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About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design cover

About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design

The Essentials of Interaction Design

The definitive handbook for designing software people can use.

by Alan Cooper

About Face is a comprehensive guide to interaction design, introducing goal-directed methods and the use of personas to design software around real user goals. First published in 1995 as The Essentials of User Interface Design and expanded across later editions, it covers principles, patterns, and detailed interface guidelines. It remains a core reference for designing digital products.

Founders shipping software products inherit countless interface decisions, and About Face gives a principled, goal-directed way to make them instead of guessing. Its persona method also gives small teams a concrete tool to keep design grounded in real users.

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