve and institutionalize innovation. He is a Stuff Creator in residence at Stuff Creators Design Studio and a Lecturer of Industrial Design at the University of Houston. Follow Will on Twitter at www.twitter.com/williamlidwell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
We used this as a group study book at work to help our software design skills. This book it packed with useful and interesting topics. The only difficulty for what we are using it for is we need to make the connection between the concepts and how it applies to software. This is a great mental exercise but does take significantly more brain power than if the application to software were laid out directly in the book. There is an immense amount of content in this book and I think we will be exploring many of the topics in more depth in future discussions.

On a non work side my wife wants to pick this up and read because of the interesting application it has to every day life and advertising. Overall a very interesting and insightful book.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A UX colleague of mine initially recommended this book to me, and I started leafing through it. And when I looked up again, I had read half of the 125 snippets that make up this book...

This is the strength of this book - instead of taking one theory and squeezing 300 pages out of it (as so many other design and UX books do), it deliberately dedicates exactly 2 pages for each theory. The left side of this bigger-than-A4 book is dedicated towards theory, with very handy references of where one can find out more about the theory, while the right side has good visual examples of how this theory maps out in the real world.

For a seasoned professional, many of the theories will be well-known, but I was still surprised by the often clever cross-referencing to other pieces of research that made me think anew about the theory. Also, the authors made a fantastic effort in boiling down often very wordy theories into a few very concise paragraphs.

I also really liked the mix of theories: there is a lot of design, a lot of psychology, evolutionary biology, Gestalt and other research on perception, motivators, and many other things... this is a strength of this book because everybody who reads it will find something new from a related discipline, and the book makes it obvious why this is still relevant.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, also because it's easy to just pick it up, read a couple of theories and put it back down. I recommend it very much for people who always wondered what some of the names of the theories were that they were using on a daily basis, but also for students of design and UX who want to "cheat" and get really handy quick explanations of complicated subject matters without having to fight their way through the often tedious books of these areas.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A Must-Have for Any Designer November 2, 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a college student majoring in interactive media and I bought this book for independent study. My degree courses often deal with specific aspects or applications of design, but I wanted to gain a better understanding of general design principles. I am happy to report that this book is rich with design information that can be utilized by all species of designers!

Each topic is given two pages - one page is more text-heavy and the other has visuals that demonstrate or exemplify the design principle at hand. Despite the seemingly brief dedication to each principle, the book is dense, efficient, and favors minimalism so although you may be able to scan over a principle in seconds, you need to take the time and study the information being presented in order to soak all of it in. Lidwell does a fantastic job at providing a survey of some of the most pertinent design principles. I foresee referencing this book throughout the rest of university studies and beyond.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not organized well
It's organized like a glossary and I was very disappointed. There was never a listing of the 'principles' they refer to in the title. Just definition of terms, mostly
Published 1 month ago by Frank daShoppa
Fantastic introduction
As a developer, I often under appreciated design. This book is so broad, that it really forces you to accept that design IS everywhere. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mercedes C. Humphreys
Must Have
It gives you a quick insight into principals of design. More importantly, it is very well designed itself, and very readable, which makes it an inspiration for anyone engaging in... Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. Chaudhary
Outstanding
I took notes on just about each of the 125 concepts. I also went through the book with my two youngest sons, ten and fourteen. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Doctor Jean ND
Build Your Library Around This Book
Fantastically simple yet comprehensive reference book for anyone who is interested in the why of design, not just the how. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Franklin Parrish
Excellent resource
This book is an excellent resource, introduction or review for anyone interested in design. It's well-written, beautifully designed, and worth every penny.
Published 7 months ago by Evangeline
Perfect
The content and presentation of the book was excellent.The information is priceless and this book provides a good foundation for anyone involved in not only design but also any... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Nicholas
Useful design information
I thought the book had useful information. For me, the book helped fill in the holes in my knowledge of design and human interaction.
Published 9 months ago by Aaron Kurtzhals
Great Overview
This book does indeed present 125 universal principles of design, along with a brief discussion of why it's universal and a reference to the principle's origin. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Kevin Wilcoxon
Straightforward primer
A real gem. This book has a very useful structure, almost like an encyclopedia - it takes you to major principles of design in few words per principle, explains them, gives... Read more
Published 12 months ago by mbk
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