From seminal works that have inspired the information design field to practical guides, here is an essential reading list for anyone interested in the principles and practice of information architecture and visual explanation.

Fleming, Jennifer, Web Navigation: Designing the User Experience — An introduction to navigation design for the Web.

Lenk, Krzysztof and Kahn, Paul, Mapping Web Sites — This lavishly illustrated book, from the founders of Dynamic Diagrams, presents numerous mapping techniques and examples.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Morville, Peter, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web — Also known as "the polar bear book," this is essential reading for beginning information architects.

Wurman, Richard Saul, Information Architects — Wurman presents the innovative work of 24 individuals and design groups, including work by the founders of Dynamic Diagrams.

Burdman, Jessica R., Collaborative Web Development: Strategies and Practices for Web Teams — A useful resource for helping develop a Web team and development process to suit your organization and your project's objectives.

Beyer, Hugh and Holtzblatt, Karen, Contextual Design — Understanding contextual design, which places the user at the forefront of the design process.

Cooper, Alan, The Inmates are Running the Asylum — Why are most high-tech products so confusing to use? Alan Cooper explains.

Hackos, JoAnn and Redish, Janice, User and Task Analysis for Interface Design — How to understand your target audience and its goals. Includes advice on how to interview and observe users.

Norman, Donald, The Design of Everyday Things — A must-read for anyone who designs things to be used by humans.

Veen, Jeffrey, The Art & Science of Web Design — An explanation of concepts and best practices for Web design. Includes lots of examples.

Cooper, Alan, About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design — Based on Cooper's software design process, the book includes information on developing scenarios and personas.

Mullet, Kevin and Sano, Darrell, Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques — An introduction to the principles behind effective user-interface design.

Schneiderman, Ben, Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction — One of the classics for serious students of human-computer interaction.

Kahn, Paul, Kaczmarek, Piotr and Lenk, Krzysztof, "Applications of Isometric Projection for Visualizing Web Sites" (PDF, 366K), Information Design Journal, Volume 10, No. 3, 2000 — An essay by the founders of Dynamic Diagrams and our creative director, Piotr Kaczmarek, on the use of isometric diagrams to visualize the contents of a Web site.

Robin, Harry and Kevles, Daniel, The Scientific Image: From Cave to Computer — An examination of the efforts of scholars and scientists to conceive, document, describe, classify, order, and analyze natural phenomena with the aid of illustrations.

Tufte, Edward, Envisioning Information — The most design oriented of Tufte's books, Envisioning Information gives advice on how to explain complex information visually.

Tufte, Edward, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information — Theory and practice in the design of statistical graphics, charts, and tables.

Tufte, Edward, Visual Explanations — Practical applications and examples of how to tell compelling stories of cause and effect using numbers and images.

Wurman, Richard Saul (editor), Understanding USA — A comprehensive look at the USA, featuring work by notable information designers, including the founders of Dynamic Diagrams.

Dumas, J. and Redish, J., A Practical Guide to Usability Testing — This practical book covers planning, testing, and reporting test results.

Krug, Steve, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability — A clear and easy-to-read introduction to Web usability.

Mayhew, Deborah, The Usability Engineering Lifecycle — A good nuts-and-bolts look at the realities of user-experience design.

Nielsen, Jakob, Usability Engineering — A guide to the science of usability engineering.

Rubin, Jeffrey, Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests — A step-by-step method for usability testing.