Written by two practitioners and designers, each with 15 to 20 years in the field, this book has a homespun quality to it; however, it is filled with real-world examples and anecdotes that will resonate with most designers.

There are 16 chapters. Thirteen of these chapters are devoted to the anti-patterns, which are places (often behavioral) where designers sometimes get stuck in communicating with their clients. Each chapter is organized similarly, and each chapter has some background information on the anti-pattern being discussed. A presentation of the anti-pattern is described giving practical advice such as “you know you’re in it when …” or “how to break the anti-pattern.” Also included is a summary of the chapter, terminology explained for each chapter, a real-world case study example, a manageable list of resources and/or references, and a brief “takeway” for the chapter.

A novice UX designer will find ample evidence to avoid and recover from the pitfalls that designers fall into when working with their clients. It is a good manifesto to encourage designers to step forward and state their case, thereby providing advice based upon their experiences, not random mutterings from potential customers of their designs.

This is a worthwhile reference book for user interface designers to have on their bookshelves. It could also be used to foster communication and feedback between team members. The 13 anti-patterns are: speaking different languages; having different key performance indicators (KPIs); not embracing everyone’s goals; presenting without contextualizing; being in the room, but not present; not having a consistent design language; throwing deliverables over the fence; living in the deliverables; assuming others don’t get design; insisting on perfection; responding to tone, not content; defending too hard; and not defending hard enough.

Novices to interface design will appreciate the easy-to-follow advice and the solid examples. Expert designers will appreciate the sanity check and probably chuckle as they recall similar incidents. This book does use some jargon, but an excellent glossary is provided. Although the authors have a British perspective, others will be able to relate to the examples. The chapters are short and to the point, and the book is easy to read. It is a source worth having on the bookshelf of most UX designers, alongside similar useful texts [1,2].