I enjoyed reading (and sometimes skimming) About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design, by Alan Cooper, et al. It is full of “design principles,” all of which are neatly listed in the appendix, and most of which seem right on target. They serve as an excellent reminder of the things to be aiming at when designing a software product.

I must take some issue with the very first guideline, though – “Interaction design is not guesswork.” It is not purely guesswork, of course, but neither is it an exact science. Even with unlimited time, resources, and intelligence, I doubt that we could ever get everything “right,” if there is such a thing. Some of his examples of good interaction design are questionable, in my mind. But it is good to treat design as something that can be done right, if only to keep us from giving up altogether; we should do the best we can.