Seven must-read books for designers

1. Laws of UX

"Laws of UX" by Jon Yablonski, is a practical guidebook for designers and developers that outlines fundamental principles to create more effective and user-friendly digital products. The book covers 11 fundamental laws, including affordance, feedback, and consistency, with examples and case studies to illustrate how to apply them in real-world design projects.

2. Hooked

"Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal is a guide to creating products and services that encourage repeated use by users. The book provides a four-step process called the "Hook Model" that explains how to build products that create habit-forming behavior among users.

3. Sprint

"Sprint" by Jake Knapp is a step-by-step guide to a five-day process for solving big problems and testing new ideas. The process involves ideation, prototyping, and user testing, and has been used by companies such as Google, Slack, and Uber to accelerate innovation and make better decisions.

4. The Design of Everyday Things

"The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman explores the relationship between design and human behavior, arguing that good design should prioritize usability and function over aesthetics. The book provides practical principles and examples to help designers create products and systems that are intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly.

5. Creative Confidence

"Creative Confidence" is a book written by Tom Kelley and David Kelley, co-founders of IDEO, a global design and innovation firm. The book offers a guide to unlocking the creative potential within oneself and provides practical strategies for overcoming self-doubt and building creative confidence.

6. Steal Like an Artist

"Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon is a creative manifesto that encourages readers to embrace their influences and borrow from the work of others in order to spark their own creativity. The book emphasizes the importance of combining existing ideas in new and innovative ways to create original work.

7. Creative Strategy and the Business of Design

"Creative Strategy and the Business of Design" by Douglas Davis is a practical guide that helps designers understand the business side of their work. The book offers insights and advice on developing effective strategies to help designers succeed in the competitive and constantly evolving creative industry.

Web3 UX Breakthrough 🚨

For the mass adoption of Web3, everyone needs to be able to use it. Web3 just got a MASSIVE UX upgrade: ERC-4337 and your grandma will now be able to use crypto stress-free.

A major shift in technology occurs when these unlocks happen, resulting in massive adoption. Here’s what it brings to the table:

• Key recovery (losing keys doesn’t mean losing crypto)

• Wallet two-factor authentication (2FA)

• Transaction bundling (no more paying lots of gas)

• Pay with any token

• Security and fraud monitoring

• Decentralized wallet recovery (social recovery)

• Autopay crypto (subscriptions)

• Sponsored transactions

• Daily, monthly, and yearly spending limits

• Requiring multiple parties to sign a transaction

Interesting & Useful Software 🛠️

I live and work in the Apple 🍎 ecosystem so all apps here are only tested on either macOS, iPadOS, iOS, or watchOS.

IINA - free modern media player, with subtitle downloads

UnnaturalScrollWheels - separate trackpad and mouse settings

Dato - calendar and time zones in the menu bar

Tokenary - believe it or not, this is actually a web3 wallet for Safari

Hand Mirror - get a view from your camera, in the menu bar

Hot on Social ✨

Thanks for reading, see you in two weeks 👋

In the meantime, follow me on social…