The book contains essays contributed by prominent software and design professionals, interviews with experts, and profiles of successful projects and products. These elements are woven together to illuminate what design is, to identify the common core of practices in every design field, and to show how software builders can apply these common practices to produce software that is more effective, more appropriate, and more satisfying for users.

This book is for the broad community of people who conceive, develop, market, evaluate, and use software. It is foremost, of course, for the software designer, and particularly for the reflective designer - someone who is driven by practical concerns, but who is also able to step back for a moment and reflect on what works, what doesn't work, and why. At the same time, it reveals new directions and new possibilities for programmers who build software, and for product managers who bring software to market. Software users will also find the book valuable in expanding their understanding of what good software design encompasses, which will help them in evaluating, integrating, and productively using computer applications.