Acknowledgments
Russ Unger
When you agree to write a second edition of a book, it seems it should be a breeze. Then you start to review the tasks ahead of you, and you realize that it can be every bit as challenging as the first edition. Fortunately, as with the first edition, there was a lot of help in creating this.
My family allowed me to do this. Again. I’m eternally grateful. Thank you for keeping me in smiles and laughter at times when I’ve been in short supply. Thank you for laughing at jokes no one else would ever find funny.
My friends chimed in, threw in support at the last minute, and stepped up to bat to provide content and confidence, both of which were definitely needed at points during this endeavor. In no specific order, the stars of the second edition are: Brad Nunnally, Kim Nunnally, Jonathan “Yoni” Knoll, Brad Simpson, Gabby Hon, Laura Creekmore, Tim Frick, Margot Bloomstein, Dr. Arthur Doederlein, Sarah Krznarich, Matthew Grocki, Dave Gray, and Todd Zaki Warfel. I’m blessed to know such amazing people, who have offered their time and resources.
Carolyn and our counterparts at New Riders, who are always a blessing to get to work with: Michael Nolan, Jeff Riley, Tracey Croom, and Mimi Heft pulled together to help us really nail this down. It is a pleasure to get to work with you all.
Everyone who helped out with the first edition, and offered continued support: Linda Laflamme, Becca Freed, Steve “Doc” Baty, Brad Simpson, Mark Brooks, Jonathan Ashton, Jono Kane, Lou Rosenfeld, Christina Wodtke, Todd Zaki Warfel, Will Evans, David Armano, Livia Labate, Matthew Milan, Troy Lucht, Ross Kimbarovsky, Wil Wheaton, Tonia M. Bartz, Leah Buley, Dave Carlson, Christopher Fahey, Nick Finck, Jesse James Garrett, Austin Govella, Jon Hadden, Whitney Hess, Andrew Hinton, Gabby Hon, Kaleem Khan, James Melzer, Chris Miller, Maciej Piwowarczyk, Stephanie Sansoucie, Kit Seeborg, Josh Seiden, Jonathan Snook, Joe Sokohl, Samantha Soma, Jared M. Spool, Keith Tatum, Tim Bruns, Peter Ina, Jean Marc Favreau, Steve Portigal, Andrew Boyd, Dan Brown, Christian Crumlish, Alec Kalner, Hugh Forrest, and all of the UX Book Clubs (http://uxbookclub.org) across the world that continue to support the authors crazy enough to put it down in writing.
Finally, it is important to note that without organizations like the Information Architecture Institute, Interaction Design Association, and others, it would have been impossible for me to make the connections with many of the people mentioned. If you’re at all curious about the field of UX design, go explore these organizations, join them, and get involved!
Carolyn Chandler
Every worthy challenge brings its own set of lessons, and writing a book is certainly that kind of challenge. In writing the first edition, I learned how difficult it is to step away from what you do day to day, and to tell that story of a user-centered project approach from beginning to end. I kept jumping to the middle, but thankfully Linda Laflamme kept Russ and me focused on the overall flow and clarity.
In working on this edition, I finally realized how closely the book-writing process resembles the design process. You need to research, immerse, talk to users, talk to experts, generate concepts and create structure before you can really get into the details.
The experts in this edition helped me immerse in some of the most recent and relevant changes in the field. Nate Bolt shared his expertise in remote research tools, which have had an unbelievable growth in both number and effectiveness since the first edition. Jeff Gothelf brought his experience in Lean UX, an approach that has helped entrepreneurs focus on bringing user-centered products to light quickly and inexpensively. Brian Henkel, Chris Ina, and Jim Jacoby provided invaluable information on considerations when designing for mobile devices. And Brandy Taylor brought the new information on design principles to a higher level by sharing her philosophy and process in working with the visual, emotional elements of a design.
A hearty “thanks!” to these experts, and to all the folks at Manifest Digital who gave me extra time and space to write this edition, including Jennifer Conklin, Sue Hardek, and Michael Latiner. And of course, I’d like to thank Jim Jacoby for talking me off the ledge when I wasn’t sure how to balance everything. It all turned out fine, just like you said, Jim!
In addition to the people Russ has already acknowledged, I’m continually grateful for the people who contributed to the first edition, with support, expertise, and time: Steve Baty, John Geletka, Linda Laflamme, Christine Mortensen, Brett Gilbert, Jen O’Brien, Jason Ulaszek, Haley Ebeling, Meredith Payne, Jenn Berzansky, Santiago Ruiz—and for Danyell Jones, for helping me get set up on delightside.com.
Last but not least, I want to thank my family and friends, who once again patiently dealt with my random appearances, and my occasional hermit-like retreats to the writing cave. I’m coming out now—see you in the sunlight!