I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "The Design of Everyday Things"[1], talking about human interaction design. It makes the same points, a few decades earlier s

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "The Design of Everyday Things"[1], talking about human interaction design. It makes the same points, a few decades earlier so there're no references to mobile apps, but the distilled take away are the same ones: * Be obvious * Avoid extraneous "ornaments" in the interaction * Understand what your user needs Of course those three bullet points do not make the book (either of them, I assume) justice, but you might want to read Donald A. Norman's book first. Another book you might be interested in is Don't Make me Think[2], which is specifically related to software UI design. I agree with the point that using smartphones for everything is a step back. Having touchscreens in cars is also a step back. We went from having controls that could manipulated without taking the eyes on the road to fancy futuristic UIs that require either for you to be parked, to have a companion or do something potentially dangerous.</rant> [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0465067107/ http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d... [2]: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032134...