There is no shortage of UX blogs and even if reading UX blogs were your full-time occupation, you wouldn't be able to read them all. This is why it is important to know which blogs are must-reads, which are nice to read, and which are a waste of time. We hope that this list of 20 UX blogs, which are worth reading will help you in your efforts to follow UX tendencies.
The blogs are not arranged in any special order. Many of them are great and it is not possible to rank them in a fair way. The only exception is the first blog. It is there because N1 is simply reserved for Mr. Nielsen and his blog. Otherwise, almost any of the remaining 19 sites could be at N2.
1. Jacob Nielsen's useit.com
Jacob Nielsen is rightfully considered as one of the pioneers of usability. Since the 1990s he has been maintaining his usability blog at http://useit.com and this blog is a must read for everybody, who takes usability in earnest. His blog might not look glossy but behind this simple outfit, great contents is hidden.
2. UsabilityPost
Usability Post is another UX blog that is a good run for the time you spend with. Usability Post focuses on how to design usable sites, so if you are a designer and are looking for tips, howtos, tutorials and other similar stuff you can directly put in use, this UX blog might become your favorite one.
3. Adaptive Path
The blog of AdaptivePath is another blog with practical orientation. Most of the posts on the blog are inspired by the everyday work of the authors and they reflect their experience on how things are done in the trenches. This blog is not exclusively about usability and user experience but these topics get a lot of coverage.
4. The Web Usability Blog
The name of this blog – The Web Usability Blog says it all. The blog is a relatively new one but it has already a lot of interesting stuff on it. If this blog continues the way it started, it is certainly a nice place to visit and learn new things from.
5. User Interface Engineering
The User Interface Engineering blog is like a library about usability because it has tons of articles on many aspects of user interface engineering with usability in mind. The company behind the blog is a usability research company and this explains why there are so many professionally-written articles to read.
6. Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is not exactly a UX blog as most of the other blogs in this list but since it is an indisputable authority on Web design and it frequently writes about usability, it does belong here. Anyway, even if you don't pick it as your primary source of UX-related news, reading Smashing Magazine is certainly worth your time.
7. UI Trends
UI Trends is not the most visually exciting UX blog on the list but its contents makes it a top pick. UI trends, as its name suggests, deals with emerging usability trends. In a sense, it is the fashion blog of usability. Readers can vote on trends (i.e. Bad Ugly Trend or Good Trend). Don't worry, if you haven't heard about most of the trends – they are still new and it is not quite certain that they will ever become mainstream.
8. UX Booth
UX Booth is one more blog that writes exclusively about UX. UX Booth contains tons of resources and one of the really nice things about it is that its community is very active.
9. EverydayUX
EverydayUX stresses on the visual aspects of communication with its readers. The posts usually have a video or at least some other kind of illustration. However, this doesn't mean that the blog is not serious. Not at all - you can find lots of useful info about the UX problems you encounter on a daily basis.
10. Design For Service
The Design for Service blog is focused on how UI designers should communicate with their clients in the name of usability. Still, you can find pure UX posts here. The Design for Service blog is of top quality – don't be misled by the fact that it is hosted on a free domain (i.e. Wordpress).
11. InspireUX
The thing that makes InspireUX stand out from the rest is that it contains quotes about UX from various gurus of usability. This blog might not be as educational as some of the others on this list but still it is good since a brief citation often says more than a long report.
12. Cimex
This blog has a dark background with white and orange letters - a design that is a usability no-no, but the contents of the Cimex blog wins us over and this is why we have put it in the list. The blog is frequently updated and there is a lot you can learn from it.
13. UXmatters
UXmatters is one more useful web magazine you might want to check now and then. The list of authors, topics, and articles is really impressive, so if you plan to read most of it, you'd better take a week off work. There are articles in many categories and the UXmatters magazine is a great resource both for UX novices and veterans.
14. User Experience (UX) Blog
The User Experience (UX) blog is a subsection of Business Week and as you might expect, its target audience are not designers but business people. You might wonder why this blog is on our list. There are two reasons: you need to have an idea about the way business people (i.e. your clients) view usability and you also need to have something to show them, in case they treat usability effort as a way to waste time and money.
15. Logic + Emotion
The Logic + Emotion blog is one more blog with supreme quality hosted with a free hosting provider. UX is one of the core topics but the blog also covers many related subjects, such as Customer Experience, Thinking Visually, etc. There are a lot of interesting things to learn here, so if you have the time, visit the blog and browse through it.
16. Putting People First
The name of the blog – Putting People First – tells a lot about its priorities. The blog is not entirely about UX but still there are many useful articles here. Maybe this blog is not exactly a must-read but if you have a look at it from time to time, it won't hurt.
17. UX Blog
UX Blog is one more useful resource about everything UX related. The blog contains many original posts as well as links to hot usability resources on the Net. The author of the blog is a usability veteran and he is kind enough to share many tips and tricks you can benefit from.
18. Steve Bromley's UX Blog
Steve Bromley is a usability expert and he shares his knowledge on his blog. Human Computer Interaction is the main accent of his blog but you can also find information about other topics, such as iPhone Game Design, or UX book reviews.
19. 37 Signals
37 Signals is a general technology blog but it has a fat and useful section on usability and this is the reason to why we decided to include it on this list. The blog is updated relatively frequent and it is a good resource to monitor.
20. UserExperienceUX
UserExperienceUX is not a blog about UX only but its User Experience section is good and well deserves some attention. You won't find tons of usability secrets here but still there is good and useful stuff for UX experts of all levels.
Commented by: pixhell, 7 November, 2009
Cool links, I read of these sites already but there's a couple I wasn't aware of.
One you missed:
Boxes and Arrows
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/
I'm a User Interface and User Experience designer myself, however I work in the gaming industry.
Unfortunately too often UX is applied only to wed design, which is a shame because it has much broader uses. I've started my own blog called Humane Machine here: http://www.humanemachine.com
I'm focusing mostly on user interface design, however UX is heavily involved and I'm approaching it from the perspective of game development which is pretty unique as far UX goes. Have a look and let me know what you think!
Thanks again for the links. :)
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