100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People | Judy Unrein, Learning Solutions Magazine

Like listening to a greatest hits album to get a feel for a band’s most influential work, reading 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk, PhD, is an excellent way to delve into design through the lens of how people think and interact.

So begins Judy Unrein in this review of Weinschenk's new book.

Unrein continues:

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People is broken down into 10 chapters based on how people see, read, remember, think, focus their attention, are motivated, interact, feel, make mistakes, and decide – all things that designers and educators could benefit tremendously from knowing more about! And I especially liked how Weinshenk debunked many “common knowledge” myths. 

She then summarizes several lessons in the book, with these topic headings:

• Vision trumps all of the senses
• People don’t remember well
• Emotion is important, too.

And she concludes:

As broad-based as this book is, it’s also a really easy read; each of the “100 Things” is no more than a few pages long and she writes in an entertaining and personal way. It’s easy to read straight through and it’s a great on-the-go read as well, as you can easily read a few things any time you have to wait for a plane, a bus, a train, or a meal.

I'm not a full-time publication designer with vast amounts of training. But Unrein's review of Weinschenk's book suggests to me that I and other publication editors could benefit a lot from its advice.