# About Face by Alan Cooper

3 Hacker News commenters recommended About Face by Alan Cooper and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as an influential guide to interface design, offering useful perspective on designing well by learning from a master.

## Why people recommend it

- Influential, formative design book (1 comments): "One of the most influential books I ever read" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49389127))
- Learn design as an apprentice (1 comments): "to design well you need to take the role of the apprentice alongside the master" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47548110))
- Useful UI design perspective (1 comments): "Consider picking up Alan Cooper's (perhaps somewhat dated) UI books for some useful perspective" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47172295))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/design-of-everyday-things.md): 29 recommend
- [Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger](https://hackerapproved.com/p/refactoring-ui.md): 14 recommend
- [Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug](https://hackerapproved.com/p/don-t-make-me-think.md): 12 recommend
- [Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick](https://hackerapproved.com/p/practical-typography.md): 10 recommend
- [A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-pattern-language.md): 9 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118079159?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781118079157) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "About Face by Alan Cooper", https://hackerapproved.com/p/about-face/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).