The Best UX/UI Designer Tools, Resources, Blogs & Books Collection

Editors note: The following article was updated on March, 2024, to offer relevant information about available UI/UX design resources and blogs.

It can be intimidating to get into user experience, but don’t fear: there’s plenty of help around. To help you navigate that sea of information, we make a cool list to share with you. This list covers UX/UI blogs, resources, books and tools (in no particular order). I hope it will help you guys to get better at what you’re doing!

UX Blogs and Resources

1. Awwwards -A place to find inspiration and talent; a space for debate; a place to share knowledge and experience.

2. UX Magazine -This site creates a community with location-based listings for conferences, jobs, workshops, informal meetups, and classes.

3. UX Myths -Collects the most frequent user experience misconceptions and explains why they don’t hold true.

4. Designer News -Best UX/UI related articles collection.

5. Usability Geek -A wider array of topics that extend beyond usability, such as User Experience (UX), conversion, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Information Architecture (IA).

6. Lukew -A Product Director at Google shares his views on Web and device strategy, interaction design, visual design, usability, and much more.

7. UXness - A The UXness Blog is your portal to a richer understanding of User Experience (UX) design. It's a treasure trove of insightful articles that dissect key topics like: UX fundamentals, Emerging UX trends, Practical UX design tips and tricks, Inspiring UX case studies, UX events, UX Tools, UX Books and UX principles and laws etc. UXness is a community of 35K+ UX enthusiasts connect across the globe and have ~2K daily article reads.

8. Design Talks -545 Talks for Designers from 68 UX/UI conferences all over the world.

9. HelloErik Experience Design -The design and experience blog of Erik Flowers.

10. Weeklypixels -Reviews on design Books, user experience books, UX processes, graphic design books, typography books, lettering books.

11. UX Booth -Feature content on analytics, content strategy, information architecture, interaction design, philosophy, research, universal design and accessibility.

12. Mockplus Blog -The newest UX/UI design resources recommended for UX and UI designers.

13. Smashing Magazine’s UX Design Category -UX/UI experts share with you their valuable ideas, practical tips, useful guidelines, recommended best practices and great case studies.

14. Design Shack -Showcases inspiring examples of design, alongside resources and articles.

15. Creative Bloq -It is a high volume blog for creatives that features content on web design, illustration, graphic design, 3d, digital art, and more.

16. Beautiful Pixels -Showcases some of the best examples iOS and Android apps as well as UI design across various types of media

17. UX Movement -Publish articles showing how good and bad interface design practices affect user behavior.

18. DesignModo UX -Resource for both beginners and advanced designers looking to expand and improve their knowledge.

19. 1stwebdesigner -Post the latest design resource for UX/UI designers.

20. Noupe -Feature content on responsive design, UX/UI, web development, inspiration and more.

21. Six Revisions -Publish articles, guides, tutorials, news and other forms of content for people who design and build sites and apps.

22. Speckyboy -Fresh and useful resources and inspirational art, covering web design and development, graphic design, mobile development.

23. Designzzz -Offers free and useful resources for designers and developers.

24. Vandelay Design -Post creative bouts of inspiration that we all need for success.

25. Boxes and Arrows -The practice, innovation, and discussion of design.

26. InspirationFeed -You’ll find industry guidelines, case studies, design & development resources, tips & tricks, and other related web articles here.

27. Usabilla Blog -Useful UX articles or designers.

28. Dribbble -An online community for showcasing user-made artwork.

29. Behance -Showcase and discover the latest work from top online portfolios by creative professionals across industries.

30. NN/g -A leading voice in the user experience field.

Free UX & UI Books

1. 50 User Experience Best Practices

2. UX Design Trends 2015 & 2016

3. Web UI Design Best Practices

4. Magic of CSS

5. Bright Ideas for User Experience Designers

6. The UX Reader

7. Don’t Make Me Think

8. UX Storytellers: Connecting the Dots

9. UX Design for Startups

10. Web Design Book of Trends

11. The Guide to Wireframing

Click here for more details about these UX books.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know about these design resource and tools. Hopefully, through them, your journey of being a UX or UI becomes easier!

Original Post

About Author

Becky

Email: becky@jongde.com

10 Mobile app Design Principles

These guidelines will help in designing better mobile apps which will improve the overall user experience. Mobile is very powerful device and becoming as an important part of human life. So it is very important to design better, simple and interesting interfaces which helps people in their life and also bring satisfaction. some basic design principles are mentioned in the context of Mobile application.

1. Avoid designing long Menus in Mobile app

Long Mobile menus are the result of poor architecture and content grouping of application. It affects the ‘Decision Making’ of a User, also it destroys the importance of main function.  Group the functions properly and show the small menus with less no. of choices. 

2. Select the right navigation system for your application 

Navigation is the important aspect of any mobile app because User follows the navigation pattern and finds the information. There are 2 types of navigation system given as follows,

Primary Navigation types 

- Hierarchical (Drill Down)

- Persistent 

- Sequential

Secondary navigation types

- Search

- Index Pages

- Quick Links

- Bread Crumbs

- Embedded Links

3. Web to Mobile transformation should be responsive 

Mobile websites should be responsive to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices.

UX & Virtual Reality - Designing for interfaces without Screens

Virtual Reality

It’s an experience that’s been around since the mid­ 80s, but technology always seemed to hold it back. The advances in smartphones and related technologies have finally brought the incredible potential of VR within reach. Now, we’re in the midst of a virtual reality revolution. The concept was coined around 1955 and so many years later VR is back in a big way with Oculus, Samsung Gear VR, Project Morpheus, Google Cardboard, HTC Vive, OSVR, and other smaller or yet to be announced players. The well-known tech giants Facebook, Google and Microsoft are keenly investing in VR which indirectly proves that it is going to be the game changer of this century.

What are they trying to do with VR?

It’s really just immersive software. You know how your phone is a tiny screen that you sometimes ignore? Virtual reality is pretty much the opposite. It uses a headset (a big pair of glasses) that fills your entire field of view with an image. You turn your head left, you see left. Turn your head right, you see right. You will be framed inside a virtual world with virtual things with which you can interact, play, design and experience.

The VR Process

Designing for a flat 2D screen versus designing for 3D Virtual Space has its own challenging factors. Achieving the best user experience in VR Devices is the key success of the entire concept. As it is a combination of various factors such as Head Movement Tracker, Eye Tracker, Gesture Capture, Mind Map etc., making all these sync together and binding them perfectly with the design and visuals of your application takes a lot of effort and thought process.  

Who can utilize VRs?

Everyone. Yes, VR Headsets are of 3 categories affordable for all set of people around the world. Every single application that you are using in your mobile phones and computers can be designed for Virtual Reality. There is a big misconception among the people saying that VR is favored only for Game Development, which is totally wrong. Interior Designers, Doctors, Industrial Designers, E-Commerce, Banking and every other random line of business can use Virtual Reality for their work.

1. The low-end entry level headset. It’s actually just a fancy smartphone case. You slip your phone into pair of lenses that strap onto your head like a scuba mask, and there you go, you’re into the VR world! You can build these things out of plastic, or even, as Google demoed some years back, Google Cardboard. Samsung has one such model on the market today for $200.

2. The mid-range headset. It’s totally self-contained, like an Oculus Rift or Sony's Project Morpheus, with its own display and probably some headphones. Think of it as a really nice TV or computer monitor for your face. Maybe you plug it into a phone or a PC to play games or watch movies. Oculus which is acquired by Facebook is selling its latest dev kit.

3. The Augmented Reality. It is one step ahead of the Virtual Reality where we are binding the real world visuals with virtual stuffs. Imagine, you walk on the road and you can see the visuals, pins, navigations of the Google Map on your path. Two Big companies, Microsoft with its HoloLens and a headset by Magic Leap are trying to accomplish this concept.

UX Principles for designing Virtual Reality

1. Everything Should Be Reactive 

Every interactive object should respond to any casual movement. For example, if something is a button, any casual touch should provoke movement, even if that movement does not result in the button being fully pushed. When this happens, the haptic response of the object coincides with a mental model, allowing people to move their muscles to interact with objects. When designing a button: use a shadow from the hand to indicate where the user’s hand is in relation to button, create a glow from the button that can be reflected on the hand to help understand the relationship, use sound to indicate when the button has been pressed (“click”) 

2. Restrict Motions to Interaction

The display should respond to the user’s movements at all times, without exception. Even in menus, when the game is paused, or during cut scenes, users should be able to look around. Avoiding Simulator Sickness and slowness is the key part of improving the UX in Virtual Reality Applications. Do not instigate any movement without user input. Reduce neck strain with experiences that reward a significant degree of looking around. Try to restrict movement in the periphery.

3. Text and Image Legibility

Bigger, brighter and bold texts should be used to indicate widgets. Images should be realistic and appealing to the user. The mind of the user is going to be entirely mapped into the virtual reality for a prolonged amount of time. Texts should be readable and legible for unstrained viewing of the user. Brighter and vivid the colors are, more involved the users will be.

4. Ergonomics

Designing based on how the human body works is an essential to bringing any new interface to life. Our bodies tend to move in arcs, rather than straight lines, so it’s important to compensate by allowing for arcs in 3D space

5. Sound Effects

Sound is an essential aspect of truly immersive VR. Combined with hand tracking and visual feedback, it can be used to create the “illusion” of tactile sensation. It can also be very effective in communicating the success or failure of interactions.

Google’s Design Guidelines for Virtual Reality

Google has listed some key principles involving physiological and ergonomics  consideration to be noted while designing for Apps that can run on Google Cardboard. They are pretty much straight-forward for the designers to understand. 

1. Using a Reticle

2. UI Depth & Eye Strain

3. Using Constant Velocity

4. Keeping the User Grounded

5. Maintaining Head Tracking

6. Guiding with Light

7. Leveraging Scale

8. Spatial Audio

9. Gaze Cues

10. Make it Beautiful

References

Google’s Cardboard Guidelines, Best Practices for Designing Oculus Rift

About Author 

Prashanth Shanmugam

With 3 Years of Professional Experience in Design and technology, I have a great passion for UX Design, Usability Testing and User Research. With a formal knowledge of Design Process, I prototype Interactive and Intuitive Designs for Desktops, Mobiles and Wearable Technologies. 

Design inspirations from Mario

Tell me one name who has not played Mario game in his/her childhood or not aware about Mario at all. Mario is such a fantastic and famous game of all time. We really enjoyed playing and watching it. Mario game also gives some amazing design inspiration which a designer can take in back of his/her mind while designing. Let’s start with inspirations.

Design Inspirations from Mario game

1.       Visibility of System Status

It is also mentioned as one of the important Heuristic Principles by Jacob Nielsen ‘Visibility of System Status’. It means system should tell its current status clearly. If you see in Mario, there are different looks of Mario signifies different meaning and makes it easier for player to understand the status of Mario. Difference in size and appearance makes clear visibility of status.

2.       Privileged Feeling

Whenever Mario grabs a Mushroom it gets some special privileges and a player can feel those privileges in terms of power, controls etc. Apart from that background music changes to give complete feeling of power and special. In our system we should also take care of our privileged user/customer/members feelings. This inspiration is not limited to a User Interface but one should apply this in their real system.

3.       Excitement vs. Difficulty Balance

For any game it is one of the critical factor to maintain Excitement vs Difficulty balance which Mario is using in very effective manner. For designing any gamified system one should always design complete system by using proper motivations to maintain Excitement vs. Difficulty balance. 

4.       Fun

This is again one important factor for any system to engage their users FUN. If your players or users are getting fun with your product or service, they will be engaged in you. Mario does It by giving micro and big challenges and achievements to a player, also by appreciating player on winning.

5.       Expert vs. Novice user

Design is called good when it takes care of both ‘Novice and expert’ users. Expert users expect more flexibility and customization whereas novice users expect easy availability of information. In Mario for novice players points, powers and obstacles are upfront available and for expert players hidden points, powers and challenges are given, that makes more excitement and engagement for both kind of players.

6.       Error Correction

In a good design, designer always think about error correction and error prevention. In Mario game for each player 3 chances (life) are given, by which player can play the game and if failed in any challenge then he/she can try again.

7.       Simplicity

Simplicity is really complex to design. Yes of course bringing simplicity in design or solution complex thinking and analysis is required. Simplicity of Mario game is one of the major factor for making it successful. A simple graphic, limited controls and easily visible challenges bought simplicity in Mario game design. Her simplicity is not meant by making game easy, I hope designers understand this.

8.       Identity

Mario game has given a best example of branding and identity creation. Theme music and other music of this game are well used in games with consistency so that we all still remember theme music of Mario very well. For any design, product, service, company branding and identity is very important. Be consistent in service better your customers Mario tells you. 

Let’s feel Mario again

About Author:

Abhishek Jain (@uxdabhi)

15 tips to Improve Usability of Website forms Part 2

In the previous article we have seen how Web Forms are important and some tips to improve usability of forms. (Tips #1 to #8 read article part 1 )

Suggestions for Improving Usability of FORMS continued..

#9. Use proper form elements

Proper usage of form elements is really necessary. Minimize the typing and make more use of selection. It will reduces human effort and will lead form to more efficient.

#10. Show the progress indicator for lengthy forms

Visibility of system status is one of the Heuristic Principle, with the use of this principle we can engage user in filling lengthy form. Show progress indicator for lengthy forms, let user know about current status and remaining status of form.

#11. 'Save as draft' or auto save

Apply heuristic principle of 'Error prevention' and provide auto save option when form is lengthy. You should provide flexibility of filling form in chunks by providing 'Save as draft feature'. If accidentally something wrong happens make sure the information a user has filled is saved.

#12. Errors should be shown along with help

Don't show the error only show how a user can remove it (solution or help).

#13. Always show the success message in forms once completed successfully

It is a good practice to show 'Confirmation message' after completion of forms. This improves the visibility of system status.

#14. Form flow using Tab key

Consistent Form flow is very important especially when probability of using forms through keyboard high. When a user uses forms using Tab key it should flow in proper manner.

#15. Don't use technical or business jargon

Form fields should be written in plain and simple language which a normal user can understand. Especially in error messages don't show technical jargon.

Previous article: 15 tips to Improve Usability of Website forms Part 1

Author: Abhishek Jain (@uxdabhi)

Quiz - Infographics basics