March 24, 2006 6:49 PM
Following up on last month's posting, we're sharing more of what we're learning from our conversations on book design with UX professionals:
- Structure, structure, structure: The ability to navigate books in multiple ways (e.g., reference look-up, "quick dip," slow read) comes up again and again. So does the concept of small but useful, easy-to-find "building blocks" of text that can stand on their own.
- The books we love but haven't read: Many people guiltily mentioned owning books that they haven't gotten around to reading. Edward Tufte's books are high on this list; they're wonderful once you read them, but does their visual richness get in the way of plowing through and actually consuming the text?
Once again, Steve Krug's Don’t Make Me Think! was mentioned multiple times for a variety of reasons, including its:
- Wonderful cartoons
- Use of color to emphasize important text
- Support of note-taking within the book through wide margins and large amounts of vertical white space between sections
- Short sections that allow the reader to learn something even when only a few minutes of reading time are available
- Compact size (7"x9", 225pp) makes it easily "stuffable" in backpacks and other travel gear
In general, good practical design books set expectations by clearly stating who the audience is, what the objectives of the book are, and what the objectives of each chapter are. They also may provide:
- A summary or an abstract for each chapter, which is especially useful when chapter titles are a bit on the cutesy side
- A glossary
- Checklists
- Pros and cons for a method
- Examples of how a method was actually applied
Some other interesting findings:
- As expected, many readers use Post-it notes for annotation. But some use Post-its solely as markers of "past journeys" through the book; different color Post-its may represent journeys taken at different times. And at times Post-its are used to augment or replace a book's "built-in" navigation systems, such as a table of contents that's too shallow to be useful.
- A surprising number of readers want to write in the margins; Robin Williams The Non-Designer's Design Book was mentioned as an example of a book designed to support this form of notation.
- Dorling-Kindersley books were suggested as examples of excellent book design. Among other reasons, their books' callouts are numbered and presented in a consistent way, and they employ thorough and detailed headings at the sub-section level.
- Some readers would like to see more and better visualization for showing readers where they are and how far they have to go in the book.
Comments
As an instructor, I only have anecdotal evidence of this, but I've found that books that explain the "why" of a technique clearly from the onset tend to have greater long-term impact.
To give you a concrete and personal example, I try to learn new things in Photoshop and Illustrator through tutorials, whether in books or online. Tutorial writers often write, "Apply filter X with Y settings", completely neglecting the reason why that filter with those settings is important or necessary to the process.
Lessons from writers who clearly state their reasoning beforehand tend to stick with me forever, and I get the impression that this is a common goal for your future titles as well...making knowledge stick.
As far as writing in margins, I vote a huge, resounding YES! There seems to be a division into two camps -- the "every book is sacred" camp where writing in margins is considered heretical, and the "every book is useful" camp, where its almost expected. I don't think I own a book that doesn't have some kind of writing in the margins, whether it's to to mark particular passages or record what I was thinking about them.
I also find the marginalia interesting and helpful when I borrow books from other people -- we learn a lot from the observations of others that way!
Very interesting findings (thanks to Mr. Z for the Ma.gnolia link)!
All the best,
jkc
Posted by: Jack Cole | April 10, 2006 10:08 AM
For me a good book is all about content. If I can do something after I've read the book, which I couldn't do before, then it's a good book. So I guess, my "good design book" is all about practical, up-to-date advice which I can immediately set into action in my next project.
How it's written, layout and all that sure matters, but even if the book isn't set out in the best way, that can be overcome - as long as the content makes it worth reading and I can put the advice into action.
So for me a - a good design book is one that helps me to product better designs on my next project. Practical. Up-to-date. Relevant. And preferably reasonably priced :)
All the best, Edith
Posted by: Edith Karnitsch | April 19, 2006 6:36 PM
"Some readers would like to see more and better visualization for showing readers where they are and how far they have to go in the book."
I can't remember the series now, but a scifi book I read described the spaceship corridors as having a stripe along the "baseboard" of the corridor that got thicker as a person approached the aft end of the ship.
You might consider putting a bar near the page number or header that shows a "progress bar" effect. As the reader approaches the end of the book, the bar could get longer/shorter (% complete or % to go) as appropriate.
O'Reilly has started putting a gray band on the edge of the index pages of their books. That may not be as helpful for you but provides another idea.
Posted by: mb | April 21, 2006 11:17 AM