SaaS Product Design and UX Design Resources

A curated resource list to kickstart your SaaS Product Design career.

“Design is the intermediary between information and understanding.”

– Hans Hofmann

A curated resource list to kickstart your design career

If you ask me, becoming a great designer doesn’t happen overnight, just because you took a course or attended a bootcamp for a few weekends.

I wish it were that easy — really, I do. But no, you have to keep at it.

You’ve got to be resourceful. Relentlessly curious. Maybe even a bit obsessive.

When I started hoarding — in a good way, I swear — every resource I stumbled across that felt useful. Articles, books, and random links people dropped in group chats.

Anything that could help me connect the dots a bit faster. And honestly? I still do this.

I keep collecting and bookmarking things that might help you, too, so maybe you don’t have to dig so hard on your own.

Before You Go…

If you’re looking for real-world design inspiration — not just Dribbble shots or pixel-perfect mockups — take a moment to check out UIUXshowcase.com.

UI UX Design Resources and Web Design Inspirations

It’s a curated library of thoughtfully crafted UX and UI work from designers around the world.

You’ll find live product examples, breakdowns of UX patterns, valuable design tools, and even case studies that show how real problems are solved through design.

Whether you’re building your first portfolio or refining your fifth design system, there’s something there to spark ideas, help you learn, or remind you what good design feels like in practice.

We also just launched a bookmark feature — log in, save what you love, and build your private library of references you can come back to when you need a boost for free.

Feel free to explore it, contribute if you’ve got something to share, or wander through and get inspired.

Start with the Basics

You can’t skip the beginning, can you? The foundations stick with you, whether you like it or not. So get friendly with type.

Wrestle the pen tool until it makes sense. Play with color — break it, fix it.

Read about where design came from.

Understand why specific shapes feel right while others don’t.

Here’s a small stash to get you rolling:

Design Foundations

Kern Type Game — because spacing letters is more complicated than it looks.
Fonts Knowledge — you’ll want this sooner or later.
Type.lol — Foundries galore.
Fonts In Use — real examples, always good.
Typogui.de — basics laid out cleanly.
The Bézier Game — pen tool practice that’s fun.
Ultimate Guide to Color — no more guessing.
Contrast and Meaning — crucial stuff.
Coolors — quick palette fixes.

Theory & Principles

Principles.Design — good reminders.
Dieter Ram’s 10 Principles — classics, for a reason.
Lessons of Design — take notes.
Microsoft Inclusive Design — designing for real people.
Design for Friction — not everything should be easy.
Designing for Tomorrow — stay relevant.
Humane by Design — worth thinking about.

History

AIGA Design History Resources
Design History Society
Design History: Key Moments
Helvetica Documentary — watch it at least once.

Books for the Basics

The Ultimate UI UX Handbook — Prince Pal
Unleashing Success in Design Careers and Aspiring Product Creators.

Thinking With Type — Ellen Lupton
An absolute must if you want to understand how type really works (and why it matters so much).

Graphic Design: The New Basics — Ellen Lupton
Same author, more fundamentals. Shapes, color, grids — all the stuff you shouldn’t gloss over.

Grid Systems — Kimberly Elam
If you’ve ever wondered why some layouts feel right, this will help you see the invisible lines.

Thoughts on Design — Paul Rand
Short, classic, and still hits home. Rand knew what he was doing.

Designing Brand Identity — Alina Wheeler
More than just logos — this one’s about the bigger picture of how brands come alive.

Graphic Design Thinking — Ellen Lupton
Ideas, processes, and practical ways to think like a designer. And maybe act like one too.

Starting UX

Alright — by now, you’ve (hopefully) got a decent handle on the basics. Don’t worry if it still feels messy — it always does.

You’ll keep learning as you go. But let’s switch gears a bit and step into the UX side of things.

If there’s one thing you need to wrap your head around (and keep sharpening), it’s process.

Seriously — tools come and go, trends fizzle out, shiny new frameworks appear every other week… but process?

That’s what makes you valuable. That’s what makes your work work.

So keep your product thinking sharp — but make process your real superpower.

UX Foundations

Laws of UX — psychology, but make it visual.
Usability Heuristics — 10 simple rules that fix 90% of messes.
Cognitive Walkthrough — walk through it like a user, not you.
Gestalt Principles in UI — why your brain loves order.
Behavioral Economics 101 — we’re not always logical.
Stark Accessibility Library — design for everyone.
NN/g — Nielsen Norman Group — old-school gold.
UncoverUX Metrics Directory — measure what matters.

Design Process

IDEO Design Kit — hands-on, human-centered.
Design Sprints vs. Agile — know when to sprint, when to run a marathon.
GV Design Sprints — the OG sprint method.
Guide to Product Design — big-picture stuff.
Learning to Love Design Thinking — it’s more than sticky notes.
Product Thinking — see the forest, not just the trees.

Research

UX Research Field Guide — where to start.
Research Incentive Calculator — so people show up.
Guide to UXR — tips from the trenches.
Survey Methods — good questions matter.
DScout — People Nerds — people, not just users.

Deliverables

UX Checklist — don’t forget the basics.
Complete List of Deliverables — cover your bases.
Storyboarding 101 — tell it like a story.
Interaction Flows — so people don’t get lost.

UI & Design Systems

Typescale — keep your text tidy.
Shaper — shapes, grids, order.
Optical Effects in UI — subtle details, big difference.
Material Design Guidelines — Google’s playbook.
Designsystems.com — inspiration for your own.
Human Interface Guidelines — Apple’s rules.
Awesome Design Systems — a whole bunch to explore.
Everything Framer — for shiny interactive stuff.

Books on UX

The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman
An absolute classic. If you read just one UX book, make it this one. It’ll change how you see doors forever.

The User Experience Team of One — Leah Buley
Perfect if you’re, well, on your own. Practical, encouraging, and realistic.

Just Enough Research — Erika Hall
Not too much, not too little — just enough to get it right (and not get overwhelmed).

Validating Product Ideas — Tomer Sharon
Got an idea? Here’s how to find out if it’s worth anything before you burn months building it.

Mismatch — Kat Holmes
Why inclusive design matters — and how mismatched experiences affect real people.

Disability Visibility — Alice Wong
Powerful essays and stories — a must if you want to design for everyone, not just the average user.

Sprint — Jake Knapp
Run a design sprint like Google does it. Clear, energetic, and makes you want to gather a team and get moving.

Gamestorming — Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo
Workshops, sticky notes, and clever ways to get ideas flowing. Suitable for groups, excellent for unblocking stuck brains.

Solving Product Design Exercises
No author needed here — just hands-on practice for nailing those tricky interview challenges. Solid prep if you’re job hunting.

Advanced Resources

So, you’ve tackled the basics, picked up the lingo, maybe even figured out which corner of design you want to camp out in for a bit. Now? Keep going. The best thing you can do is soak up good thinking from smart people. High-quality ideas in, better work out.

High-Quality Content

Design Better — solid guides, deep dives, and practical tips from folks who know their stuff.
Ask Playbook — innovative frameworks and real-world advice.
Airbnb Design — one of the best behind-the-scenes looks at design at scale.
Farnam Street — more about thinking clearly than design per se — but honestly, that’s half the battle.
Design.Google — insights straight from the people shaping your favorite products.
UXPin Free Ebooks — generous, free, and surprisingly good.
UsabilityHub Blog — bite-sized testing and research nuggets.
Alexa Haus — UX for voice — different rules, same game.
Algorithms.Design — complex, but worth a peek.
Voiceflow — if you’re curious about voice and conversation design.
AI and The Future of UX — because this space is moving fast. Stay curious.

Books on Business, HCI & More

The Culture Code — Daniel Coyle
Why some teams click and others don’t.

The Infinite Game — Simon Sinek
Work like you’re building for the long run.

Radical Candor — Kim Scott
How to say what needs saying, without being a jerk.

$100M Offers — Alex Hormozi
Technically more business than UX, but super practical if you ever want to sell an idea (or yourself).

The Invincible Company — Alexander Osterwalder
Business models and strategy — the bigger picture stuff designers should peek at, too.

Inspiration

Always, always keep your eyes open. Trends pop up fast — so watch, spot, borrow, remix. Stay sharp.

UIUXshowcase — Curated design Inspirations and tools.
Httpster — cool sites, nice shots of modern web.
Minimal Gallery — all about clean design.
Godly.website — web wow-factor overload.
Hoverstat.es — clever interfaces.
Really Good Emails — email design that doesn’t suck.
SaaSFrame — inspiration for SaaS stuff.
Product Hunt — see what’s new before it’s old.
Landingfolio — great landing page ideas.
App Fuel — mobile design inspo.
Refero — intelligent curation.
Pafolios — best design portfolio examples and case studies for Product, UI/UX, Creative Designers.

More Resources Updates Regularly

Tools & Templates: Figma plugins, UI kits, Framer Templates— all tried and tested.
Learning & Tutorials: A rich selection of design tutorials, case studies, UX research links, and branding lessons.
Design Inspiration: Mockups, animation libraries, logo galleries, and design archives you want to bookmark.
AI Resources: A whole category dedicated to design-ready AI tools, from image generators to GPT-powered wireframes.
Career & Freelancing: Remote jobs, freelance platforms, and resources to help designers launch or grow their careers.
Branding & Marketing: Handpicked tools and strategies for SaaS founders, marketers, and brand builders.

One Last Thing…

If you’ve made it this far — seriously, hats off. That’s a lot to take in, and honestly, it’s not meant to be consumed in one sitting.

Think of this as a reference, not a race. Come back to it when you’re stuck, bored, curious, or need a reminder that there’s always something new to explore.

UX and product design aren’t just skills you pick up once and call it done — they’re ongoing conversations.

Between you and your users. Between you and your team. And sometimes, between you and yourself at 1 a.m., wondering if the button should be thatshade of blue.

So learn deeply, experiment often, and stay humble. The best designers I know are the ones who never stop asking questions — even the basic ones. Especially the basic ones.

And hey, if something here helped, inspired, or even just distracted you for a bit — I’ll call that a win.

See you out there.