Universal Methods of Design

RESEARCH METHOD

46 Heuristic Evaluation

An agreed-upon set of usability best practices can help detect usability problems before actual users are brought in to further evaluate an interface.

A heuristic evaluation is an informal usability inspection method¹ that asks evaluators to assess an interface against a set of agreed-upon best practices, or usability “rules of thumb.” Unlike usability tests that require participation of actual users, heuristic evaluations enlist members of the team—from the novice computer programmer to the expert usability professional—to inspect an interface and detect the baseline usability problems that should be fixed ...