This book is stunning! Every woman needs to read this book, because not only does the author present us with groundbreaking research (easy to understand, btw) on our brains, but also she tells us what this means for us in our daily lives. If you have ever wondered about your own MOOD, ANXIETY, MEMORY or ATTENTION, then this book will give you many valuable answers.

What I found most fascinating is that the health problems we are facing as women today are affected by the dramatic shifts in women’s roles, responsibilities and lifestyles. And these changes are only as recent as 60 years old. Our brains are entirely different from our mothers, and grandmothers, because we’ve had to adapt to a very different world. This has made our bodies (that don’t evolve as fast) a sensitive and reactive landscape to compensate for the changes in deep patterns and structures going on in our brains.

This book breaks down the types of people into clusters carefully but accurately. It is a method marketing companies use to target their products and ads to the types of people mostly likely to buy into them. This parallels very closely to the idea of developing audience archetypes, or personas. Personas would be different in that they are not bound by a specific region, and they all for ‘twinsumer’ patterns to emerge in the new landscape of online consumption.

A wonderful book on the process helping convince and ask the right questions when developing a website of any nature. Kinda reminded me of Dondis’ book on Visual Literacy… It was succint and direct, with every page containing some useful information. My highest critical acclaim for his model also found on his website www.jjg.net I now use it extensively while consulting for my clients on developing strategy for any online endeavors. I’ve also met Jesse in person, having attended his workshop, and he is quite the individual. He has a lot of passion and knowledge for user experience, and I would recommend his company Adaptive Path, in a heartbeat.

I’ve always known the importance of good typography, but this book put into nice, concise words exactly what I’ve always wanted to say about it. An excellent book; it has helped me through my process for selecting type for my project, but has also confused me with the sheer number of choices I now have to choose from!

This book lays out some clear and obviously effective principles of usability that I would definitely look over before tackling interface design. Krug reminds us that ‘ease of use’ is easily the make or break deal for any website. “It’s a fact: People won’t use your web site if they can’t find their way around it.” Here we get proof again, that user experience is the key to any successful type of website.

While some of the stuff may be obvious, or maybe just be obvious to me, I found his style to be amusing and a reflection of what really goes on in the head of the designer when it comes to designing and the politics surrounding it. His axioms are helpful for any beginners trying to rehaul a horribly designed website, but they don’t help with any complex problems of interaction. Perhaps Steve Krug willl explain those in another book.

More than finding the book useful for myself, the book is actually a good way to bridge understanding between yourself and non-designers. In fact, I came up with this 1-page summary of his book. Here it is below:

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug – Some Key Points:

Three facts about real-world web use:
Fact of Life #1: We don’t read pages. We scan them.
Fact of Life #2: We don’t make optimal choices. We satisfice.
Fact of Life #3: We don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through them.

Designing pages for scanning, not reading:
> Create a clear visual hierarchy.
> Take advantage of conventions.
> Break pages up into clearly defined areas.
> Make it obvious what is clickable.
> Minimize noise.
> Make choices (w/ wording or graphics) obvious.
> Omit needless words.

Designing navigation:
> Allow the user to browse or search.
> Always provide a way back home.
> Tell the user what the site contains and where they are.
> Tell the user what their options are and where to begin.
> Name each page prominently and place the name in the right place.
> Provide a “You are here.” indication.
> Use breadcrumb navigation where appropriate and appropriately.
> Use tabs. They are wonderful indicators of space and self-evident.

Acid test for good navigation:
> What site is this? (Site ID)
> What page am I on? (Page name)
> What are the major sections of this site? (Sections)
> What are my options at this level? (Local navigation)
> Where am I in the scheme of things? (“You are here” indicators)
> How can I search?

Designing the home page and why it’s so hard:
> It must accommodate: Site identity and mission, site hierarchy, search, teases and promos, timely content, deals, shortcuts, registration.
> Abstractly it must also: make things users are looking for obvious and expose things that users might be interested in.
> It must establish credibility and trust.
> It must convey the big picture.

Five questions the home page must answer:
> What is this?
> What do they have here?
> What can I do here?
> Why should I be here – and not somewhere else?
> Where do I start?

This book is on the frothy edge of communication and branding theory. A little grandiose in its presentation, but as is expected, since the author is describing a whole paradigm shift, breaking down communication into its more abstract forms. What is the root of a brand? A concept. An experience. The best part of this entire book comes on the last chapter and last page where it describes the evolution of entrepreneurship from the physical (product oriented) to the mental (communication oriented).

Really nicely done, especially the introduction. He convincingly breaks the most common assumption and gives great ideas and creative exercises to encourage new ways of thinking. Not a HOW-TO book, but definiitely something to help you with the psychological problems of getting over that uncertainty hump. I liked his honest style.