Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules Book Review

This book is by far the shortest and yet most complete design book I have read. It teaches you why designs are implemented which is much better than just how. I am terrible at memorizing so if I don't learn the theory as to why something is the way that it is, I will forget it as soon as I turn the page. This book tells you why a design principle is used and then gives examples of correct use and incorrect use. The book covers the Gestalt principles in a very easy to understand way and provides excellent examples of each. The samples include proximity, continuity, closure, symmetry, figure/ground, and common fate. There are chapters on why reading is unnatural, our color vision is limited, our peripheral vision is poor, our attention is limited, our memory is imperfect, recognition is easy but recall is hard, and time requirements. Each chapter contains thorough coverage of each topic explaining how they impact design. Each chapter also provides a ton of great examples. I am a software architect. That means I create UML diagrams and code. I am not an artist, and my design skills are lacking. That said, my job often requires me to build user interfaces all the time, from prototypes to production. I have already modified the one I am working on now several times based on the advice I read in this book. This has been one of the coolest books I read this year, and I have read a ton of them. All in all I highly recommend reading this book if you have anything to do with developing software. It is a quick read with tons of valuable information in it.