Think in 4D
Design brilliant user experiences and valuable digital products
A memorable new model for product experience design, pushing the tech industry to think beyond 2D designs and 3D experiences to 4D impacts. More than 500 illustrations and 40 exercises help any designer or director level up.
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eBook
$19.99
$9.99
Searchable eBook
ePub or Kindle file (fixed layout due to the complex page designs)
Interactive index
246 full-color pages
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Hardcover
$74.99
$49.99
Full-color hardcover
“Ultra-premium” color on all 246 pages
Thick 70 lb. uncoated paper stock
Durable case laminate cover with soft matte varnish
7.5" x 9.25" x 0.81" (1.8 lbs)
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You can also ask your local bookstore or library to order Think in 4D — it's distributed with Ingram so it's in their system. The hardcover ISBN is 9798988034940.
Toolkit
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Editable Figma templates
Starter files for key exercises in the book
Printable cheat sheets
Principles, exercises, and overviews
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What people are saying
EDITOR'S PICK: This illuminating, highly practical guide to digital product design stands out for its clarity, flexibility, and blending of excellent nuts-and-bolts advice with approachable, creativity-nourishing practices. [...] And, as befits the subject, the book is laid out with wit, verve, and eye-pleasing simplicity. This product experience is first rate.
[A]n erudite, savvy book that communicates difficult, technical ideas with accessible, largely jargon-free prose. For both the seasoned veteran of interactive design and the unpolished newcomer, this is an invaluable resource. An impressively thorough and clear introduction to a still-new discipline.
This is honestly the best interaction design book I've ever read. Erica's writing is incredible and her ability to distill complex, abstract, and evasive topics into perfect diagrams and succinct summaries is mind-blowing. Every designer should read this book.
You could choose to work on a digital product without reading Think in 4D, but that would be a mistake. Heinz has brought together the best methods, perspectives, and lessons to form the best guide to applying design principles today.
Erica nails it with Think in 4D, making the complex world of design digestible and downright engaging. It's the kind of read that not only gets the gears turning, but pushes you to see design in a whole new light.
Think in 4D is both strategic and tactical, an outstanding new resource for anyone on a digital delivery team that is focused on outcomes and impact. It will help you set and keep the right mindset while providing actual tools for you to begin prototyping and doing rapid research quickly so that you can achieve greater impact.
I’ve never felt more confident being able to start from nothing. It totally changed my communication tactics and moved ambiguous product conversations forward. Applying the 4D structure to early product definition workshops got stakeholders aligned and inspired about what we’re building and why.
Why buy this book?
Many aspiring or practicing UX/UI designers lack solid conceptual foundations for the field, and existing methods oversimplify design thinking into a flat, linear process. Art students fixate on graphic design aspects, career changers struggle with the flexible thinking required, and experienced professionals still just seem to copy existing sites and apps instead of being forward-thinking.
Think in 4D unites behavioral psychology, business strategy, visual principles, research methods, and human-centered design practices to provide a simple yet flexible model for product experience design and hundreds of prompts for solid design ideas. Erica Heinz shares evergreen principles and refined methods drawn from 20 years working as a digital design consultant in New York City plus a variety of undergraduate and graduate design courses.
Any student, professional, or leader in the design community will find it an essential handbook to have on their shelves.
Contents
Intro
About This Book
Framework
The 4D Thinking Model
The Method
Practice
2D
3D
4D
Words
Inclusivity
Relationships
Layouts
Flexibility
Patterns
Symbols
Usability
Paths
Images
Personalization
Moments
Craft
Prototyping
Thinking
Outro
Acknowledgments
About the author
Erica Heinz has over 20 years of experience working as a digital designer and strategist in New York City, creating apps, websites, products, and services used by millions of people worldwide. She has taught undergraduate and graduate design classes at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts, led prototyping and user experience labs in Fortune 100 accelerators and NYC incubators, and spoken on topics from creative culture to CSS. Think in 4D is her first book.
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Want to see it first? thinkin4D.substack.com
