Books & such…
To quote E.M. Forster, “How do I know what I think until I see it in writing?” Here are some thoughts I’ve published over the years.
Figure It Out: Getting from Information to Understanding
My second book, published in 2020.
Information is easy. Understanding is hard.
From incomprehensible tax policies to confusing medical explanations, we're swamped with information that we can''t make sense of. Figure It Out shows us how to transform information into better presentations, better meetings, better software, and better decisions. So take heart: under the guidance of Anderson and Fast, we can, in fact, figure it out—for ourselves and for others.
Pencil Me In: The Business Drawing Book for People Who Can't Draw
For the all-new 2nd printing, Christina Wodtke invited me to contribute a section on “Visual Models.” Using visual explanations to explain the "elements common to all kinds of visual models" was challenging and fun, and helped to clarify my own thinking. .
Designing for Emerging Technologies
In 2014, Jonathan Follett invited me to contribute a chapter to this book. I obliged, with a chapter on “Thinking and Learning with Things” which explores what happens when things get endowed with digital intelligence. Kind of my post Internet of Things musings.
Seductive Interaction Design
My first book, published in 2011.
What happens when you’ve built a great website or app, but no one seems to care? How do you get people to stick around long enough to see how your service might be of value? In Seductive Interaction Design, speaker and author Stephen P. Anderson takes a fresh approach to designing sites and interactions based on the stages of seduction. This beautifully designed book examines what motivates people to act.
Principles from psychology are found throughout the book, along with dozens of examples showing how these techniques have been applied with great success. In addition, each section includes interviews with influential web and interaction designers.
Mental Notes Card Deck
Self-published in 2010. 15th Anniversary edition coming soon to Kickstarter!.
In the midst of a busy project it's all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great products. Mental Notes brings together 50 insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to the design of Web sites, Web apps, and software applications.
Visual Thinking Toolkit
Currently in testing & development.