The collaborative design platform UXPin (opens in new tab) hosts the largest free UX ebook library (opens in new tab) on the web.
A regular contributor to Creative Bloq and net magazine, they have 91 free ebooks (some up to 180 pages long) written by actual practicing designers. In fact, their first ebook, UX Design for Startups, started as a series of articles for Creative Bloq.
In the two years since, they’ve created a massive library of advice from industry designers and design leaders.
Obviously, we can’t dive into every ebook in a single list unless we wanted to stretch it off the screen. In this piece, we’ll highlight our favourites for any designer, whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a bright-eyed amateur, and then we’ll show you where to get the rest.
01. UX Design: The Definitive Beginner's Guide (opens in new tab)
This ebook discusses the best practices, UX processes, and expert advice from designers.
- Has five chapters of awesome content to help you succeed in design
- Includes topics about how to think like a designer, different design stages, useful activities, finding mentors, launching your career, and more
- Provides advice from 15 different design leaders like Laura Klein, Kate Rutter, Andy Budd, and Cindy Alvarez
02. UX Design in Action (opens in new tab)
This ebook talks about the real-life UX processes companies follow to design their products.
- Features Slack, Autodesk, 3M, Kaplan, and Sumo Logic
- Discusses all four stages of UX: discovery, research, design, and testing
- Details the activities and processes used by senior designers and design leaders
03. UX Design Trends 2016 (opens in new tab)
This ebook compiles a list of all of the successful trends for digital products in 2015 and 2016.
- Talks about the latest UX techniques behind some of the most successful products and companies
- Contains 164 pages of pure tips, examples, and resources
- Includes best practices taught by analyzing 71 examples from companies like Waze, Tinder, Nest, Lookout, Vine, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify
04. Web Design Trends 2016 (opens in new tab)
This ebook contains trends, techniques, and examples from 2016.
- Discusses 10 timeless trends completely explained with plenty of tips
- Provides dozens of visual case studies revealing the methods behind eye candy
- Includes best practices shown from companies like Adidas, Intercom, Dropbox, Reebok, Apple, BMW, Spotify, Jawbone, Versace, Google, and many more
05. UX Design Process Best Practices (opens in new tab)
This ebook provides documentation on how to move design forward.
- Highlights the most useful UX processes and documents
- Provides documentation best practices for requirements gathering, user research, UI design, usability testing, and design sprints
- Includes a case study on UXPin’s experiences with planning, designing, and testing their product
06. Minimalist UI Design Trends 2016 (opens in new tab)
This ebook contains a visual reference guide for minimalist UI design.
- Examines the hottest techniques in minimalist design
- Includes examples from Apple, Pinterest, and Nordstrom and how they all use minimalist design to make the right first impression on users
- Provides tips and tricks for using typography, creative color, and maximizing your content with a minimalistic approach
07. Web UI Best Practices (opens in new tab)
This ebook contains UI design advice from the experts.
- Gives an in-depth explanation of techniques spanning visual design, interface design, and UX design
- Includes visuals and an analysis of UI design from 33 companies including LivingSocial, Spotify, Apple, Skullcandy, and more
- Discusses how to incorporate UI elements such as color, navigation, typography, hierarchy, patterns, and more
08. IxD Best Practices: Mastering the Tangibles (opens in new tab)
This ebook details how to master the tangibles of interaction design.
- Provides a practical approach that teaches complex theories through examples
- Includes seven chapters explaining the practical use of affordances, white space, size/distance, visual consistency, cognitive load, and more
- Discusses visual case studies from 30+ companies, including Apple, AirBnB, Google, Facebook, Etsy, Virgin America, Dribbble, Hootsuite, and Behance
09. IxD Best Practices: Mastering the Intangibles (opens in new tab)
This ebook details how to master the intangibles of interaction design.
- Breaks down theory into real-world application
- Includes six chapters explaining how to reduce friction, design for time, create delight through animations, affect user decisions & behaviour, and more
- Discusses visual case studies from 20+ companies including MailChimp, Mint, Apple, KickStarter, Google, AirBnB, and Netflix
10. Ultimate Guide to Prototyping (opens in new tab)
This ebook talks about the methods, tools, and processes for low and high fidelity rapid prototyping.
- Discusses how and when to use prototyping tools, paper prototypes, and other popular methods
- Teaches how to create prototypes from Photoshop and Sketch files
- Provides prototyping best practices from companies like Zurb, Google Ventures, IDEO, Apple, and more
11. Guide to Wireframing (opens in new tab)
This ebook gives advice for designers, PMs, engineers and anyone who touches product.
- Details who uses wireframes, their purpose, and how you can use them
- Provides a comparison of digital and analog tools for wireframing
- Includes wireframing principles brought to you by wireframing practitioners
12. Web UI for the Human Eye: Colors, Space, Contrast (opens in new tab)
This ebook explains how to make the strongest visual impression on the user.
- Written in a highly visual, straightforward writing style
- Includes topics such as practical use of Gestalt, applying similarity & contrast, and creating relationships with space, emotions of color, and more
- Discusses visual case studies from 33 companies including Tumblr, Etsy, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Medium, Intercom, and Bose
13. Interaction Design Trends 2016 (opens in new tab)
This ebook discusses successful techniques and analyzed examples of interaction design trends.
- Includes 36 examples deconstructed from Uber, Dropbox, Slack, and others
- Provides 20 interaction design resources handpicked by UXPin’s design team
- Talks about invisible design, visual conversations, persuasive paths, meaningful delight, and more
14. Web UI Patterns 2016 (Vol.1) (opens in new tab)
In the first volume, this ebook talks about user input, controls, and navigation within web UI.
- Provides 38 of the most useful web UI patterns thoroughly deconstructed into tips and use cases
- Uses 142 examples from top companies like Apple, Pandora, Treehouse, Mashable, Quora, Youtube, Asana, OKCupid, and more
- Includes categories such as UI pattern frameworks, user input, user controls, navigation patterns
15. Web UI Patterns 2016 (Vol.2) (opens in new tab)
In the second volume, this ebook talks about layouts, content, data, scrolling, and multimedia.
- Provides 38 useful web UI patterns thoroughly deconstructed into tips and use cases
- Uses 142 examples from top companies like Apple, Pandora, Treehouse, Mashable, Quora, Youtube, Asana, OKCupid, and dozens more
- Includes categories such as layout patterns, content patterns, scrolling patterns, media patterns, data patterns
16-91: Next steps
These are the top 15 ebooks! To get 76 more, just check out UXPin’s completely free full library of ebooks for designers here (opens in new tab).
