Christmas is coming, and if you’re looking for the perfect gift for the UX designer in your life, look no further! Whether it’s a practical tool, inspiring book, or fun accessory, this updated list includes both our classic suggestions and exclusive recommendations from the UX Heroes podcast guests, complete with links to their episodes (German only). Let’s dive in!
1. Userbrain Subscription
- Get it here: Userbrain
- Price: starting at $99.00/month
The creme de la creme of UX designer gifts. If you want a great site, you have to test it. Usability experts recommend testing as early and often as possible and to do many small tests rather than a few large studies.
With a subscripton, you receive credits monthly that can be used to conduct user tests. If the credits aren’t used in one month, they will just roll over to the next one without going to waste. We then send you your videos of people using and navigating your website on desktop and mobile devices while thinking aloud and answering your questions. With the input from potential customers/ users of your site problems and confusions that might have been missed can be fixed. All you have to do is carve out a few minutes each week to watch your videos and keep finding and fixing your site’s usability problems.
2. UX Psychology Lens Cards
- Recommended by: Verena Seibert-Giller (UX Heroes Episode 36)
- Get it here: UX Psychology Lens Cards
- Price: Approx. €30
A box full of psychological insights to create more user-centered designs. Compact, fun, and incredibly useful for any UX toolkit.
3. Books: UX Classics + More ?
Books are always a winner! Here are recommendations from our UX Heroes:
- Making of a Manager — Recommended by: Tony Rudolph (Get it on Amazon)
- Design for a Better World — Recommended by: Stephanie Weber (Get it here)
- The Humane Interface — Recommended by: Oliver Reichenstein (Get it here)
- Invisible Women — Recommended by: Johanna Jagow (Get it here)
- Web Accessibility Cookbook — Recommended by: Benedict Salzbrunn (Get it here)
- How User Testing Actually Works in Practice — Written by Userbrain founders Markus Pirker & Stefan Rössler (Get it here)
? Bonus: Explore the A Book Apart series for short, beautifully written books on web design, research, and strategy. A Book Apart publishes highly detailed and meticulously edited examinations of single topics. The books are brief enough (about 100 pages) to read in a few hours and cover HTML5, CSS3, content strategy, responsive web design, and more.
4. Notebooks & The Wipebook
- Recommended by: Johanna Jagow (UX Heroes Episode 50)
- Get it here: Moleskine | MD Notebooks | The Wipebook
- Price: $15–$30
High-quality notebooks paired with a great pen make a designer’s day. The Wipebook is perfect for sketching, erasing, and ideating without waste.
Non-permanent surfaces have shown to increase creativity because they allow for freedom, flexibility, and the modification of ideas. Whether brainstorming UX concepts or learning something new, the Wipebook makes room for mistakes and creative breakthroughs.
5. Laws of UX Card Deck + UX Myth Posters
- Recommended by: Tony Rudolph (UX Heroes Episode 66)
- Get it here: Laws of UX Deck | UX Myths Posters
- Price: Free–$30
Quick reminders of UX principles and myth-busting posters—perfect for workspaces or gifts on a budget. The UX Myths project is a project of the Hungarian user experience designer Zoltán Gócza. Alessandro Giammaria created a poster dedicated to each of the top 32 myths included in the gallery of beliefs. The best thing: You can download it for free on Behance.
? The best part: You can download them for free on Behance.
6. Website Stencil Kit
- Get it here: UI Stencils | UXKits
- Price: Starting at $19
Ideal for wireframing sessions away from screens. Designers can brainstorm website structures with physical cards and stencils.
Wireframe quickly and efficiently using the most commonly used iconography and interaction techniques.
7. Digital Tools for Better UX Research
- Recommended by: Johanna Jagow (UX Heroes Episode 50)
- Get it here: HappyScribe | Apple Pencil
- Price: Starting at $12/month (HappyScribe); $99 (Apple Pencil)
Whether it’s a transcription tool like HappyScribe or an Apple Pencil for natural sketching on platforms like Adobe XD, Figma, or Miro, these tools are invaluable for UX researchers and designers.
8. Mobbin Pro License
- Recommended by: Tony Rudolph (UX Heroes Episode 66)
- Get it here: Mobbin Pro
- Price: Starting at $9/month
Access thousands of curated mobile and web UI patterns for design inspiration. Give the gift of creativity with Mobbin Pro.
9. A Multi-device charging station
- Get it here: Amazon
- Price: $99–$120
A dream gift for responsive design work. Keep devices organized, charged, and ready for testing.
A multi-device charging station, such as the Alxum 120W 10 Port USB C Charging Station, allows you to charge, organize, and store your responsive development devices in one space and make all devices conveniently available.
10. Portable Cardboard Standing Desk
- Get it here: Refold
- Price: $189
Stylish, portable, and eco-friendly—perfect for freelancers or UXers working from home.Made in New Zealand, the $189 version of the Refold Portable Standing Desk even has a waterproof top – while being made completely out of cardboard. Be sure to send us a selfie when freelancing on 5th avenue.
11. Jabra Solemate Mini Bluetooth Speaker
- Get it here: Amazon.com
- Price: $64.99
No more struggling with laptop speakers during user test presentations. Compact, loud, and reliable.
There isn’t anything as annoying as bad sound quality during presentations of your usability findings.
The Jabra speaker runs on batteries (Up to 8 hours), and you can get your sound in via Bluetooth or a 3.5mm Audio cable (hidden inside the “Sole” of the speaker.). No quiet usability videos anymore.
12. Noise-Cancelling Headphones & Loop Earplugs
- Recommended by: Laura Fiona Holder-Wurzinger (UX Heroes Episode 46)
- Get it here: Loop Earplugs
- Price: $30–$300
Great for focus sessions, open offices, or noisy cafes. From noisy co-working spaces to deep-focus design sessions, these gifts are lifesavers for UX designers who need a little quiet.
13. IDEO Design Kit Travel Pack
- Recommended by: Max Speicher (UX Heroes Episode 45)
- Get it here: IDEO Design Kit
- Price: $20
Portable brainstorming tools for creative UXers on the go. This creative pack is perfect for on-the-go brainstorming sessions, whether at a client’s office or a coffee shop.
14. Conference Tickets + Masterclasses
- Recommended by: Stephanie Weber (UX Heroes Episode 63)
- Get it here: Sustainable UX Academy | Udemy
- Price: Free–$15+
Give the gift of growth: tickets to UX conferences or masterclasses. Udemy offers awesome online courses on UX and usability topics. Keep an open eye on Udemy deals – they often reduce a course to just $10-$15. Our favorite UX Udemy courses so far have been How to carry out a usability expert review by David Travis and User research: Personas, scenarios and Task Analyses by Susan Weinschenk.
15. Fun Extras for UX Designers ?
- Columbo: The Complete Series (Amazon)
- LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY Starter Kit For team-building workshops (Amazon)
- Blaulichtfilterbrillen (Blue Light Glasses) — Help reduce eye strain for UXers who spend long hours on screens (Fielmann).
- Desk Organizers + Sticky Notes in unique formats.
?️ Catch Up with UX Heroes Podcast Guests
Want to hear the stories and insights behind these recommendations? Check out the UX Heroes podcast! ?
? Listen here
? Wishing you and your favorite UXer a joyful, creative holiday season! ?
