Seriously, Read a Book!

I go back to this book again and again whenever I feel stalled out.

It's easy for design to get overwhelming- or maybe that's just me, but, in any event, this book is a fantastic resource to page through when you have what I think of as the opposite of designer's block. With so many innovations in programming, UX, design and information architecture coming out all of the time it's easy to lose a sense of how to make things just "feel right." This book is a great way to get back to the basics of semiotics and rediscover what intuitive, and usable really mean.

I agree that alphabetical may not be the best way to organize this kind of information-- if that's a deal-breaker for you check out 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People; but, given the illustrations and the physical structure of the book it's easy enough to breeze through and find those things you didn't even realize you were looking for. This makes a great short-hand companion to many of the principles described more extensively in The Design of Everyday Things, and, in my opinion, could even be a great coffee-table read...