Usability Methods in Interface Design: Heuristic Evaluation

For the usability method ‘heuristic evaluation’ a few usability experts gather around an interface prototype or website and evaluate whether each page and control follows established usability guidelines or usability patterns. Compared to the usability method ‘expert review’, where the expert’s feedback is rather open, in a heuristic evaluation the usability check is based on a list of established usability design patterns (aka. heuristics).

How to conduct a Heuristic Evaluation

In a heuristic evaluation, usually around 3 usability experts, which are in the best case specialists from the field of human computer interaction (HCI), but in the more common case fellow designer with an avocation in usability and user centered design, judge all elements on a website/interface, the structure and workflows, write down notes and prioritize them by impact on the overall user experience. The result is a usability report that presents an actionable check list of aspects to be solved by severity – sometimes even altered by alternative design solutions.

Advantages of a Heuristic Evaluation compared to other Usability Methods

If you are a web designer or information architect, you will probably know your peers and can easily gather 3 friends to review your site in a heuristic evaluation, checking with the latest usability patterns. This makes it rather cost effective, since you can in turn provide feedback in a heuristic evaluation for their screen designs.

As there is no installation or tech setup required, it is easy to implement too and a heuristic evaluation can be obtained early on in the design and planning process. Applying heuristic evaluations and reviewing conformity to established guidelines in the early stage of prototyping keeps your project within budget and avoids re-designing of already detailed screenshots or even re-programming of code.

With such a heuristic evaluation, studies have shown that around 90% of all usability bugs on a website can be traced.