20 Must-read UI Design Books for Designers

They offer in-depth explanations and examples, allowing learners to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. It complements online resources, offering learners a comprehensive education on UI design. Here we picked 20 best UI design books to help you accelerate your learning process.

Müller-Brockmann was the first graphic designer and researcher to introduce the grid system, so this book was quite revolutionary for its time. Anyone who’s into graphic, visual, user interface, and user experience design would benefit from reading it. Refactoring UI packs in all the fundamental design principles behind good modern user interface design in a 218-page book. Because it includes many design examples, it’s a great book to complete in less than 4–5 hours and will become an invaluable resource for good design that you can refer back to. The good news is that fundamental design principles and best practices for UI design and don’t change much!

Books Every Modern UI Designer Should Read (

By understanding fundamental design principles and rationale behind UI design, designers can ensure that every design element serves a purpose and avoid unnecessary complexity. Consequently, it can not only enhance user experience by reducing cognitive load and improving usability but also foster a sense of sophistication and timelessness in design aesthetics. Believe it or not, it’s never been easier to learn how to consistently create good web design and product design. There are so many incredible design resources, design books, design tools, case studies and comprehensive guides on every facet of UI design and web design. It provides insights into current design trends and showcases examples of superior designs. Furthermore, it encourages readers to contemplate the future trajectory of UX design.

• Though reviewers are in disagreement whether this book is best for beginners or more seasoned designers, one thing is for sure.
• His concept of ‘No UI’ encourages designers to prioritize seamless, invisible interactions, fostering a reevaluation of technology design with an emphasis on simplicity and user-centricity.
• When it comes to getting clients and landing UI UX design roles, the reality is that it’s much harder to demonstrate how good you are at design sprints, UX research, and user testing.
• He also runs a popular YouTube channel, UI Adrian, where he teaches designers how to get started designing in Figma.
• When we purchased this ebook in March 2024, it was 197 pages and growing (typography, copywriting, and accessibility chapters are still to come).

The Elements of Typographic Style was named many things since its first release 30 years ago, and the bible of typography was just one of them. The information in the book dates back to decades ago but it being relevant to this day tells enough about why you must read it. And that makes UI is Communication not only a great book for beginners but also experts who are willing to optimize their workflow and/or projects. Though if you are looking at the book from a totally practical outlook and you want it to direct you into doing something material, you might be disappointed. Monster List of UX Books, a wonderful collection of books, neatly categorized in one single place. Allows for improved ad effectiveness and measurement through Meta’s Conversions API, ensuring privacy-compliant data sharing.

What’s the difference between UI design and UX design?

The Non-Designer’s Design Book has taught hundreds of thousands of people how to make their designs look professional using four surprisingly simple design principles. Alla shares key qualities of well-functioning, enduring design systems and how they can be achieved. This book includes practical examples and case studies from AirBnB, Atlassian, Eurostar, TED, and Sipgate, plus 18 months of research and interviews, to highlight what works and what doesn’t work in real-life digital products. Learning how to integrate modular thinking and design systems into real-life design projects is an essential skill in modern UI design. It becomes even more useful once you start working in larger teams and on more complex digital products and websites.

If you understand how people think, you can make your designs better by focusing on what users need, not just what they want. “Lean UX”  covers principles, tactics and techniques to incorporate design into Agile teams. It underscores the importance of collaborative projects focusing on solving user problems instead of merely adding new features. Gothelf’s work encourages you to reflect on your role within the organization and the overall UX strategy. “User Friendly” by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant explores how design principles subtly shape our daily lives and the world around us. The authors weave a historical narrative and chart the evolution of user-experience design from a niche concept to a universal reality in our digital age.

Top 14 UI Design Books Every Designer Should Read

Good typography is the most undervalued and underappreciated elements in modern UI and product design and is one of the fastest ways to improve your user interface design and introduce visual hierarchy. Bad typography is easy to spot in UI design, reflects badly on the brand and leads to a poor user experience. In Digital Design Essentials, he goes through 100 design tips through real-life examples, case studies, and more, discussing how to create user friendly and accessible user experiences and interfaces.

The Design for Everyday Things is a good book for people looking to understand the philosophy behind creating user friendly design and still making it more than just a user friendly design. Then you’d have to start with some primary sources on user experience, graphic design, and cognitive psychology. Useful free eBooks for UX designers, interface designers and product designers — on everything from accessibility and typography to management, IA and content strategy. It offers practical examples for better understanding and prompts self-evaluation to identify areas for improvement in your own work.

“Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design” by Jenifer Tidwell

UI Design Principles is perfect for UX and UI designers who want to improve their UI design skills and create beautiful, usable interfaces, but also helpful for developers who want to improve their design skills. This book also focuses on design processes and tips for freelancers who want to charge more for their work. The latest updated edition contains about 48 pages, where Lupton explains more about mixing different typefaces, font licensing, font formats, style sheets, and more. Laying the Foundations by Andrew Couldwell is a comprehensive guide to creating, documenting, and maintaining design systems. Originally published in 2019, Andrew covers practical guides on the entire design process and how to design websites and products systematically. The Design Manual is an excellent read for UI designers who want to learn Figma best practices and design skills specifically modern app UI design.

Design with the Mind in Mind is, as the title might give it away, a book on human psychology and how designers can use basic human understanding to help them experience better interfaces. There are many reasons to pick up a non-fiction book about color theory, visual design, or a digital product. It could be optimizing your design thinking or design process, or simply because Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think made you think. This book serves as an essential guide for those already versed in UX design and looking to integrate UX writing effectively into their workflows. It not only underlines the significance of UX writing but also provides practical insights to navigate the complexities of UX writing in the design process.

The Visual History of Type by Paul McNeil

UI Design Principles by Michael Filipiuk is a 500-page ebook that covers every aspect of modern UI design and fundamental UI design principles such as typography, color, and layout. UI Design Systems ui ux design books Mastery is a UI design and design systems ebook written by Marina Budarina. Marina is well-known in the design community and on Instagram where she shares useful UI design tips and resources.

Modern user-centered design, for the most part, relies on a handful of core design principles and design patterns that have been studied, tested, and honed over decades. If you can turn studying great user-centered design and improving your UI design skills into a daily habit, the compounding effect over just a year will put you decades ahead of your peers. In a competitive industry, consistently pushing out great user interface design is the easiest way to stand out. Key takeaways from the book are its solid grounding in UX design principles, which can be revisited anytime for insight. Furthermore, the book explores all design aspects to broaden a designer’s perspective in their field and across various design disciplines. This broad-based approach makes it a rich source of inspiration for designers, regardless of their expertise.

It is valuable for product managers and anyone involved in creating a new product. Klein’s step-by-step approach considers every potential scenario in the product development journey and even includes advice on team building. Her approach ensures that readers understand user experience design and product engineering in-depth. Whether you’re an aspiring designer, an established professional, or a business owner, understanding the principles of UX/UI design is essential. It not only improves product design but also enhances user satisfaction, leading to increased engagement and conversion rates.