Think in 4D
Design brilliant user experiences and valuable digital products
A memorable new model for product experience design (from UX research to prototyping), including over 500 illustrations and 40 exercises to help students, professionals and leaders level up.
Launching Fall 2023
Subscribe to hear about the book launch and get early adopter bonuses. It's a low-volume newsletter and we will never spam you or sell your address. Want to see it first? thinkin4D.substack.com
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.
Students, professionals, and leaders in design community will find it an essential handbook to have on their shelves.
Praise for advance versions
“It's very good! I revisited a lot of the fundamental software design texts during this period and came out very disappointed with the classics, we really need stuff like what you’re doing.”
David Cole
Former VP of Design at Quora
“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.”
Erin Nolan
Product Design Lead at Coinbase
“Decades-long UX pro here... having read ‘every UX book out there,’ (more or less), you've grabbed my attention. Everything you say makes sense, and meshes with my real-world experience.”
Linda Eskin
UX Designer
What’s included
244-page, full-color hardcover
100gsm / 68# silk-coated stock
Case laminate cover with matte varnish for durability
500+ illustrations
Searchable PDF and EPUB files
Including an interactive index
Editable Figma templates
Starter files for key exercises in the book
Printable cheat sheets
Lists of key design principles, exercises, and UX components
Everything you need to succeed!
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.
Want more info? Browse the media kit
Launching Fall 2023
Subscribe to hear about the book launch and get early adopter bonuses. It's a low-volume newsletter and we will never spam you or sell your address. Want to see it first? thinkin4D.substack.com
