This week we focused on heuristic evaluation and UX audits, mainly centred around Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics. A heuristic evaluation is a method used to identify usability problems in an interface by reviewing it against recognised usability principles. Rather than testing with users directly, the evaluator inspects the product and judges how well it complies with these heuristics.
What stood out to me here is how practical this method is. It’s not about opinions or aesthetics, it’s about whether the product actually works for the user. We talked about reviewing goals and objectives, mental modelling, wireframes and prototypes, and how these heuristics act almost like a checklist to make sure nothing fundamental has been overlooked. It feels like a really solid way to step back and look at a product more critically, especially once you’ve been staring at it for too long.
We discussed when heuristic evaluations are most useful and it became pretty clear why they’re so popular. They work best during the early stages of the design process, where changes are easier and cheaper to make. They can also act as a substitute for empirical user testing when time or resources are limited.
Another interesting point was that if there is no dedicated UX team, a heuristic evaluation can essentially act as a UX audit. This makes it a really accessible method for smaller teams or solo designers. It reinforced the idea that good UX doesn’t always require massive testing sessions, sometimes it just requires applying the right framework at the right time.
We then went through Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics in detail: