Gift Guide for UX Designers & Information Architects
In case you still have holiday shopping to do, I pulled together a list of things to buy for the people in your life who design, sketch, organize, and classify. These are all things you can buy, no downloading graph paper to gift to your friend. In no particular order, here are my favorites:
UX Pin
Portable Paper Prototyping Kit
$19.99
Sketch your ideas on little sticky notes. Need to move that buy button? No problem! This kit looks awesome for rapid prototyping and ideation.
Paper Browser
Sketching Notebook
$16.00
Yes, it’s a notebook with browser windows printed on the pages. You can choose various sizes and orientations for your browser windows (you know, to reflect screen size and such).
App Sketchbook
iPad and iPhone App Sketch Grids
$12.00
For the app designer in your life. Who doesn’t want to carry around a little notebook to jot down those app ideas on the fly? Choose from iPad or iPhone for your grids.
iPad App Stencils
(Also iPhone, Website, Android, and Sketch Pads)
$24.95
I’ve wanted these for awhile. They’re like architectural stencils, except without the toilet icons. (Which reminds me, I think I still have architectural stencils lost somewhere in a box, probably with the tracing paper.)
Stainless Steel Sharpie
Fine Point Permanent Marker
$6.75
Yes, it’s a Sharpie. A Stainless Steel Fricking Sharpie! And if you’re going to give someone a bunch of sketching pads, you might as well thrown in some pens. Also, think stocking stuffer.
Big Idea Adhesive Notes
Sticky Notes for Content Strategy?
$10.00
Let’s face it – everyone needs more sticky notes. And these might even help you organize your content and ideas better.
2011 Wall Calendar
With Extra Special Geometric Illustrations
$25.00
This is the only decent time of the year to buy a calendar, you might as well make it a good one. If you don’t like walls, there’s also a desktop version. Hand-illustrated.
Moleskin for iPad
AKA “Moleskin Folio Digital Tablet Cover”
$64.99
The best case for you iPad. Combine web browsing with sketching, or just take notes in both places. I think this is the perfect combination.
Personal Library Kit
With Return Date Cards!
$16.95
Library science majors rejoice, now you can catalog your personal collection stamp a due date on each book your friends try to steal. It really has an ink pad, a stamp, and library book cards / sleeves.
Random Geometry Wallpaper
From Hermitage
$128.00
Please put this wallpaper in your office, and then hang the above wall calendar over it. Your clients might go insane.
Flowchart of the Holidays
Greeting Card
$4.50
If you’re only going to give someone a card, it might as well be good. What are you doing for the holidays? Just follow the chart.
Everything Explained Through Flowcharts
The Book
$11.55
Even the Table of Contents is a flowchart.
16 Months Worth of Drawing Exercises in Microsoft Excel
By Danielle Aubert
$47.50
No actual drawing exercises or Excel tutorials here, but the author spent 16 months using Excel to create various pieces of art. Thought R was fun? Check out these Excel pieces.
Map Art Prints
Hand-Drawn City Prints
$35.00
Inked by hand with little lines, these city prints map out the streets of famous cities. Choose from Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Rome, Madrid, and more.
City Neighborhood Posters
Ork Posters
$22.00
I first saw these in a friend’s apartment. She had one for each city she’d lived in: Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The posters squish the names of the different city districts into areas into the areas they cover.
Nonsensical Infographics
Art Without The Math
$20.00 +
These pictures (four in all) from artist Chad Hagen show the beauty of infographics without the mess of trying to understand what they actually mean. They’d also look great in my house.
