Member-only story
The A to Z of UX — H is for Heuristics: 9 steps to carry out a heuristic evaluation
Heuristics are a well established and accepted list of UX principles used to assess how well a user interface has been designed for its intended purpose.
They have been in use for many years by UX practitioners and were more formally authored in the ’90s by Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Milich. They have been recently updated with minor changes and are as relevant now as they were then.
A heuristic evaluation is what happens when an expert, or set of experts, reviews a product, with the likely result being a list of usability issues that need to be addressed.
Such an evaluation should support, rather than replace, user testing as part of the Human-Centred Design process.
Both are equally important and each will unearth crucial information for the UX designer and product owner.
An expert review can follow a heuristic evaluation, where heuristics have already been established. As a result, expert reviews may be less formal than a heuristic evaluation.
Things to consider
Not just anyone can do an evaluation. It requires skill, knowledge and experience from one or more experts in the field.
Expert reviews tend to be less formal and structured than a Heuristic Evaluation, so think about what it is that you are after and need feedback on.
There are pros and cons to holding Heuristic evaluations:
Pros
- The evaluation process is technical and based on a specific, well-established set of criteria
- More heads are better than one so to speak, and it is more likely all issues will be identified
- The team of evaluators can focus attention on specific issues.
- Issues can be identified early in development and their impact on the final UX can be determined.
- Evaluations do not have issues with ethics, practicality, logistics and finance associated with other forms of analysis that need target users.
