Designing Interfaces 2nd Edition

Description

Despite all of the UI toolkits available today, it's still not easy to design good application interfaces. This bestselling book is one of the few reliable sources to help you navigate through the maze of design options. By capturing UI best practices and reusable ideas as design patterns, Designing Interfaces provides solutions to common design problems that you can tailor to the situation at hand.

This updated edition includes patterns for mobile apps and social media, as well as web applications and desktop software. Each pattern contains full-color examples and practical design advice that you can use immediately. Experienced designers can use this guide as a sourcebook of ideas; novices will find a roadmap to the world of interface and interaction design.

* Design engaging and usable interfaces with more confidence and less guesswork
* Learn design concepts that are often misunderstood, such as affordances, visual hierarchy, navigational distance, and the use of color
* Get recommendations for specific UI patterns, including alternatives and warnings on when not to use them
* Mix and recombine UI ideas as you see fit
* Polish the look and feel of your interfaces with graphic design principles and patterns

 "Anyone who's serious about designing interfaces should have this book on their shelf for reference. It's the most comprehensive cross-platform examination of common interface patterns anywhere." --Dan Saffer, author of Designing Gestural Interfaces (O'Reilly) and Designing for Interaction (New Riders)

CONTENTS:

Introduction to the Second Edition; Changes in the Second Edition; Preface; Small Interface Pieces, Loosely Joined; About Patterns in General; Other Pattern Collections; About the Patterns in This Book; Audience; How This Book Is Organized; Comments and Questions; Safari(R) Books Online; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: What Users Do; 1.1 A Means to an End; 1.2 The Basics of User Research; 1.3 Users’ Motivation to Learn; 1.4 The Patterns; Chapter 2: Organizing the Content: Information Architecture and Application Structure; 2.1 The Big Picture; 2.2 The Patterns; Chapter 3: Getting Around: Navigation, Signposts, and Wayfinding; 3.1 Staying Found; 3.2 The Cost of Navigation; 3.3 Navigational Models; 3.4 Design Conventions for Websites; 3.5 The Patterns; Chapter 4: Organizing the Page: Layout of Page Elements; 4.1 The Basics of Page Layout; 4.2 The Patterns; Chapter 5: Lists of Things; 5.1 Use Cases for Lists; 5.2 Back to Information Architecture; 5.3 Some Solutions; 5.4 The Patterns; Chapter 6: Doing Things: Actions and Commands; 6.1 Pushing the Boundaries; 6.2 The Patterns; Chapter 7: Showing Complex Data: Trees, Charts, and Other Information Graphics; 7.1 The Basics of Information Graphics; 7.2 The Patterns; Chapter 8: Getting Input from Users: Forms and Controls; 8.1 The Basics of Form Design; 8.2 Control Choice; 8.3 The Patterns; Chapter 9: Using Social Media; 9.1 What This Chapter Does Not Cover; 9.2 The Basics of Social Media; 9.3 The Patterns; Chapter 10: Going Mobile; 10.1 The Challenges of Mobile Design; 10.2 The Patterns; Chapter 11: Making It Look Good: Visual Style and Aesthetics; 11.1 Same Content, Different Styles; 11.2 The Basics of Visual Design; 11.3 What This Means for Desktop Applications; 11.4 The Patterns; References; Websites; Books; Colophon;