Click! — Book Design for Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine invited us to design Click! How to Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks, a book by Paul Boag about encouraging user action without resorting to manipulative design. Published in June 2020, the book combines practical UX guidance with a more respectful approach to conversion. We created the cover, eleven chapter illustrations and a flexible layout template, giving the publication a friendly visual language that reflects its message.
What we did
- book cover
- editorial design
- chapter illustrations
- layout system
A friendly answer to dark patterns
Click! explores how manipulative copy, intrusive overlays and dark patterns can produce short-term results at the expense of long-term trust. Our cover needed to communicate a more thoughtful approach while still feeling connected to Paul’s previous books for Smashing Magazine
We brought the familiar clutter of pop-ups, notifications and install prompts together in a playful composition, balancing the book’s critical subject with an optimistic and approachable tone.
Read more about the cover-design process on Veerle’s blog.
Eleven chapters, one visual system
We created an illustration for each of the book’s eleven chapters, with every chapter using its own two-colour palette. The challenge was to give each one a distinct personality while keeping the publication visually coherent from beginning to end.
The table of contents spread received special attention. Rather than presenting a plain list of titles and page numbers, we wanted to create something visually engaging and worth exploring. Using the theme colors from each chapter, we created a geometric composition of colourful triangles that brings energy and character to the spread.
Written for designers, marketers and product teams, Click! shows how respectful user experiences and commercial goals can support one another.
Other Smashing Magazine Books We Designed
Click! continues a long collaboration with Smashing Magazine. We previously designed Smashing Magazine Book #3 and Book #3⅓, as well as Paul Boag’s Digital Adaptation and User Experience Revolution. These projects included book covers, editorial layouts and extensive illustration work.
