Designing for the Social Web: the Book
Has it really been nine months?
Last August, when I decided to go out on my own and start Bokardo Design, I also began writing a book on a new aspect of design that I called “social design”. Social design was the term I used when thinking about and designing for the social interactions between people using software. It was clear to me that web sites and applications were “going social”, meaning that they were realizing that improving the interactions between their audience was key to their ongoing success, not just having conversations with the audience themselves. I decided to write a book about this area, with a focus on tying social psychology research with actual design practice.
The result is Designing for the Social Web, now available from New Riders and other merchants such as Amazon. The book is 200 pages long, chock-full of screenshots of interfaces, and peppered with social psychology tidbits.
Here’s the chapter outline:
- The Rise of the Social Web
- A Framework for Social Web Design
- Authentic Conversations
- Design for Sign-up
- Design for Ongoing Participation
- Design for Collective Intelligence
- Design for Sharing
- The Funnel Analysis
In the coming days I’ll be exploring the book in-depth, going through the most important factors in social design, giving away free chapters, and publishing bits that I wrote after the book which could have easily been included in it.
I see this book as just the beginning of the conversation. The fields of design and psychology are so vast, we can’t possibly imagine the infinite ways they’ll inform each other going forward.
In the meantime, enjoy the book!
Make them Care! - Struggling to communicate the value of your product or service? I'm writing a new book that shows you how to make people care about your product or service by clearly communicating the most important bits. For designers and marketers creating product web sites. Find out more.
Links to this Post
Comments
1. Marc Amos 7:22am, Tue 29th, 2008
Awesome, I’ll be placing my pre-order momentarily. Congratulations on this huge achievement, Josh!
2. Luke 7:29am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congrats Joshua, it’ll be great to have a little slice of Bokardo on my bookshelf.
3. Cesar H Castro Jr 7:34am, Tue 29th, 2008
Friggin Awesome, Can’t wait to crack it open and pick it apart.
4. Brian Christiansen 7:42am, Tue 29th, 2008
Can’t wait to have my own personal copy!
5. Goos 7:46am, Tue 29th, 2008
Same here, I am looking forward reading your book. Congrats!
6. Peter R. Wood 7:49am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congratulations!
7. Almar van der Krogt 7:54am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congratulations. I already found so much useful information on your weblog(s); I can’t wait to get my hands on your book!
8. Michelle Riggen-Ransom 8:10am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congratulations, Josh! Quite an accomplishment – can’t wait to check it out.
9. Paul Kelley 8:16am, Tue 29th, 2008
Can’t wait to read it. Congratulations Josh!
10. Liv Labate 8:22am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congratulations!
11. Amitabh Handa 8:36am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congrats, Josh! This is a big accomplishment, way to go for seeing it all the way through. Can’t wait to check it out.
12. Jason Robb 9:32am, Tue 29th, 2008
Wow, awesome news, Josh. Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! Congratulations!
13. billhd 9:49am, Tue 29th, 2008
I am brimming with enthusiasm! (and a little bit of pride, I must admit).
14. Arne 9:50am, Tue 29th, 2008
Sounds really interesting! I’m buying it
15. Heidi 9:55am, Tue 29th, 2008
Congratulations! =)
16. Tony 12:15pm, Tue 29th, 2008
This book will be my must-read of 2008! If I read this I might be able to get rid of my expensive interface designer and do it all myself!
17. Josh 1:11pm, Tue 29th, 2008
Thanks for the kind words, everyone!
18. Bryce 1:19pm, Tue 29th, 2008
Awesome news Josh! A creepy German witch and 2 feral cats couldn’t keep me from pre-ordering…
(Off to do that now!)
19. Christine Perfetti 1:22pm, Tue 29th, 2008
What a *huge* accomplishment. Congratulations, Josh! I bought my copy today.
20. Joshua Ledwell 1:24pm, Tue 29th, 2008
Another congratulations on your book!
21. Adam Darowski 1:57pm, Tue 29th, 2008
Just pre-ordered!
22. Josh Bernoff 1:58pm, Tue 29th, 2008
Welcome to the exclusive fraternity of Massachusetts authors of social Web books published in the last month . . . and named Josh.
/josh bernoff, co-author of Groundswell.
23. Scott McQuigg 2:09pm, Tue 29th, 2008
I find so many useful insights on this blog, i’m sure I’ll get as much value out of the book as well. pre-ordered two copies to share at the office. congrats!
24. BMD-Media.com 1:57am, Wed 30th, 2008
That is very admirable! Great job Joshua, we wish you the best with your book!
~ Fellow Web Designer
BMD-Media.com Website Design
25. Jeff Bridgforth 7:48am, Wed 30th, 2008
Congratulations Josh. I’m sure it is a great book. I have enjoyed the insights you have shared in this blog and times that I have heard you speak.
26. Manuel 1:45pm, Mon 5th, 2008
Congratulations! Will the book be available in PDF format? I’m a globe-trotter and I really like ebooks.
27. Yan Pritzker 3:10pm, Mon 5th, 2008
I just got my copy delivered (had it on preorder). I’ve been following your blog for a long time and though I’m only halfway through the book I must say it is very well written and well illustrated. Great effort and congrats!
28. Andre 3:23am, Wed 7th, 2008
Congrats from germany!
Btw: I´d like to have a pdf-version, too…
29. Markus 4:15pm, Wed 7th, 2008
+1 for a PDF version
30. Grant 7:07am, Tue 13th, 2008
My tech team saw it on my desk and now they all want one. Thanks for the inspiration.
31. Ryan 12:16am, Thu 15th, 2008
Wow, I can’t believe you wrote a book. I am definitely going to purchase it. I can’t even begin to imagine how much great information is contained in it.
Thanks, RC
32. Jim 8:17pm, Fri 16th, 2008
I just had a pint with your brother at Gritty’s and he told me about your book. Congratulations! Getting published is a major accomplishment. We wish you continued success.
33. sameer 3:30pm, Wed 21st, 2008
Simply amazing book. I am going to buy a copy for everyone in our team! Congrats!
34. Alex Rodrigues 11:55am, Tue 10th, 2008
Great book. Translations for other languages?
35. Alvaro 8:53am, Wed 11th, 2008
Looks like a musthave book for web 2.0, can’t wait to read it
36. Jordi 12:01pm, Tue 17th, 2008
Great book, congrats. This is just to let you know that I’ve posted about it here.
37. mike 3:10pm, Mon 30th, 2008
Hey Josh,
I’m super excited to get the book – just ordered it on amazon. I have been designing a social web tool that’s coming out pretty soon and I must say I owe a lot to your thinking. I hope the book gets to me before we launch so I can make last minute changes!
Mike
38. Kevin SEO 3:04am, Wed 30th, 2008
Congratulations on the book, i think i’ll be taking a look at that soon. Ive been looking for a new book to start reading.
Good luck with the publication =)
Regards.
39. Miles Burke 8:01am, Tue 19th, 2008
Great book, Joshua. Thanks for writing it!
40. Adam 5:37am, Fri 12th, 2008
This book is F**king awesome! I purchased it seconds after leaving your talk at dConstruct (Awesome too!) at the book stands.
41. Ben Darlow 4:40am, Thu 18th, 2008
Hi Joshua. I saw your presentation at dConstruct 2008 and personally I found it the most directly useful talk of the day, perhaps because I’ve very recently been working on signup as part of a web app. I decided to take a look at your book and was about to buy the PDF version when I saw that it has DRM included. I’m sure that’s not your decision, but I should point out that has stopped me buying it (I’d want to be able to read it on, say, my iPhone).
I will probably get hold of a physical copy at some point, but I thought I’d share my frustration, as I’d otherwise probably be buying both physical and PDF versions!
42. Ralf Stemmer 11:06am, Fri 17th, 2008
Today i ordered your great Book via Amazon for only $26.40. The Customer Reviews are very positiv.
43. Azka Malik 5:57am, Fri 28th, 2008
Hi Joshua,
Just to let you know I love your book and its being very well received by my colleagues at work! I’ve subscribed to your blog so look forward to reading more on the subject.
You’re awesome!
Azka
44. lavanna martin 5:31pm, Wed 10th, 2008
I’m a n00b blogger that barely knows what social networking is. I have a great idea, but do not know how to implement it, so I am going to buy your book. Hope to see you here in Austin in March, and maybe get a chance to paint you!
Thank you,
Lavanna Martin
45. Carly 4:29pm, Sun 14th, 2009
At work we get to spend two hours a week reading whatever we like as long as it’s somehow related to our industry. I chose your book, purchased it and read it over the course of a couple of weeks. I took it home and read it in my own time too, and then I raved and raved about it, and at the moment am convincing the rest of my team, and our programming team that it’s well worth the read. Thank you for providing us with a neat, tidy and well constructed look at the world of social design. Carly