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When developing new interfaces or products, usability is a critical success factor and should not be left to the discretion of the development team. Their experience with the interface or product tends to be very different from that of its potential future users. What is seen as simple and intuitive for the former tends to be complex for users who normally do not have the same level of involvement and knowledge of the area in question. The result of ignoring the latter tends to be failure.
It is for this reason that more and more companies and organizations are aware of the need to evaluate the usability of the solutions they intend to develop in order to ensure that they will be used effectively and with pleasure by their potential users.
However, usability evaluation tends to be neither simple nor quick and, moreover, it tends to be expensive. It is in this context that heuristic usability evaluation has proven to be an excellent option. It does not replace the use of methods, techniques and tools from the UX domain . However, due to the speed of its implementation, the systematization it allows and the results it provides, it is a good way to evaluate the usability of a product or interface design. Additionally, it combines well with other tools such as Personas or User Journey.
Heuristic evaluation uses UX experts with knowledge in the field to which the interface or product whose usability is intended to be evaluated belongs. These experts select a set of heuristics from which they will create a checklist of criteria that will allow them to find flaws and inconsistencies that escape the design and development teams. Due to its characteristics, heuristic evaluation translates into a practical way of solving problems and helping with decision-making.
Each member of the expert team will perform tasks independently, record usability issues and which heuristic violations occur, and then rate each issue in terms of severity.
To classify severity, a severity table is used.
| Rating | Severity |
| 0 | Does not constitute a usability problem |
| 1 | “Cosmetic” problem |
| 2 | Minor problem |
| 3 | Important problem. It needs to be resolved. |
| 4 | Catastrophe, it is imperative to solve the problem. |
There are several heuristics, but we would not be far from the truth if we say that the 10 Norman-Molisch are the best known.
In short, we can say that the Nielson-Molisch heuristics postulate:
1) Keep users informed about their status in an appropriate and fast way.
2) Show information in a way that users understand using the example of how the real world works and the users' language.
3) Give users control and let them undo mistakes easily.
4) Be consistent so that users don't get confused about what different words or icons mean, for example.
5) Prevent errors – a system should avoid conditions where errors arise or warn users before they take risky actions (e.g. “Are you sure you want to do this?” messages).
6) Have information and instructions available that allow users to recognize options, actions, etc., rather than forcing them to rely on their memory.
7) Have the flexibility to allow experienced users to find faster ways to achieve their goals.
8) Avoid confusion by limiting the available information to only what is relevant to the specific tasks that the user is performing.
9) Provide help using simple language about errors and their solutions.
10) List the steps in simple, searchable documentation that helps overcome problems.
Heuristic evaluation is a method that has great potential for evaluating usability. However, like other methods, it also has its pros and cons.
| PROS | CONS |
| Evaluators can focus directly on a specific problem | Evaluators may flag issues that are not currently usability issues |
| Assessment can detect problems that would affect the entire UX early | It is necessary to choose exactly the right heuristics or set of them to make reliable evaluations and find and identify usability problems |
| Compared to running tests we can get feedback faster and at less cost | It can be difficult to find evaluators who are both experts in a given industry and in usability. |
| Can be combined with usability testing | If several evaluators are needed, it may be easier to move on to usability testing |
| With the right heuristics, evaluators can help drill down into problems and point to the best solutions | The subjective opinions of evaluators may be biased and solutions may be delayed. |
Heuristic evaluations provide indications about where the problems will be, suggesting some options that will allow corrections.
Key Points:
The purpose of the usability heuristic evaluation report is to identify the main problems found in the product or interface and serve as the basis for a discussion on how to overcome them.
By its nature, this report will tend to call into question aspects of the work of the design and development team that project stakeholders promoted and defended. For this reason, it is important that there is a face-to-face presentation of the report.
Aspects taken into account::
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YouX is a software development company focused on providing the best user experiences.
Digital Strategy
UX Design
UI Design
Digital Sprints
User Research
AR applications
Web AR
Software development
Mobile Applications / Web Apps
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Todos os direitos reservados.
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