(Book Review) UX Strategy, 1st Edition

Overview

Review Published: February, 2016.

From author, lecturer, and UX Strategist Jaime Levy comes an overview of UX strategy and the crucial elements that make up a successful design process.

From the initial concepts for determining product/market fit, to execution of vital UX research and prototyping activities, this book serves as an in-depth primer for those interested in being part of broader UX projects.

Rating:

3.5 / 5

(Promising Content, Presentation is Clear)

What does this score mean?

Difficulty:

Intermediate (Assumes some familiarity with the UX design process).

Length:

298 pages.

Where to Buy It:

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What's Good

Broad-spectrum approach & great frameworks; the major highlight of this book is that it addresses not only what is needed for a well designed product, but also sheds light on the wider business context that the product needs to thrive (i.e. awareness of business models, design feasibility/marketability, analytics funnels for optimization, etc.) and provides some wonderful frameworks to examine those facets of UX design.
Real-world examples & additional reading; after introducing each concept, the author takes you through real-life examples of how she applied these techniques, with additional reading resources peppered throughout the text.
Written for students of UX design; while written in a very approachable way, this book will deliver the most to students of UX design who are already somewhat familiar with how the process works so that they can refine their approach.

What Can Be Improved

Limited scope; while the author does a wonderful job of outlining and detailing the critical aspects of a Lean UX workflow, no other potential UX strategies are explored (i.e. redesign projects where the “starting from scratch” aspect isn’t applicable), and working within a larger team of developers, subject matter experts, and multiple stakeholders isn’t addressed at all.

The Bottom Line

Offers a wider view of UX design & its importance; beyond simply “pushing pixels” to create a pretty interface, this book addresses the often overlooked strategic aspects of UX design that deliver a true competitive advantage, and highlights the important conversation of having UX professionals “at the table” within those organizations.
For ambitious beginners & intermediate UX designers; if you are a working UX designer looking to broaden your design approach (or a beginner looking to jump right in with some extra leg-work [you can find some reading recommendations below]) this book is definitely worth taking a look at.
Part of a larger investment; at around $40, this book is very much worth it for the wonderful frameworks (i.e. for competitive analysis, analytics funnels, etc.) that the author introduces, but to get a firm grip on the various types of UX strategies and how they can be utilized across different projects/contexts, be prepared to broaden your search (I’d recommend checking out this article from MentorMate, as well as “Lean UX” and “Researching UX: Analytics” to get a solid grounding).