About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design and over 670,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
61 used & new from $19.65
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a $11.77 Amazon.com Gift Card
About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
 
 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design [Paperback]

Alan Cooper (Author), Robert Reimann (Author), David Cronin (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
List Price: $45.00
Price: $24.75 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $20.25 (45%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Tuesday, September 7? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
40 new from $23.93 21 used from $19.65
Textbook StudentJoin Amazon Student and get FREE Two-Day Shipping for one year with Amazon Prime shipping benefits.

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $22.28   -- --
Paperback $24.75   $23.93 $19.65
Sell This Book Back for $11.77
Whether you buy it used on Amazon for $19.65 or somewhere else, you can sell it back to our Textbook Buyback Store at the current price of $11.77 through December 31, 2010. Restrictions Apply
Used Price$19.65
Buyback Price$11.77
Price after
Buyback$7.88

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Frequently Bought Together

About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design + The Design of Everyday Things + Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
Price For All Three: $61.27

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together

  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman Paperback$11.53

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug Paperback$24.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics (Interactive Technologies)

Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics (Interactive Technologies)

by Thomas Tullis
4.7 out of 5 stars (13)  $44.51
Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design

Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design

by Jenifer Tidwell
4.1 out of 5 stars (56)  $27.50
Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services

Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services

by Kim Goodwin
4.9 out of 5 stars (8)  $44.09
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

by Alan Cooper
3.9 out of 5 stars (140)  $16.29
A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making

A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making

by Russ Unger
4.3 out of 5 stars (15)  $23.09
› Explore similar items

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Robert Reimann
Robert Reimann
Alan Cooper
Alan Cooper
Dave Cronin
Dave Cronin

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
persona hypothesis, key path scenarios, cursor hinting, rich modeless, ejector seat levers, daemonic applications, explorational kiosks, manual affordances, industrial design framework, memorization vector, pedagogic vector, transactional kiosks, perpetual intermediates, direct manipulation idioms, provisional personas, sovereign posture applications, positive audible feedback, eliminating excise, sovereign applications, cascading dialogs, interaction design patterns, interaction idioms, designing behavior, excise tasks, interaction design principles
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Designing Interaction Details, Understanding Goal-Directed Design, Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Windows Explorer, Designing Good Behavior, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Windows, Adobe Illustrator, Window Behaviors, The Foundations of Design, Understanding Undo, Donald Norman, Synthesizing Good Design, Improving Data Retrieval, Kim Goodwin, Adobe Lightroom, General Magic, Mechanical Age, Microsoft Excel, New Alpha, Christopher Alexander, Dewey Decimal, File Manager
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
71% buy the item featured on this page:
About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper Paperback 3.7 out of 5 stars (15)
$24.75
The Design of Everyday Things
8% buy
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman Paperback 4.2 out of 5 stars (174)
$11.53
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
8% buy
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug Paperback 4.7 out of 5 stars (520)
$24.99
A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making
8% buy
A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making by Russ Unger Paperback 4.3 out of 5 stars (15)
$23.09
› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(61)
(34)
(27)
(25)
(23)
(20)
(18)
(14)
(13)
(8)
Agree with these tags?
See all 20 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
32 of 34 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
This review is from: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Paperback)
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
76 of 93 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
(VINE VOICE)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Paperback)
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!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading, September 11, 2007
By butterbean (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Paperback)
If you only get one book on interaction design, this is the one.

I picked up the second edition when I was just starting out as an interaction designer; it was a great primer and filled in a lot of the missing pieces for me. Now that I've been at it a while, it's still the book I go to whenever I have a question. I found the book reads well cover to cover, and also serves well as a handbook. The info you need on a topic is usually well contained in a section.

Not only does this book cover the general principles and theory behind interaction design, but also provides lots of real-world practical information. The writers call on designers not simply to follow rigid interaction design rules, but to create elegant, informative and respectful interfaces. That's a loftier goal, and this book give you the tools to attain it. The updated edition also spans new technologies and paradigms that have emerged, and covers them thoroughly.

Cooper has an unrivaled depth of experience to draw on, creating a truly comprehensive book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars good but not complete
For me it is not complete.. I do have to grab other books to get the whole picture.
Published 1 month ago by Q. G. H. Berk

1.0 out of 5 stars Hated it
There are many, many better books in this space. Like another reviewer pointed out, the book's construction is terrible. At 600 pages it's flimsy and falling apart. Read more
Published 2 months ago by K. Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh my... a readable book on programming
Before I even discuss the quality of the contents, I'd like to point out this is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and what a rare quality that is amongst programming books. Read more
Published 6 months ago by David Rutten

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for any Interaction Designer
This book is the bible for Interaction Design, I had About Face 2.0,when this one came out I didn't think twice about buying this one. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Christian Baptiste

2.0 out of 5 stars Software Engineers Beware!
This book is not for software engineers. This is clearly the case since by the author's own words:
"Humans, on the other hand, get angry when they are flatly told they are... Read more
Published 15 months ago by S. Veatch

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for interface designers!
Wide ranging in scope, yet finely focused enough for a variety of disciplines to be able to apply this knowledge directly. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mark A. Talbot

1.0 out of 5 stars A Waste of Time
The first thing you will notice about this book is that the author is extremely wordy. There is a constant repeat rephrasing of the same information. Read more
Published on August 16, 2008 by M. S. LaRue

5.0 out of 5 stars If it was all obvious, there wouldn't be a book about it!
Scoring in the game of interaction design is very simple. You get 0 points for discovering the obvious and making it easy for the user and -10,000 points for missing it... Read more
Published on May 8, 2008 by Tobeornotobe

1.0 out of 5 stars Trite and tedious
At every chapter in this book I thought, "Well this book's been worthless so far, but I think it gets better in the next chapter. Read more
Published on September 13, 2007 by Lawrence Kesteloot

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to developing fresh, useful computer interfaces
This third edition is my first exposure to "About Face", though I certainly wish I had encountered it earlier! Read more
Published on August 5, 2007 by Trevis Rothwell

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Is it applicable to game interaction design? 1 August 2007
Difference Between 3.0 and 2.0? 4 July 2007
› See all 2 discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   

So You'd Like to...

Create a guide

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:

















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.