Balsamiq is a great tool, but it is just that. Learning about customer experience, user experience and interface design takes time, dedication, great interest, and a passion for delivering simple yet intuitive designs that people respond to. You need not only know what you are doing, but also be able to answer why you are doing it.
To that point, I now want to share with you some great resources, both in print and online, that will help you get to that next level.
The list that follows is by no means complete or exhaustive. It is merely a starting point. You will find that each book offers great insight into the world of user experience, design, and the psychology around it. As you will see, there are quite a few to choose from. Pick one and start reading. When you are finished, pick another and read that one too. There is no hurry. Just enjoy the process. I do have to warn you though, once you start delving deeper into the world of user experience and design, you may not want to stop.
- The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman, Doubleday Business, 1990
- User Experience Re-mastered, Chauncey Wilson, Morgan Kaufmann, 2009
- Simple and Usable Web, Mobile, and Interaction Design, Giles Colborne, New Riders Press, 2010
- A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making, Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler, New Riders Press, 2009
- The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web, Steve Mulder and Ziv Yaar, New Riders Press, 2006
- Prioritizing Web Usability, Jakob Nielson and Hoa Loranger, New Riders Press, 2006
- Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior, Indi Young, Rosenfeld Media, 2008
- Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition, Steve Krug, New Riders Press, 2005
- Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning, 2nd Edition, Dan Brown, New Riders Press, 2010
- Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules, Jeff Johnson, Morgan Kaufmann, 2010
- The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design, Deborah J. Mayhew, Morgan Kaufmann, 1999
- The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How To Restore The Sanity, Alan Cooper, Sams, 1999
Tip
For an even longer list of titles, stop by my site at http://www.scottfaranello.com/experience/balsamiq-book-list/
Prepare to be overwhelmed at the sheer volume of information on the subject.
The following websites also provide a mountain of information about user experience design and related topics. The sites I have listed are some of my favorites and ones where you will find more information than you can possibly process in one sitting. But then, that's what bookmarks are for.
The following is a list of URLs with descriptions that are taken verbatim from their respective sites:
- http://www.alistapart.com/: A List Apart explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.
- http://www.uxbooth.com/: A publication by, and for, the User Experience Community.
- http://boxesandarrows.com/: Journal dedicated to discussing, improving and promoting the work of the information architecture community.
- http://www.smashingmagazine.com/: An online magazine for professional Web designers and developers, with a focus on useful techniques and best practices.
- http://www.useit.com/: Research findings from many usability studies 1994-2012. Web design guidelines. Usability training courses.
- http://www.humanfactors.com/home/usability.asp: Human Factors International (HFI) is the world's largest company specializing in user-centered design.
- http://www.uxforthemasses.com/: Articles about encouraging people, be they developers, designers, students, product managers or even just interested bystanders to take a dip into the stimulating, refreshing and thirst-quenching world of user experience (UX).
- http://uxmag.com/: Created to be a central, one-stop resource for everything related to user experience.
- http://www.usercentric.com/: A global user experience research firm.
- http://webusability-blog.com/: A team of Belgium based usability experts and information architects.
If you are a professional Usability Expert, User Experience Designer, Wireframe Architect, or someone who aspires to be, then LinkedIn is for you, http://www.linkedin.com.
This is a site I use often and it has helped me in my work and career tremendously. One area of the site I find very useful is the Groups and Associations section. This is a place where you can join various groups of like-minded folks who are sharing information and communicating on a large scale.
For example, check out UX Professionals, Usability Practitioners, UsabilityMatters.Org, User Experience Group, User Experience Recruiting, and others. These groups, and many others like it, are a great resource for asking questions, getting answers, sharing tips and tricks, and a great place overall to share knowledge and to feel like part of a community.
You really can't go wrong. Give it a try!