No. 047
User Research
Heuristic Evaluation
A heuristic evaluation is a review where experts inspect an interface against a set of established usability principles to find problems.
Why it matters
It's a fast, low-cost way to catch many usability issues without recruiting users, often as a first pass before testing.
In depth
The best-known set is Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics — including visibility of system status, match with the real world, and error prevention. A few evaluators reviewing independently find more issues than one. It complements, but doesn't replace, testing with real users.
Real-world example
A designer reviews a checkout flow against Nielsen's 10 heuristics and flags that the system never confirms a successful payment.
Heuristic evaluation0 / 5 pass
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