UX / UI - trying to learn more, any tips what to use / follow etc?

[NickFitz]

Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things isn't about computer UIs but it's generally regarded as the seminal text on the fundamental principles of User Centred Design

[hobnob]

I'm not aware of any tools to help with this, but there are a couple of books I read (back in my programmer days) which might interest you:

"Don't make me think" (Krug)
"User Interface Design for Programmers" (Spolsky)

They were published about 20 years ago (although Krug did a revised edition about 10 years ago), so they might be a bit dated, but I think some of the general principles will still be valid.

[dsc]

I'm currently doing a soft eng contract which is a mixture of everything, using a language close to C++ with some configuration via...well clicking, some testing and some UX / UI design. Over the last year or so I've been taking any and all tasks related with the latter as it's the most interesting for me.

I know there's a few UX / UI heads here, so a question - what tools can I use to learn what a good design is? what do you normally use in your day to day? any "golden" rules of design that can be followed? most of the things I cobble together as just...well things that look okish and work...okish as well. The end users are typically "operators" so fairly...well, rough-around-the-edges types of guys who are mostly focused on whether a button does what it should when pressed, not whether the font on it is a specific style / size. But still, it's easier to "sell" a product to other depts (currently it's used by a few, not just the operators) which would then mean more work for me.

And btw yeah I know UX / UI as a thing is probably dead now with AI and all, but it genuinely seems interesting and something I always liked doing (this takes me back to oldschool UI design in Turbo C++ / Borland under DOS with a bloody mouse as well after I've learnt how to load drivers ).