Nielsen's Heuristics

Think back to the last time you tried to assemble a piece of furniture with a poorly-written instruction manual—we’ve all been there. Manuals are notoriously filled with technical jargon, complicated images, and steps that test the limits of our short-term memory. They’re often riddled with inconsistent styling and icons that seem to mean different things from page to page. Perhaps we can find our way with the help of troubleshooting tips, or at least a number to call for support, but what if this information is lacking as well? A bad website is a lot like a confusing manual—both can leave users feeling frustrated and lost.

How do the best designers ensure their websites are effortlessly usable? They refer to design principles, called usability heuristics, that outline tried and tested practices for user-friendly design.

Jakob Nielsen, a prominent web usability expert, is responsible for establishing the most popular and frequently used set of usability heuristics that exist today. Nielsen’s heuristics are 10 general principles of digital interface design based on the problems real users face when using digital systems.

Importantly, Nielsen’s heuristics are not hard and fast guidelines, but general rules of thumb.¹ The term “heuristics” is used to describe the nature of these principles as design shortcuts. They are meant to be broad enough to adapt to varying situations based on how users typically think and behave. 

Here’s a brief rundown of Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics:²

1. Visibility of System Status: Users should always know what’s going on with a website or program through consistent and timely feedback. For example, interfaces should make it obvious when a button is clicked, an item is added to a shopping cart, or a page is actively loading. This gives users confidence that they have control over the system and helps them plan their next steps.
2. Match Between the System and the Real World: Interfaces should communicate with users through concepts and phrases that are familiar to them. As such, designs should align with the users’ everyday language and experiences, avoiding internal jargon and unfamiliar terminology. For example, navigation menus should use labels like “About Us” and “Blog” that people already know and understand.
3. User Control and Freedom: Designs should have a clearly marked “emergency exit” that allows users to undo accidental actions or leave a digital process. Undo, redo, exit, and cancel buttons are excellent examples here. These features give users the freedom to use an interface without getting stuck.
4. Consistency and Standards: Designs should align with user expectations by following established conventions commonly found in other digital designs. Internally, designs should use consistent terminology and elements across all pages. This prevents users from having to learn something new to use the design, reducing their cognitive load and improving usability.
5. Error Prevention: Errors and mistakes should be avoided with safeguards built into the design. For example, this might mean asking users for confirmation before executing an irreversible action, such as deleting an account or completing a purchase.
6. Recognition Rather than Recall: The system should reduce the amount of information users have to remember by making cues (options, actions, and elements) visible. It’s easier for people to recognize information than remember it, so this heuristic reduces the cognitive effort required to use a design.
7. Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: Designs should cater to both novice and expert users. Ideally, experienced users should be able to leverage shortcuts and customize the interface to make repetitive processes more efficient. This is a common design feature in photo editing software, word processing tools, and project management platforms.
8. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Eliminate unnecessary information that can distract users from the information they need. Designers can do this by adopting a minimal approach to design and establishing a clear hierarchy of information on the page, which keeps users focused on essential elements that are key to usability, like buttons and links.
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors: Interfaces should communicate problems clearly and display error messages in plain language that users would understand. If possible, offer users a solution to the error, such as a shortcut to a customer support page. 
10. Help and Documentation: Ideally, systems should be designed to be as self-explanatory as possible. However, it’s often necessary to provide additional documentation to help users who require guidance or run into problems, especially with more complex software programs.

Although many of these heuristics sound fairly obvious, it’s easy to lose sight of the users’ needs when you’re focused on the technical aspects or aesthetics of a design. Stepping back and looking at a design from the perspective of the user allows usability problems to reveal themselves. Nielsen’s heuristics act as a cheat sheet or checklist, telling designers what issues to look for.