You can improve at UI and UX design by reading, taking courses, studying other people’s work, and testing your own ideas. The most useful resources help you understand why an interface works, then give you something to apply in a real project.
This is a curated overview of books, courses, reference libraries, publications, and events, organised by what you want to learn. Start with one area rather than trying to learn everything at once. Work with other designers where you can: discussing decisions and getting feedback gives your reading a practical context.
Some book links below are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Resources reviewed: 25 October 2026. First published 3 December 2009. Older books remain where their principles are useful; their examples should be read alongside current accessibility and platform guidance.
Where to start
- New to usability: start with Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited and the free GOV.UK user-research guides.
- Improving visual UI design: pair Practical UI with the examples in the UI-Patterns library.
- Looking for a structured course: compare the Google UX Design Certificate, Interaction Design Foundation, and Nielsen Norman Group options below.
- Building depth: choose the sections on research, information architecture, or interaction design that match your work.
Keep designing, collect examples with notes about why they work, test with actual or likely users, and revise what you make. If you’re starting a new role, see A UX Designer’s First 100 Days.
Fundamental design concepts
4 books on the fundamental principles of design
Learn about grouping, hierarchy, affordances, feedback, and the relationship between what someone sees and what they expect to happen. These books provide different ways into the subject:
- The Design of Everyday Things, revised and expanded edition, Don Norman. Start here for understanding everyday interactions, mental models, signifiers, and feedback.
- Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited, Steve Krug. An approachable introduction to web and mobile usability.
- Universal Principles of Design, updated and expanded third edition, William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. A reference to consult when you need to understand a particular principle, rather than a book you must read in order.
- Emotional Design, Don Norman. Further reading on how appearance, use, and meaning contribute to an experience. A foundational perspective, rather than a guide to current interface conventions.
For more direct help with screen design, Practical UI by Adham Dannaway covers layout, spacing, typography, colour, forms, and buttons. It suits designers who want concrete visual examples alongside the broader principles above. Read our Practical UI review for more context.
Sketching
2 books to read on paper prototyping
Sketching helps you explore alternatives before becoming attached to a polished solution. Paper still works well for discussing structure and flow; use an interactive prototype when you need to investigate behaviour that a static sketch cannot represent.
- Sketching User Experiences, Bill Buxton. A classic on exploring and communicating possibilities early in design. Its examples reflect its publication period, but the approach remains useful.
- Paper Prototyping, Carolyn Snyder. A focused guide to creating and testing paper interfaces, including how to involve other people in the process.
- Free starting point: our sketching series covers drawing corners and boxes, drop shadows, using a thick pen, drawing from the shoulder, and working within constraints.
- Figma’s resource library. A current starting point for digital design and prototyping concepts. Use it to complement exploration on paper, and check tool instructions against the current product.
Usability testing
3 books on better usability testing
Usability testing helps you see whether people can complete realistic tasks with your design. Recruit actual or likely users, give them a goal without spelling out the controls to use, and watch where their expectations differ from the interface.
- Rocket Surgery Made Easy, Steve Krug. A practical introduction to running and learning from usability tests. The author’s site also provides supporting material.
- GOV.UK: Using moderated usability testing. Free guidance on planning sessions, writing tasks, working with participants, and researching with assistive technologies.
- Nielsen Norman Group’s articles and videos. Browse the user-testing and research-methods topics when you need an explanation of a particular method or limitation.
Small qualitative studies can uncover problems; they do not establish population-wide conversion rates. Choose your method around the question you need to answer.
The table also includes Handbook of Usability Testing as an older, more detailed reference. Use current guidance for recruitment, remote tools, accessibility, and consent.
User research
Classic references on personas and user research
Research also helps you understand which problems are worth solving, how people work today, and what constrains their choices. Interviews, observation, and other methods serve different purposes; personas are one possible output, rather than a substitute for evidence.
- Interviewing Users, second edition, Steve Portigal. A detailed guide to preparing and conducting interviews, making sense of findings, and helping research influence decisions. The updated edition includes remote research and research operations.
- GOV.UK Service Manual: User research. A free collection covering planning, recruitment, research through different phases, and communicating findings.
- Nielsen Norman Group courses. A paid option for focused study of research methods, analysis, and related UX skills. Choose a specific skill gap before selecting a course.
The table preserves classic references on personas, goal-directed design, and observation. These are optional deeper reading; their examples reflect their publication period, and personas should be grounded in research.
Information architecture
3 books on Information Architecture
Information architecture concerns how content and functionality are organised, labelled, connected, and found. Start here if users struggle to understand a product’s structure or predict where something belongs.
- Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond, fourth edition, Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, and Jorge Arango. A substantial reference covering organisation, navigation, search, and the process of developing an information architecture.
- Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories, Donna Spencer. A focused introduction to planning a card sort, analysing it, and applying what you learn. Read it for the method; contemporary tools and remote-study logistics will differ from its older examples.
- Boxes and Arrows. An archive of writing on information architecture and design practice. The publication is on indefinite hiatus, so use it as historical reading rather than a source of current news.
Ambient Findability in the table offers a broader, older perspective on finding information across contexts. It complements the practical references above.
Interaction design
Books on Interaction Design
Interaction design connects a person’s goals with the actions and feedback an interface provides. These books offer complementary reference material:
- Designing Interfaces, third edition, Jenifer Tidwell, Charles Brewer, and Aynne Valencia. A pattern-based reference for navigating interface choices across web, mobile, and desktop software.
- About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, fourth edition, Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, and Christopher Noessel. A deeper treatment of goal-directed design. Pair its methods with current implementation and accessibility references.
- Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge. A historical perspective on the people and ideas behind interaction design. Useful context, rather than a current component cookbook.
The table also includes Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, sixth edition, by Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp, and Jennifer Preece, for a broader textbook treatment.
Process
Further reading on product and development processes
Choose resources that connect research, design, delivery, and learning. You do not need to master every development methodology before contributing to a product team.
- Lean UX, third edition, Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden. A guide to collaborative design and learning in agile teams, with attention to outcomes and experiments.
- GOV.UK Service Manual. Free guidance on building and operating services, including research, design, accessibility, and delivery.
The practical question is how your team will learn whether its decisions help people. Use a process resource to improve that collaboration, rather than simply adopting its terminology.
The table preserves additional background reading on product development and team practice. These books complement the focused Lean UX reference above; they are not prerequisites for learning UI design.
UI pattern libraries
Pattern libraries help you compare solutions to recurring problems. Design systems provide components and guidance for a particular platform or organisation. Study the context and tradeoffs as well as the finished screen.
- UI-Patterns.com. Explanations and examples of recurring interface solutions, including when to use them and why they work.
- GOV.UK Design System. Free, documented styles, components, and task-oriented patterns for government services. A useful example of connecting patterns with practical guidance.
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines. Platform guidance to consult when designing for Apple devices.
- Google’s People + AI Guidebook. Free guidance for AI-enabled products, including user needs, mental models, trust, feedback, and failure. Use it alongside research with people who will use the product.
Accessibility
Accessibility belongs in your foundations and in every subsequent design decision. These resources give you a starting point and a reference to return to:
- W3C Digital Accessibility Foundations. A free introductory course on accessibility, the people it affects, and its role in design and development. Check the provider’s current certificate terms separately.
- W3C WAI tutorials. Free practical guidance for common elements such as forms, images, menus, and page structure.
- WCAG 2.2. The standards reference to consult alongside practical guidance and testing. Reading the criteria alone does not establish that a product is accessible.
Courses and structured learning
Choose a course by its curriculum, practical assignments, feedback opportunities, and fit with your experience. A certificate alone does not demonstrate that you can solve a design problem.
| Resource | Best suited to | Format and access |
|---|---|---|
| Google UX Design Professional Certificate | Beginners seeking a structured introduction with portfolio projects | Self-paced course series on Coursera; check current payment and certificate options |
| Interaction Design Foundation courses | Learners choosing individual UI, UX, research, or AI topics | Membership-based online courses |
| Nielsen Norman Group courses | Practitioners developing a specific skill | Paid training; check available live and self-paced formats |
| SmashingConf online workshops | Designers and developers seeking practical topic-focused training | Paid scheduled workshops; topics and dates change |
| W3C Digital Accessibility Foundations | Anyone building accessibility knowledge | Free course content; see current certificate terms |
Web design weblogs
Use a small reading list to keep learning between projects. These publications offer different perspectives:
- Nielsen Norman Group: usability, research methods, and design-practice articles and videos.
- Smashing Magazine: practical writing on interface design, accessibility, and front-end development.
- UXmatters: UX practice, research, strategy, and the work of design teams.
- A List Apart: writing about designing and building for the web.
For historical information-architecture writing, return to the Boxes and Arrows archive listed above. Publication date matters when an article recommends a tool or describes a platform convention.
Conferences
Conferences and workshops can provide perspective and feedback that books cannot. Check the current programme, format, accessibility information, and costs before choosing an event.
- UX London: talks and workshops spanning discovery, design, and delivery. Follow the organiser’s site for the next edition.
- Information Architecture Conference: the current name and destination for the event previously listed as the Information Architecture Summit.
- Interaction Design Foundation community: a place to look for local groups and opportunities to meet other designers.
- UI Talks: browse recorded conference talks by topic when you want to learn without attending an event.
Come back for updates
This overview was first published on 3 December 2009. The resource recommendations and links were reviewed on 25 October 2026. Begin with the section that matches your immediate need, then return when your work raises a different question.
29 comments
Jason Robb on Dec 04, 2009
For a post titled “How to get better at UI design” I would expect some stressing of design criticism. Education is the road, but criticism drives improvement. You can only go so far as your education will allow you. If you’re well read, you can travel far. But without criticism, you’re still lacking the practical experience to get better at UI design.
But you’ve done an excellent job of covering the foundation of becoming better at design. Well done. Should have titled it “UI design education” getting better (as in, producing better designs) requires critique and experience.
Thanks for sharing! =)
Jason R.
Anders Toxboe on Dec 04, 2009
@Jason Robb I totally agree about the criticism part. It’s a good point.
That is why I start out the article saying that the number one thing that will help you learn is to work with other people. Both because you can learn from their skills, but also because you have that daily interaction and feedback about the work you produce (criticism is one of the forms of feedbacks you’ll receive).
Pete from pumppi on Dec 17, 2009
Hi Anders!
Thanks for your great article!
I am doing my final thesis on polytechnic and this site has been good resource for my thesis, as toxboe.net was good resource for tricks back in the days =)
Thanks
-Pete
Magga Dora on Jan 11, 2010
Last but not least tip to include: There is nothing that improves design skills as designing. So design, every day. :)
Design at work. Go home and find little design problems in your everyday life and solve them. Have fun with it and experiment.
Himanshu Mody on Jan 12, 2010
I think paper prototyping is thing of past with tools like Balsamiq. You can create mock-ups far quickly and get going with next steps. Although the principles remain the same , one need not literally use paper.
You have not mentioned anything about technology, I have experienced similar thoughts from Sr.Usability experts that it is not important which technology one is going to use to deliver the product.Few years ago it might have been right thing to do , but now with endless possibilities with latest tools , existing practitioners need to come out of this constraint based approach to UI.
Can I know your views on this ?
Anders Toxboe on Feb 15, 2010
@Himanshu Mody:
I do not believe that there is anything that can replace paper prototyping. I at least have not found any software program that can let me sketch and design as fast as I can with a pen and paper. The other good thing about paper is that I can hang it on the wall and receive feedback from co-workers as they walk by. I can explain a design concept as I draw it – this is so much harder when you all have to look at a screen.
Technology is for me irrelevant in this case. Design on this abstract level does not have much to do with whether you choose .net or rails as a platform to build your software.
SMiGL on Mar 02, 2010
Helpful tips. Thanks
TheAL on Mar 04, 2010
Lotta books to read. I’mma have to add these to the “semi-distant future list” unfortunately. A human can only read so much at a time. And I’m neck-deep in Drupal, HTML5 and CSS3 books right now. Some PHP and MySQL too. Plus online tutorials and trying to learn After Effects and Cinema 4D. I’m, well, booked. LMAO
Tidy Design on Mar 04, 2010
I find that when you work 24/7 on a computer it is very relaxing putting pen to paper… As much as I love computers, the web, CSS etc I find sketching ideas play a massive part in web design! Nice read guys! :D
Thomas Craig Consulting on Mar 04, 2010
I think it takes a lot of trial and error, along with feedback both positive and negative to find the perfect balance in UI design.
Troy on Mar 05, 2010
I highly recommend Indi Young’s Mental Modeling (Rosenfeld) to understand and, yes, model user desires and behavior. Very clear and hands-on. Rosenfeld’s other UX books are also fantastic…check them out at rosenfeldmedia.com.
UI Design on Mar 10, 2010
that’s really a fantastic post ! added to my favourite blogs list.. I have been reading your blog last couple of weeks and enjoy every bit. Thanks.
Tom Zahler on Jun 16, 2010
Personally I feel that my skills as a UI designer benefited most from performing usability tests and redesigning applications many, many times.
I’d also recommend working together with senior user experience engineers, who are able to direct your efforts in the right direction.
And test and redesign and test and redesign, … :)
aj1s on Jul 02, 2010
It would be great if you could link back to us as well to let people know about this new website :-)
Derek on Jul 24, 2010
I agree with Tom Zahler. Test, retest, test again, have someone else test, beta-test, then test again. Release, then incorporate feedback…it’s never done.
Cozzy from Chillidogdesign on Oct 01, 2010
Great post with some great resources. You have missed out web designer wall which has always been one of my favourites! That said i have plenty of online reading to catch up on now thanks to you. great Job!
Fabian on Nov 23, 2010
Now that’s what I call a comprehensive overview. Glad you took the time to write that post. I really appreciate your tips!
Julie on Dec 01, 2010
I often sketch my web UI’s before putting them on the old laptop. That is a great tip!
Gaurav M on Dec 03, 2010
It just never stops! GOSH :D
Thanks for the lovely share :-)
Sergey Andreyev on Dec 03, 2010
Hi!
This is all about enforcing your design on all the users. Are you sure that your vision is the best for everyone? What about switching the rules and really giving users the full control of applications? Look at www.sourceforge.net into the project MoveableGraphics (name of project is case-sensitive!)
There are some alternates to what is considered up till now an axiom.
Regards,
Sergey Andreyev
Erhy on Dec 03, 2010
I’m looking for rule based interaction programming for UI.
Has anybody experience with?
Erhy
Erhy on Dec 03, 2010
Has anybody experience in rule based interaction programming for UI.
Robet on Dec 07, 2010
this UI of your blog is nice, clean, and fashion!
Dennis van der Heijden on Dec 07, 2010
WOW you have no idea how much you helped me. I did not know these sources and a new world just opened for me. Our new Reedge UI for February 2011 will have a lot of these best practices!
into_the_wild on Dec 12, 2010
This just gives a broadview of a varity of UI topics, but thanks
gift pakistan on Jan 11, 2011
Well, If you’re well read, you can travel far. But without criticism, you’re still lacking the practical experience to get better at UI design.
local seo on Feb 18, 2011
Personally I feel that my skills as a UI designer benefited most from performing usability tests and redesigning applications many, many times.
Julie on Mar 19, 2011
I am currently reading Paper prototyping by Carolyn Snyder. It explains the procedures in a step-by-step way. There is no doubt, this books is too good.
Snoring Solution on Mar 23, 2011
I think paper prototyping is thing of past with tools like Balsamiq. You can create mock-ups far quickly and get going with next steps.
Comments have been closed