The top 3 books concerning design are probably: About Face The Design of Everyday Things Don't Make Me Think As well I think you may be looking at what you

The top 3 books concerning design are probably: About Face The Design of Everyday Things Don't Make Me Think As well I think you may be looking at what you are trying to achieve in the wrong way. Human Factors exist above the technology and is more of philosophical discipline. The limits of the technology constrain design and you learn to work within the constraint of the particular technology. With that said optimal workflow is achieved by taking common design principals and adapting them to the technical medium. That being said, regardless of the technology you use, you should read at least one of the above 3 books. IT will help you understand what you are trying to achieve on behalf of the user. Once you understand that, it is easy to adapt the principles to the medium of your choosing. As for what you should implement your fist UI in, that relies on a assortment of factors. If you are not familiar with web technologies, just understanding the technology soup that is HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Backend can divert focus from learning good usability practices, but if web is your end goal then it makes sense to go ahead and invest the effort. If it is not, then IOS and Objective-C is a good candidate, it really helps you work within constraints and makes you really contemplate the design. Finally if you are only learning for learning sake, then I would say Flash or Air should be considered, not because they are great technologies, but because you can hit the ground running immediately and if learning usability for the sake of learning it is your goal, they will get you to the end of that goal in the fastest manner possible.