Kevin B. Bennett & John M. Flach 
Display and Interface Design [PDF ebook] 
Subtle Science, Exact Art

The reason that good interfaces are few and far between is really quite simple: they are extremely difficult to design and build properly. While there are many books available that address display design, most of them focus on aesthetic principles but lack scientific rigor, or are descriptive but not prescriptive. This book elucidates an overarching framework for design that can be applied to the broad spectrum of existing domains. The authors delineate analytical tools and principles of design that are general and powerful, but very abstract, accompanied by concrete examples of their use in a variety of domains of application. The book includes access to a web site containing examples of the dynamic properties of displays.