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  • User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play
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User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Cliff Kuang (Author), Robert Fabricant (Author), Jean Ann Douglass (Narrator),
4.5 out of 5 stars 776 ratings

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2019 鶹.com Best Books of the Year

This program includes material read by the authors.

In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need.

Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from women’s rights to the Great Depression to World War II to the rise of the digital era, this audiobook unpacks the ways in which the world has been - and continues to be - remade according to the principles of the once-obscure discipline of user-experience design.

In this essential program, Kuang and Fabricant map the hidden rules of the designed world and shed light on how those rules have caused our world to change - an underappreciated but essential history that’s pieced together for the first time. Combining the expertise and insight of a leading journalist and a pioneering designer, User Friendly provides a definitive, thoughtful, and practical perspective on a topic that has rapidly gone from arcane to urgent to inescapable. In User Friendly, Kuang and Fabricant tell the whole story for the first time - and you’ll never interact with technology the same way again.

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Previous slide of product details
  1. Listening Length
    11 hours and 18 minutes
  2. Author
    Cliff Kuang, see all
  3. Narrator
    Jean Ann Douglass
  4. Audible release date
    Nov. 19 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Macmillan Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07ZQNQMVC
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
Next slide of product details

Product details

Listening Length 11 hours and 18 minutes
Author Cliff Kuang, Robert Fabricant
Narrator Jean Ann Douglass
Audible.ca Release Date November 19 2019
Publisher Macmillan Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07ZQNQMVC
鶹 Rank

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
776 global ratings

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Elizabeth O.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
    Reviewed in Canada on September 11, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Great book and a gorgeous cover!
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  • Carlos Zardo JR
    4.0 out of 5 stars Bom livro
    Reviewed in Brazil on December 5, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Conceitos interessantes e uma boa discussão sobre design. O método de contar histórias para justificar os conceitos funciona bem também, porém com uma leitura um pouco cansativa mais ou menos no meio do livro. Ainda assim, é super recomendado para quem está estudando ou é profissional da área de design, preocupado com experiência, sendo de produto ou não.
    Report
  • Jan Dziekan
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Spirit of User Friendly Design
    Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    “Technology should become simpler over time. Then it should become simpler still, so that it disappears from notice.” We take it for granted - at least in consumer-grade products and services. Pampered by instant-gratification feedback loops, rushing through minimal interfaces, we are more and more accustomed to machines that “just work”. Cliff Huang and Robert Fabricant - with decades of user experience work under their belts - give us a fascinating story of how this idea of “user friendliness” was invented, how it evolved and what are the possible trends of the future. It is a journey through the most iconic events, companies and people defining the design field in the last hundred years.

    I have found the most revealing how ease of use of equipment came to prominence only recently, despite the obvious (in hindsight?) proofs how catastrophic a bad design can be - be it a bomber plane, lawn mower or nuclear power station. It is difficult for people to change beliefs, the notion of “human error” lingered for far too long. By the same token, new products have to build upon contemporary mental models; if they are too dissimilar then almost nobody will adopt them. Early cars experimented with tillers, as they were familiar to people with boat-piloting experience (and nobody had experience with automobiles). Sometimes a product is released ahead of its time, failing not necessarily of technical shortcomings but rather because nobody has experiences allowing to use it without friction, to recognize its metaphor.

    Another eye-opener - as technology evolves to be simpler to use, it becomes invisible. Ultimately, the whole environment will anticipate and seamlessly support the needs of customers. The forefront of such changes lies in companies which have total control of their environments - like Disney in its parks, or Carnival with cruise ships. There, customer journeys can be designed end-to-end, with every component - sensors, wall screens, personnel training - engineered and controlled by a single organisation. However, with projects of such scale, seamless experience is threatened by the inability of large organisations to operate under a common vision. Politics, feuds between departments, distrust between teams - all of that shows in the finished product as cracks in otherwise smooth experience. And once your customers notice the technology behind, the magic is gone.

    The book is filled with many such lessons, particularly revealing for readers not educated in the design field. Some reviewers claim that it falls short of giving enough detail on how exactly designers work and how companies differ in methodologies. That may be true, but the authors’ intent is clear - to describe a high-level overview of many elements comprising the design craft. And I cannot state enough how enjoyable is their story. Highly recommended.
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  • Carlos
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
    Reviewed in Sweden on January 12, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    100% recommended
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  • Shiv
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must read...
    Reviewed in India on May 26, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Good and informative.
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  • Carlos M
    5.0 out of 5 stars Me encanta
    Reviewed in Mexico on September 21, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    El libro lo entregaron super rápido. Me encanta que la cubierta tenga textura, es un diseño muy especial y detallado. Es una buena lectura si trabajas en UX o áreas afines del diseño. El lenguaje que utilizan no es demasiado especializado, así que es muy fácil de entender de que va.

    Súper recomendado!
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