Mindful Design: How and Why to Make Design Decisions for the Good of Those Using Your Product

Note: Review in ProgressI've been waiting for this book to come out for a while, and it didn't disappoint. Mindful Design, at its core, is a book about how designers can study human behavior to create products that seamlessly work with users existing mental models instead of using techniques to grab, manipulate, and hold their attention with distractions and overwhelm.The book is segmented into two main parts: an overview of some important cognitive models to be aware of in UX Design, including attention, learning & memory, reward & motivation, and others. The second half then focuses on more practical implementations, including understanding how we can use this knowledge to refine our testing, research, and visual design.At a time where design is balancing how to best serve the user against the business-oriented perspectives of treating users as sources of data, revenue, etc. – Mindful Design is a needed fresh breath of air. And in some ways, a warning for UX & Product Designers on how we can create experiences that help, instead of harm users in implicit and explicit ways.I would definitely recommend it to all UX Designers, and I'm glad to have read it so early in my own career.

I was so excited to have this book in my hands - the premise appealed to me, and I thought it had the potential to be brilliant after skimming the table of contents.If I spend this much money on a book, I expect that the author proofread it and put it through a spell-checker, or had someone else read it to spot mistakes. The typos really start kicking in after the first chapter. Encountering mistakes like double commas, doubled words, missing hyphens and other weird issues became so distracting that I had to give up at the halfway mark. I don't know what to do with the book now, because it's been too long to return it and I can't in good conscience give it to someone else.

Informative, light, and interesting, this is a great read.

I wanted to like this book. I preordered it based on the title alone. I'm a huge advocate for ethical UX design and we definitely need more books with that focus. Unfortunately, while this book does have great content and ideas, it's just poorly written and organized. I couldn't finish it.If you're not well versed in the general tenets of UX design, this would still be a good place to start (as opposed to something like About Face). But if you're an experienced designer and just want to learn more about an ethical focus, you're probably better off reading or watching the work of Tristan Harris or Joe Edelman at The Center for Humane Technology.

I'm a visual (graphic, print, UI, brand) designer and often am guilty of applying art for a brand's personality sake. This book was great for me to step back and become more aware of the effects my design has on others from a perspective other than my own. This book also has a friendly and easy-to-digest approach which I find more enjoyable to read than dry UX books. This is a great read for all visual designers who want to be more thoughtful about their work!!

This book fills a void in my interaction design library with its focus on cognition & attention research. It contributes to the design theory of understanding the materiality of digital artifacts, which is explored a good deal here. Highly recommended.

What’s plainly obvious from this book is the sheer amount of time and effort put into ensuring the author’s point of view is communicated to the reader as clearly and as accessibly as possible.Anyone that works with of builds digital/technical products, platforms, or teams should invest in this book. It really is an investment. It’s not possible to consume Scott’s wisdom and experience and not immediately be better at what you do and how you do it.Also, the cover art is so good it’ll look amazing on your coffee table because you care about those things don’t you Benjamin?

read on a flight - very informative

Entertaining, insightful and practical. This is one of those books that was always going to exist. Essential reading for designers, developers and product people.

This is a super insightful and well thought out book. I highly recommend it.