Heuristic Evaluation
Expert review against established usability principles.
What It Is
A structured assessment of an interface by one or more evaluators using recognized usability principles. Fast, no participants required, and it catches obvious issues before you spend time and money on user testing.
How It Works
Evaluators walk through the interface systematically, noting violations of established heuristics — visibility of system status, error prevention, consistency, match between the system and the real world. Each issue gets a severity rating so the team knows what to fix first.
When to Use It
Before usability testing, to catch low-hanging fruit. When budget or timeline doesn't allow participant research. As a complement to empirical methods — expert review finds different issues than user testing, and vice versa.
What It Produces
An annotated report of usability issues organized by heuristic and severity, with actionable recommendations for each one.