Heuristic Evaluation

Nielsen's 10 Heuristics

1. Visibility of system status — Does the system show what's happening? Loading states, progress, confirmation.
2. Match with real world — Does it use familiar language and concepts? No technical jargon.
3. User control and freedom — Can users undo, redo, go back? Emergency exits available.
4. Consistency and standards — Same action = same result everywhere. Platform conventions followed.
5. Error prevention — Does the design prevent errors before they happen? Constraints, defaults, confirmation.
6. Recognition over recall — Are options visible? Don't make users remember from previous screens.
7. Flexibility and efficiency — Shortcuts for power users? Customization for different needs.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist — No unnecessary information. Every element earns its place.
9. Help users recover from errors — Clear, specific error messages with recovery path.
10. Help and documentation — Easy to search, task-focused, concise.

How to Evaluate

1. Define the scope (which flows/screens)
2. 3-5 evaluators independently review against heuristics
3. Each evaluator lists violations with severity (0-4)
4. Consolidate findings and deduplicate
5. Prioritize by severity × frequency