User Friendly

How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play

By: Cliff Kuang, Robert Fabricant

Narrated by: Jean Ann Douglass

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year

This program includes material read by the authors.

In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need.

Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from women’s rights to the Great Depression to World War II to the rise of the digital era, this audiobook unpacks the ways in which the world has been - and continues to be - remade according to the principles of the once-obscure discipline of user-experience design.

In this essential program, Kuang and Fabricant map the hidden rules of the designed world and shed light on how those rules have caused our world to change - an underappreciated but essential history that’s pieced together for the first time. Combining the expertise and insight of a leading journalist and a pioneering designer, User Friendly provides a definitive, thoughtful, and practical perspective on a topic that has rapidly gone from arcane to urgent to inescapable. In User Friendly, Kuang and Fabricant tell the whole story for the first time - and you’ll never interact with technology the same way again.

©2019 Cliff Kuang, Robert Fabricant (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

great review

great review of the history of the field, implications and practice. a great companion to those who fell in love with the design of everyday things

Excellent…

This is a superb framing of design considerations for product development. Also very much appreciated the timeline history of design at the end. Highly recommend!

Great history of ID and HF

Really enjoyed this book, almost wish it was longer. would have loved a little more about the user friendliness of physical products, but they did a much better job than most books I've read lately that only seem to talk about app development.

User Friendly Is An Excellent History On Design

User Friendly provides an excellent history on the world of user centered design. It embarks on anecdotal stories of multiple designs and their impact on the world. While this book isn’t a guide on HOW to design amazing products it provides excellent insights and is extremely easy to listen to.

excellent content, highly worth a listen

as a software engineer and aspiring product designer, I was extremely impressed with the content of this book. the authors did a wonderful job weaving together the history and principles of user friendly design. I enjoyed the stories and quotes, and frequently found myself taking notes or looking up other interesting authors/books mentioned.

next up: another listen

I now 'get' the role of design

As a non designer, really helped me understand what design is and implications of design beyond looks and convenience. I didn't appreciate how much design shapes behavior. I found the history and the stories quite compelling and informative without being laborious.

Interesting historical info

This isn’t a how to book if you’re looking for professional resources in that way but it does cover an interesting historical view of how human centered design came to be.

Artfully woven stories, not quite user-friendly

If you are open to a long, winding, artfully crafted story about some of the key designers in the last 100 years, and where the direction of design is going in the future, you will enjoy this book. I didn't even know I would be interested in such history, but I did listen all the way through because it is written and narrated so well.

I wouldn't say this book is written to be user friendly - you couldn't easily jump in and quickly understand any given usability theme it explores. I'd often forget what theme any given Chapter was about. It's not super focused, it's more like a piece of art. The masterful storytelling builds from chapter to chapter, pointing back to previous characters. The narration is incredible, too.

It is definitely worth listening to, though I would have preferred a shorter version. I would've preferred a book that condenses the principles and focuses more on the framework of 'rule's mentioned in the subtitle, with the stories as the side-dish of each chapter. A bit misleading, publishers.

Not what I was expecting, but a great book.

important and fascinating presentation re design

should be mandatory reading for all designers of anything and all ergonomists, human factors professionals, and anyone appreciates and cares about good design.

Muy esclarecedor

Tiene bastante información. Como para escucharlo varias veces. Muy completo aunque habla mucho de EUA y no tanto de otros países.