My new favorite book is The Design of Sites, Second Edition. It covers just about every topic in User Experience Design. And, of course, it is a totally user-friendly book.

Here are a couple of my favorite resources on designing information graphics

Information Aesthetics Blog www.infosthetics.com
Fantastic site, regularly updated with inspiring information graphics. Browse by month or category – like charts, graphs, calendars, weather graphics, and so on.

Digital Diagrams by Trevor Bounford
Great collection of beautifully illustrated examples that always gets my mind going. Includes information graphics greats like John Grimwade, and Grundy and Northedge.

User experience books I love:

Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell
A basic toolkit of interaction patterns with straightforward explanations.

Typographic Elements of Style by Robert Bringhurst
Somewhat advanced tome on type. To get acquainted, flip through it and study the diagrams and examples. I guarantee the presentation of your UX design will improve overnight.

Don’t Make me Think by Steve Krug
Always the first book I recommend to people interested in user centered design basics. Enjoy humorous illustrations about the design process.

About Face by Alan Cooper & Robert Reimann
If you’re an Information Architect (or want to be), but you don’t know who Alan Cooper is – you should. I would recommend any of his books.