IN PRAISE OF

UNDERSTANDING YOUR
USERS, SECOND EDITION
“The first edition became my ‘go-to’ book for mastering user requirements gathering. Ten years later, this second
edition is even better. Don’t leave your office without it!”

—Joe Dumas, Editor in Chief, Journal of Usability Studies

“Do you believe in driving while blindfolded? That’s what you’re doing if you design and market a technological
product without studying your target users and tasks. This book is a comprehensive handbook on the “why” and
“how” of user research, illustrated with vivid real-world examples. Don’t drive your design project while blindfolded.
Get this book, read it, and follow its prescriptions. It will repay its cost many times over.”

—Jeff Johnson, author of GUI Bloopers 2.0 and Designing with the Mind in Mind

“Very authoritative, this work combines expertise from industry and academia, with lots of specific guidelines, tips
and examples, and with pointers to other readings for deeper insights. Useful for students and practitioners alike,
this should be on everyone’s bookshelf. The authors do a great job of explaining the importance of business-side
stakeholders (C-suite, marketing, sales, development) and how to speak their language.”

—James D. Foley, Professor, College of Computing, Stephen Fleming Chair in

Telecommunications, Georgia Institute of Technology

v
 IN PRAISE OF UNDERSTANDING YOUR USERS, SECOND EDITION

“Understanding Your Users is a thorough guide to user experience for designers both technical and non-technical.
Instructors, students and practitioners will find this book very useful to your success as an user experience expert.”

—Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D., Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Chair, Computer &
Information Science & Engineering Department, University of Florida

“Understanding Your Users is handbook of practical wisdom for the serious human centered design practitioner.
This second edition includes updated content around emerging best practices. It is a must have in any design team’s
library.”

—Janaki Kumar, Head of Strategic Design Services, America, Design and Co-Innovation Center,
SAP Labs Palo Alto

“With the massive expansion of digital products, new processes for faster development cycles, and competition
that can appear out of nowhere in days, the product design has become the major differentiator, and key to
success. Understanding your end user is more important than it ever has been, how they really work, and how your
assumptions match up to their reality. This book takes tried and true methodology and shows how any or all of it can
be applied to your products now.”

—Jeremy Ashley, VP, Oracle Cloud UX

“A great introductory book for anyone wishing to understand and engage in traditional user research methods. The
language is clear and straightforward, allowing the reader to try and use the methods on their own project. Each
method is accompanied with an extensive bibliography allowing the curious mind to further delve into any of the
described methods. Samples of forms, letters and examples enhance the practical nature of the book, making this title
a staple for the beginning practitioner.”

—Joseph Kramer is a Service Design Lead at Fjord—Design and Innovation from Accenture
Interactive

“The difference between product success and failure often comes down to the user experience. Baxter, Courage, and
Caine share the methods you need to better understand your users so that you can design delightful experiences.”

—Craig Villamor, Chief Design Architect at Salesforce.com

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