Heuristic Evaluation

The Basic Idea

Consider the simplicity of a well-designed website login page. You effortlessly navigate through the process of entering your credentials and accessing your account. Now think back to a time when you battled with a poorly designed website login page. Chances are you either finished the process frustrated or simply gave up. The success of a digital interface comes down to how thoroughly its usability has been tested during its design and development. One key aspect of that testing is heuristic evaluation.

Heuristic evaluation is an inspection method for identifying problems in a user interface. During the evaluation, a small group of systems specialists use a set of predefined principles or guidelines known as heuristics to assess how user-friendly the interface is.

In the world of cognitive science, heuristics are mental shortcuts or problem-solving strategies that provide efficient and practical solutions to complex problems, especially in decision-making processes. In the context of usability and user experience (UX) design, heuristics are commonly used as guidelines to evaluate and improve the usability of interfaces or systems. Think of them as a detailed checklist for designers and developers to ensure user-friendliness.

Heuristic evaluation is usually done early on in the user interface design process as it allows designers to receive and act upon feedback before they conduct a full usability test with real people.

Any system designed for people to use should be easy to learn and remember, effective, and pleasant to use.


– Rolf Molich and Jakob Nielsen 

About the Author

Dr. Lauren Braithwaite

Dr. Lauren Braithwaite

Dr. Lauren Braithwaite is a Social and Behaviour Change Design and Partnerships consultant working in the international development sector. Lauren has worked with education programmes in Afghanistan, Australia, Mexico, and Rwanda, and from 2017–2019 she was Artistic Director of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra. Lauren earned her PhD in Education and MSc in Musicology from the University of Oxford, and her BA in Music from the University of Cambridge. When she’s not putting pen to paper, Lauren enjoys running marathons and spending time with her two dogs.

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