About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design book club questions

1. 1.

   Cooper argues that most software is designed from the engineer's implementation model rather than the user's mental model. Can you think of a piece of software that clearly falls into each category?

2. 2.

   Personas have become a standard UX tool, but they've also been criticized as reductive or fictional. What are the strongest arguments for and against using them in design practice?

3. 3.

   He distinguishes between user goals (what someone is trying to accomplish in life) and tasks (the steps the system requires). How often does software mistake tasks for goals? What does that mistake produce?

4. 4.

   The concept of 'perpetual intermediates' — users who never become experts and never stay beginners — argues against designing for the extremes. Does your experience as a user support that observation?

5. 5.

   Cooper is critical of feature accumulation — the tendency for software to add capabilities in response to user requests rather than user needs. Is that criticism fair? Who should decide what a product includes?

6. 6.

   About Face was first published in 1995. How much of the core argument needs updating for contemporary design challenges: mobile-first, voice interfaces, AI-generated UI? What remains stable?

7. 7.

   Error prevention versus error recovery: Cooper argues that a well-designed system should prevent errors rather than handle them. Is that always possible? When should recovery rather than prevention be the priority?

8. 8.

   He argues that software should behave like a 'knowledgeable friend' — anticipating needs, providing appropriate defaults, not requiring users to understand the underlying system. What are the privacy and autonomy implications of that ideal?

9. 9.

   The book is long and comprehensive. What does that format suggest about the intended audience and how they were expected to use the book?

10. 10.

    Interaction design as Cooper defined it is now a large professional field. Has the field fulfilled his vision? Where has it succeeded and where has it drifted from the original goals?

11. 11.

    Cooper was also the creator of Visual Basic, which made programming accessible to non-engineers. How does his background as a practitioner shape the arguments he makes in About Face?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.