I was asked recently if I’d mind sharing the list of sites I watch and read for inspiration and interesting information about UX and design. So here it is, in no particular order:
- Twitter. Hands down the most valuable resource to which I have access. The UX community on twitter is vast, vibrant and there is usually someone around day or night to offer an opinion, advice, or just listen. Elizabeth Buie (@ebuie) put together this wonderful list of UX practitioners on twitter – check it out: there’s inspiration in every one of them. (I was actually asked “aside from Twitter”, but I had to include it.) At last estimate the UX people I interact with on twitter have over 3,000 years of collective experience. In other words, if you or I had been practicing UX since Moses was a boy, that’s where we’d be now.
- Johnny Holland. This is a magazine-style blog run by Jeroen van Geel out of Amsterdam with a heavy focus on the ‘design’ part of UX design. Lots of good articles about UX, interaction design, methods & techniques, along with a healthy dose of the inspirational and interesting. (Note: I’m an editor and contributor to the magazine which could show I’m just biased, or how awesome the publication must be for me to be involved. I can’t tell
- Konigi. The blog at konigi.com can usually be relied upon to throw out something truly interesting at least once a week.
- Core77. This is a design magazine and takes a fairly broad definition of ‘design’ for its editorial. The articles here range from the visionary to the highly practical; conceptual and case study. Full of interesting articles.
- Wireframes. This is a relatively new blog, similar in some respects to Konigi, but focusing solely on the practical techniques people use to design UX architectures and interactions. As the name suggests, the principle focus is on wireframing, but is broader than that.
- UXmatters. This is a magazine site that I’ve been reading for about four years, and writing for a little over three. New articles are released every fortnight – usually between 2-4 each time. These tend to be longer articles rather than blog posts.
- The Designers Review of Books is a magazine-style blog run by ex-pat Australian Andy Polaine. The site publishes book reviews – by designers, for designers – and is a great addition to the literary side of UX practice (UX Book Club being another
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The above sites are mostly organizations or collections, or individuals acting as collectors and aggregators. The sites below are individuals whose blogs are worth reading – whether via a feed or catching an announcement via twitter. In no particular order:
- Will Evans – http://blog.semanticfoundry.com
- Donna Spencer – http://maadmob.net/donna/blog/
- Peter Merholz (Harvard Business) – http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/merholz/
- Russ Unger – http://www.userglue.com/blog/
- David Armano (Logic + Emotion) – http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/
- Dirk Knemeyer – http://www.knemeyer.com/dk.cfm
- Joshua Porter – http://bokardo.com/
- Todd Warfel – http://toddwarfel.com/
- Whitney Hess (Pleasure + Pain) – http://whitneyhess.com/blog/
- Livia Labate – http://livlab.com/thinkia/
That’s my list – or at least the major highlights. What’s your favourite UX blog, magazine or site? Information, techniques, methods, theory, inspiration, or consolation – send it through.