Every new analyst joining iQ is given a tailored reading list to develop their industry theoretical knowledge and skillset. As part of this process, I’ll be blogging reviews of some of the books that I read. I hope you find it useful!

My Mum is addicted to recipe books, She has so many that they regularly tumble out of the over-packed corner kitchen stand. Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, and Madour Jaffrey, with their bold and colourful print and pristine covers, stand tall with their perfectly intact spines — for they go almost entirely unused.

Except for one book which lies battered dishevelled and broken in pieces. Delia Smith’s “How to Cook” has been a part of every Bentley family occasion since I can remember, providing its little secrets for practically well cooked food in a beautifully simple prose.

A recipe book for the UX designer

Communicating Design by Dan Brown contains all the same virtues as Delia’s 1970s culinary bible. A practical step by step approach, clear well written language and an almost telepathic understanding for the user and the context that each document/meal is being created in.

At the heart of the book is a simple recipe for creating design documents (deliverables) that may be required during a web project. There are 10 deliverables in total, organized into a hierarchy of themes from initial user research to final design documentation. Brown’s simplicity and clarity of explanation breaks down each deliverable into manageable chunks providing the inexperienced user with the tools and support to execute the document appropriately.

The layered approach is a really good example of this. The layer gives the appropriate emphasis to each chunk of a document

• Layer 1 – the most important elements that make the deliverable what it is
• Layer 2 – elements that are beneficial additions
• Layer 3 – elements that round off document if the required time and resources are available

However it is the books holistic approach, not just dealing with the document in isolation but incorporating the overall impact of each deliverable that will bring me back to this book time and time again. It frames the document as a living, breathing, integrated cog of the overall project, explaining it’s goals, how it contributes to the overall process and how to present each deliverable to the rest of the web team, information that is invaluable to the burgeoning web designer.

Of course as with any recipe book, it’s value is only truly measured when the guests are due and the pages are being speckled by adjacent bubbling sauces. Its been beneficial to read this book to understand how deliverables are constructed and how they fit within the overall web design process but without having individual documents to create I feel I may have missed out on some of the books teachings. I’m looking forward  in the very near future to donning my apron, rolling up my sleeves and using Communicating Design extensively as I create my first web design deliverables.