Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: On design and the designer
Comment: I bought this book because it was recommended by Andy Rutledge in his
podcast "Design View". I knew it wouldn't be bad given the nature of
the podcast and the host but I really wasn't sure what to expect
either. With no expectations or biases I started reading and later
found out that it was the ideal way to experience this title.
If had expected a practical book with a more hands-on approach on user
interface design, I would have been disappointed. The book discusses
primarily on how we should do design rather than explaining how to
design any particular things. Bill Buxton also writes about the role
of the user experience design and the designer itself in today's
businesses. The best thing in the book is that the content is full of
interesting stories and rich examples of user experience design in
real life. The text moves from stories to theory to examples and back
again keeping the reader hooked even when the subject at hand might be
a bit too heavy to digest on the first reading. Everything is well
written and the author more than "knows his stuff". The examples come
with extraordinary pictures that are a great source for inspiration.
The book is also a good reference of other books about the subject.
If you are looking for a hands-on guide or a text-book to user
experience/ interface design this not your pick. Also it is not a book
for usability enthusiasts or engineers either. Sketching User
Experiences is a book for those designers and would-be designers who
want to get new ideas and perspective on their profession and the
design business itself.
At least I am sure that I'll be sketching more in the future than
before reading this book...
Customer Rating:
Summary: vital, practical, inspiring
Comment: This book pulled me in like a fictional thriller, but I read it little by little, ensuring I had quality time and head space to savor each chapter. Bill Buxton's narrative style is engaging but not wasteful--it's got the deep content of a textbook, yet is very fun to read.
Every single page has something you can apply as a designer or software engineer. There are so many great ideas and insights that I found myself pausing often, staring off into space, visualizing my own scenarios and sketches, jotting notes in my notebook.
This highly influential book has already helped me get breakthroughs in my thinking I couldn't have achieved without diving in and acting things out, drawing, or building a simple model. It has shaped the way I approach my work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: great read with tips on creating the future cheaply
Comment: Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton
This is a great book, for anyone involved with innovation, product management, communication of new ideas or product development.
Bill Buxton has put forth some great examples of what a Sketch is how it is a prelude to a prototype and how to "create" the future cheaply for testers and user groups to experience things with in expensive and fast tools. The idea is to create rapid examples of future good and services to see how well they work.
As Buxton mentions in the book, fail fast and early, learn fast and early. Redesigning a product or relaunching one is very expensive. This is a great read and deals with products and services in their "wholistic" setting. A new idea exists in a context and that context determines its success or failure. I would strongly recommend you buy this book or e-mail me and I might just lend you my copy. I keep only 1 of 10 books I read, but this one I will be holding onto or lending out.
Some fun quotes from the book:
Tell me and I forget, Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand. Confucius
And a personal favorite of mine from an anthropologist:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Meade
Also from Buxton himself: Innovation in process trumps innovation in product. The idea is that corporations that innovate processes or better yet internalize innovation as a process will win hands down over those focused on tweaking a product.
And finally Buxton closes the book with a quote from T.E. Lawrence:
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
Buxton's last words are: May you dream in the day.
This isn't your average designer hand book and if you want to be an above average creator this is a powerful tool.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great handbook on design thinking
Comment: If you're interested in ways to improve the process of design and design thinking, this is a book for you. The theme is sketching for design but the underlying idea is really about a better design process. I found it extremely practical and thought that the early chapters did a good job of conveying both the creative and business aspects of design...something most design books I've read don't discuss together. If you're a designer, this book should be in your library. If you're in business and design plays an important role in your product or service, this book should be in your library.
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