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From time to time I get people asking me to recommend some books on Design, Website Development and User Experience, so hopefully this list can be useful.

Printwork

“Printwork” showcases the intimate relationship between prints and publications or promotions design. Graphic designers are continually challenged to find new ways to lend impact and interest to their work. The special printing methods collected in “Print Work” are employed to great effect in book and product design in innovative and exciting ways. Colors, gloss, and texture all add visual and tactile appeal to products, packaging and print designs. “Look and feel” has never been more important to the success of a product or campaign. “Print Work” encourages designers to experiment with unusual printing methods and techniques and challenges them to think beyond the computer screen and into the dimension of the realm of the senses. Presenting actual techniques featured in the book inviting readers to touch each page, allowing them access to the haptic quality of the finished products.

Sketching User Experiences
by Bill Buxton

Sketching User Experiences approaches design and design thinking as something distinct that needs to be better understood-by both designers and the people with whom they need to work- in order to achieve success with new products and systems. So while the focus is on design, the approach is holistic. Hence, the book speaks to designers, usability specialists, the HCI community, product managers, and business executives. There is an emphasis on balancing the back-end concern with usability and engineering excellence (getting the design right) with an up-front investment in sketching and ideation (getting the right design).

Universal Principles of Design
by William Lidewell et. al.

Richly illustrated, this book is the first comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design. It pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the concepts applied in practice. From the “80/20 rule to chunking, from baby-face bias to Ockham’s razor, and from self-similarity to storytelling, every major design concept is defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge.

Designing The Obvious
by Robert Hoekman Jr

Designing the Obvious explores the character traits of great Web applications and uses them as guiding principles of application design so the end result of every project instills customer satisfaction and loyalty. These principles include building only whats necessary, getting users up to speed quickly, preventing and handling errors, and designing for the activity.

Slide:ology
by Nancy duarte

From the firm that created the presentation for Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, this book is full of practical approaches to visual story development that can be applied by anyone. The book combines conceptual thinking and inspirational design, with insightful case studies from the world’s leading brands.

Don’t Make Me Think
by Steve Krug

Five years and more than 100,000 copies after it was first published, it’s hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn’t read Steve Krug’s “instant classic” on Web usability, but people are still discovering it every day.  In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters in the same style as the original: wry and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike.  Don’t be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design.

Designing Web Interfaces
by Bill Scott & Thomson Neil

In this book, UI experts Bill Scott and Theresa Neil present more than 75 design patterns for building web interfaces that provide rich interaction. Distilled from the authors’ years of experience at Sabre, Yahoo!, and Netflix, these best practices are grouped into six key principles to help you take advantage of the web technologies available today.

Graphic Simplicity

Simple, high-quality design work: not just crisply elegant and eye-catching, but uncluttered and distinctive, colorful and refined, making subtly effective use of fonts and logos. In short, sophisticated designs seduce all who see them. This book presents a collection of just such work for those who appreciate genuine quality in graphic design, featuring a selection of the finest in simple and superlative design from the U.K., Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, the USA and more, presented in a stylish, understated volume.

UX Design
by Russ Unger & Carolyn Chandler

User experience design is the discipline of creating a useful and usable Web site or application—one that’s easily navigated and meets the needs of both the site owner and its users. But there’s a lot more to successful UX design than knowing the latest Web technologies or design trends: It takes diplomacy, project management skills, and business savvy. That’s where this book comes in.

Our next stop was the Tokyo International Forum, a massive architectural landmark normally used for exhibitions and concert halls. They also happen to run flea market on that day. It’s quite interesting to see various items on sale even though we found they are rather expensive for second-hand items.

We then walk back to Tokyo station and catch a train to Shinjuku to check out some cosplay. Harajuku station was soo.. busy that we were overwhelmed by the crowds over there. Exiting the station was hard enough since there were so many people but then as we reached the famous Takeshita St, we can’t help but to be astounded by the sheer crowd.

A few metres into Takeshita St, we stopped in front of maccas with fear that we’re going to be trampled by the crowd. Luckily it wasn’t too bad once you’re in with the crowd. T noticed a crepe shop nearby and decided to give it a try. He bought a strawberry crepes and it was REALLY GOOD!!! It was so good that I forgot about my headache and had a full smile on every bite. For me, that was the best strawberry crepes in the world!

We checked out a few shops in the area, drop by at a ¥100 shop and then continue to walk to Shibuya district (yes, we walked all the way).

In the evening we visited Ginza area where all the exclusive (read: expensive) boutiques are located. It’s a very vibrant area and even though we didn’t buy anything there (can anyone guess why?), we took a few snapshots, pay a visit to the Apple Store where T saw the awesome elevator UI on youTube a couple of years back. It stops at every floor and features 100% glass doors (no frame on them!).

Satoko-san used to live at my place when she did her Indonesian language degree in Makassar and she has become very close to our family. So it was nice that we could see her again in Kyoto.

Travelling to Kyoto took around 2.5 hours (at a speed of 300 km/h, mind you) and the ride was extremely smooth…so smooth that we kept falling asleep as much as we wanted to see the scenery that flickered past our window. We had purchased bento boxes from the station before we departed and ate it on the train for our lunch.

Kyoto station seemed to be as big as Tokyo station. As soon as we exited the gate, there was a cake shop with a long display of cakes that have been beautifully made. Such a fascinating sight! In fact, the whole walkway was lined with cake shops and bakeries. It was quite tricky finding the taxi company which would take us to the hotel because it was located across the road and not so obvious looking. The hotel itself was not too far from the station, but we thought it was a bit too much if we had to walk and drag our luggages with us. (besides, the taxi fare is covered by the hotel)

This time we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto hotel. Aah, it’s such a beautiful place! Most hotels give a cold vibe, but not this one. The interior design was a combination of Scandinavian and Japanese zen, which created a warm and homely atmosphere. The staff were also extremely nice. The first person we met at the hotel was the concierge who greeted us at the door. He’s definitely not Japanese….rather an Aussie (he later told us he used to live in Balmain)

After checking in, a female concierge staff led us to our room while pushing the luggage trolley. It turned out she’s not Japanese too! She’s from Shanghai and she was a delightfully chatty person. She really gave me the impression that this hotel has very lovely and friendly staff. Actually I thought she was rather cute and would be perfect for K. Anyway, she opened the door for us and would not walk in until we have entered first. Then she carried (not dragged, but CARRIED) our heavy luggages inside the room. I felt sorry for her (she was petite), so I beckoned to assist but she would not allow me to. Gosh, such hospitality. After “introducing” the room to us, she left with a bow and we unpacked, marvelled at the beautifully designed room, and got ready to explore Kyoto.

We decided to walk back to Kyoto Station because there is a giant shopping center there and we were eager to visit more food basements. On the way, we stopped over at Amazon Cafe for afternoon tea. It’s a delightful little place that has been opened since 1972. We were seated upstairs and ordered coffee with a hamburg sandwich for T and an egg & cucumber sandwich for me. The food was actually quite nice! We felt refreshed and continued walking to Kyoto Station.

We walked up the escalators, which from the bottom looked like a stairway to heaven. The building itself has a modern design and very open. There’s an Isetan department store, several nice restaurants, and lots of smaller shops/restaurants/cafes underneath. In fact, so many that it was always difficult for us to find our way back to the same place. It felt like we went to a totally different and unexplored area everytime we exited a gate or walked around the corner.

So we sussed out Isetan and happily browsed the stationery section. I bought several goodies as gifts and when it was time to pay, the guy at the counter asked me in Japanese whether these were for presents. At first I didn’t understand what he was saying, but after using broken English (and broken Japanese) I told him “yes, it’s for omiyage”. The word omiyage must have set off an alarm bell inside his head because he looked distressed (?) and asked for assistance from his female colleague. She asked what colour paperbag I would like – red or blue. I chose blue. Then she asked what colour ribbon (on gold stickers) I would like – red or blue. I chose blue again. So both of them immediately created a production line, where the guy peeled off the price stickers and placed the items in individual paper bags, while the lady neatly folded the flap and meticulously placed the Isetan sticker/ribbon at the front. While they were doing this, a queue formed at the counter and I felt bad for getting them to do individual packaging. Hang on, not my fault. It was a miscommunication – I actually asked them to place all items in one big bag and provide me with several smaller ones so I can wrap them myself later on, but she thought I wanted each of them wrapped individually on the spot *sigh*.

So again, I felt sorry for them and plainly told them that I could wrap it myself at home. They both immediately gave me a surprised look and the lady said “Nooooo we do it for you!” while waving her hand. Ach, I felt bad and slightly embarassed because they gave such good customer service that ours here in Aussie is like NOTHING compared to theirs. T thought it was funny

After that we headed towards the lower levels and ate noodles for dinner, before walking back to the hotel to call it a day. We took some photos of the hotel lobby, explored the area, took a nice relaxing shower and went back down to the lobby to use the internet. The concierge from Shanghai was there again and she was chatting with some other guests (little chatter box). Then she spotted a person outside who was trying to get a taxi, so she immediately ran outside, did a quick bow, called the taxi over, stood and waited until the taxi left the hotel grounds, and did another 90 degree bow.
Whoa…

So we walked to Akasaka Grand Prince hotel which was only a few minutes away and waited to be picked up by the tour bus. On the way there, we stopped to take a photo near a cherry blossom tree and I saw a big ING billboard near our hotel. Geez…it seems like I can’t escape from work! Anyway, the tour leader didn’t look very Japanese! But it turned out he wasn’t our guide for the day. The weather forecast for that day was showers, but it didn’t rain. We were also notified later on by the tour guide that we’re able to drive to Station 4 (2200m above sea level) on Mount Fuji, whereas previously only Station 1 was open due to the bad weather. So from the Sunrise Tour terminal, we headed off to Mount Fuji on a long drive, passing through a tunnel (see picture) and arrived at the Mount Fuji Information Center. I got excited with the sight of Hello Kitty goodies at the souvenier shop (tourist trap?). Then we went to the 4th Station on Mount Fuji. As we ascended, we could see patches snow on the side of the road. We got off the bus at the 4th Station and it was freezing outside – winter wonderland. There were plenty of snow and the corn cobs on sale looked like a yummy relief from the cold. We spent around 1/2 hour there and then went to a nearby hotel for lunch. We sat on one table with 2 Sydney couples and 2 other people from the US. After that we travelled to Lake Ashi and I enjoyed the view along the way. The souvenir shop at Lake Ashi was very inviting. We wanted to stay and browse but only had 9 minutes to spare, so it was a mad rush trying to decide what to buy (Hello Kitty was on top of the list). We went on a ferry to the other side of the lake, browsed through more souvenier shops (which we didn’t mind doing) and then rode on a cable car to the top of the hill and back again. Towards the end of the tour, we went to Hakone and boarded a shinkansen back to Tokyo station. Those trains are amazingly fast! Their normal speed is around 300 km/h, but apparently they slow down (210 km/h) as they pass through a station. Even then it was difficult for us to take a good snapshot of it. In the evening we met up with Kim/Dwina for dinner. They took the same tour as us, but travelled with a different group. We were planning to have dinner at Yabu Soba but they were closing as we arrived at the restaurant. A quick look at our Lonely Planet book revealed that there’s another good restaurant nearby called Marugo and it’s famous for their tonkatsu. The restaurant is located near Akihabara and took us a while to look for the restaurant because we’re not familiar with Japanese street address system. We actually walked past the restaurant a couple of times when circling the block but because the shop doesn’t have a very visible number and the shop name is written in kanji, we weren’t too sure. We decided to bite the bullet and walk in and fortunately it is the right shop. Finally we could enjoy a good dinner meal.

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Panic kicked in… T ran around trying to sort things out while I stayed with the luggages. We ended up buying a Suica Pass (turned out to be a good thing) and the Narita Express to go to Tokyo. We left the big suitcase at the airport (500 yen per day) and headed off with the smaller ones.

We thought we’d have to carry all our luggage all the way to the train platform but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that all trolleys in the airport works with all escalators (not travelators mind you). This was the first of “why-can’t-we-have-this-in-sydney” moments we often experienced in Japan.

We went straight to our hotel (Akasaka Hotel Monterey) and had to walk 3 blocks from the station to the hotel in the pouring rain while dragging our luggage. It felt like a miserable start to the holiday, but we didn’t let it ruin our honeymoon. It’s all part of an interesting holiday!

Another interesting sight we encountered was a locker for umbrellas which was strategically placed outside the hotel. The locker allows you to place your umbrella and lock it in position by using a combination number you choose yourself so you can have the peace of mind knowing that someone won’t steal your umbrella whilst it was unattended

We arrived at the hotel 2 hours prior to their normal check-in time, but thank God we were told that our room is ready. We took a shower, change into complimentary pyjamas provided by the hotel, and went to sleep until around 6pm. Nothing feels better than a hot shower after hours of travelling. After the nap, we still felt exhausted but were eager to go out and explore the area, and satisfy our hunger.

It was cold and windy and we weren’t sure what to have for dinner and decided to stroll around Akasaka area. To our surprise, we found a Jangara Ramen shop which specialises in Kyushu style ramen and was on our “to-try” list. Apparently they just opened another shop here in Akasaka. Ramen was good… the broth was good and it was a very satisfying experience for our first day in Japan. We’ll write a separate post about this one

We then walked around Akasaka area on the way back to the hotel. We stopped over at the Kinokuniya supermarket and bought some goodies just because they looked good!

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We were very excited to be on board the A380 and loved every minute of it. My eyes were hurting because we’d been lacking sleep for several days, so I couldn’t watch the movies for too long. I tried to read the Nikon D80 camera’s manual but found myself falling asleep after a few pages. Luckily the inflight entertainment system also features “educational” stuff, so I decided to learn Japanese language and read information about Japan. T on the other hand made the most out of the in-seat power supply and did some last minute work stuff before switching to “holiday” mode.

We arrived at Changi International Airport – Terminal 3 at around 2pm. We got off the plane and took some photos of the plane from the boarding ramp before entering the terminal. We saw other passengers were taking similar shots. I guess they were impressed too! Changi Terminal 3 is huge and has closer resemblance to a shopping centre than an airport. The ceilings were designed to utilise natural light during the day and yet keep the heat out. Exclusive (read: expensive) stores also at the ready to serve you should you wish to shop for items like Vertu, Chopard, Mont Blanc, etc.

The terminal is so huge that it has its own monorail inside the terminal running every 3 minutes to take you to departure gates located towards the end of the terminal (in our case it can take up to 16 minutes to walk there – by using monorail we got there in 5 minutes)

I loved the koi ponds – HUGE koi fish kept coming up to the surface with their mouth opened wide. They probably thought we were going to feed them because we visited the pond close to their feeding time. You can easily find resting areas, free internet connections, yummy foods, glorious shops…and the toilets…ach, the toilets…some have views to the tarmac area, and there’s one in the centre (for ladies) which features a section that looks like a salon but without the hairdressers and equipments, plus 2 change rooms. Nice!

We had several hours to kill before our next flight to Japan, so we decided to go to the city to meet up with T’s friend. We took the MRT to Orchard Road and ate prawn mee (recommended by H). At first I thought it would be tasteless because it looked bland, but it turned out to be delicious! A small serve was enough for both of us. I can’t imagine how big the large serving is. We sussed out several shops as we waited for T’s friend, then we went to a cafe in Borders (it’s much nicer than the usual Gloria Jeans counters we have in Sydney) for a quick meal before heading back to the airport.

The next flight to Narita was at 11.40pm. We were extremely tired by then and my eyes were sore, so we slept as soon as the plane took off. Mind you, the flight was on the ‘normal’ 737-400 airplane (ie. small sized monitors) so we couldn’t be bothered to watch any movie. I was a bit annoyed as a stewardess woke us up at around 1.30am for “light refreshment”. Breakfast was served around 4 hours later and my stomach was confused.

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