April 23rd is dedicated to World Book Day. And it’s a day where we celebrate literature and everything it offers. Whether it is for educational, professional, or private purposes, books are the source of knowledge, imagination, and ideas.

They allow us to enter various worlds, have different adventures, and learn about things and people across the world. Books are the doors that lead to endless possibilities.

For us in Deegloo, books are especially important. It’s how we learn and how we broaden our horizons. With them, we stay in touch with our work and all the advances and innovations in our respective fields. We are aware that there is no greater investment than the one in our knowledge and education. That is why we decided to share some of the books that we have been reading and would love to recommend to you. From developers to designers, we collected some of the books that intrigued us and made an impact on us.

The books that we love to recommend

Who read it: Franjo, Digital Designer

Book: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Book description: 

Design doesn’t have to be complicated, which is why this guide to human-centered design shows that usability is just as important as aesthetics.

Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door.

The fault, argues this ingenious — even liberating — book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization.

The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time.

The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how — and why — some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.

Franjo’s review: While reading this book I’ve started to look at any man-made object differently. This book is a must-read for anyone who designs anything to be used by humans – from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools. You will question everything from doors to tea kettles to the most sophisticated computer program.

Who read it: Vinko, Project Manager

Book: Project Management for Humans – Helping People Get Things Done by Brett Harned

Book description:

Project management—it’s not just about following a template or using a tool, but rather developing personal skills and intuition to find a method that works for everyone. Whether you’re a designer or a manager, Project Management for Humans will help you estimate and plan tasks, scout and address issues before they become problems, and communicate with and hold people accountable.

Vinko’s review: Project Management for Humans is a great read – unlike many project management books, it’s not dry, dull literature, but a very easy-to-read mixture of personal stories, a summary of PM techniques, and great tips. This book offers well-written practical guidance with a human-centered approach. Highly recommended for anyone managing digital projects.

Who read it: Martin, Frontend Tech Lead

Book: Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug

Book description:

Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, hundreds of thousands of Web designers and developers have relied on usability guru Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design. Witty, commonsensical, and eminently practical, it’s one of the best-loved and most recommended books on the subject.

Now Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made Don’t Make Me Think a classic–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usability. And it’s still short, profusely illustrated…and best of all–fun to read.

If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web designers and developers around the world. If you’ve never read it, you’ll see why so many people have said it should be required reading for anyone working on Web sites.

Martin’s review: This book gave our frontend developers a new perspective on how to create awesome and easy-to-use user interfaces in our apps. Since devs can’t rely on UX designers all the time, with this book they acquired new skills in creating the best possible user-centric apps and also reduced the time needed to analyze which design would be best based on given requirements.

What are we reading next?

Since we are avid readers, our list of books to read is always full. So, we bring you some of the titles we are looking forward to reading. And who knows, some might be on your list as well. 

What we want on our bookshelves:

• The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey To Mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition by David Thomas
• The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday
• The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman