Ask HN: Recommendations for learning and improving UX/UI skills?

http://www.jeremytunnell.com/posts/books-on-user-experience-...

You've got to get away from people who say "We can't do it the way Google or Amazon does it because they're big and they can afford it." You've got to think instead "Google and Amazon are big because they did things right."

You've still got to think about (small) scale though.

Back around 2000 I was interested in user management and authentication and back then the main challenge across the industry was conversion rate, and it was very good to imitate what Yahoo did.

A few years later, Yahoo's signup and login process had become quite complicated because they had a notoriously foolish user base that was vulnerable to fraud and phishing. If you imitated them you'd quadruple your development costs, kill your conversion rate, and get your email box flooded from people who forgot their passwords.

(Funny, Yahoo started to go downhill around they time they did this!)

So look at the leaders and think about what they do critically. Don't listen to voices that say "we can't afford it" -- you can't afford to have employees that are lazy like that or for that matter, to be working for a project manager who won't do what it takes for your projects to succeed.

Ignore the ugliness and you'll find practical advice in the reports and Alertbox articles although his opinions are sometimes controversial and shouldn't necessarily be followed to the letter. Nevertheless they'll undoubtedly increase your awareness of the variety of user types out there and encourage you to think from their perspective, which is ultimately what good UI design is all about.

Here's an analogy with physical fitness. If you want to reach "competition level" fitness you don't just watch youtube videos and read books. You have to practice. And if you practice alone, you'll never hit competition level. You need formal TRAINING. You need an experienced professional giving you advice, critiquing your performance and stretching your abilities. You need them to help you track your own performance, to become acutely aware of your weaknesses and focus on them relentlessly.

A lot of organisations don't get this. A few books, a conference and a spot of mentoring doesn't turn a team of front end developers into UX designers.