Heuristic evaluation

Heuristic evaluation uses established design principles to systematically assess interface usability. Jacob Nielsen's 10 heuristics remain the gold standard, covering everything from system visibility to error recovery. These principles act as a quality checklist for your wireframes.

The 10 heuristics are:

• Visibility of system status
• Match between system and the real world
• User control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• Flexibility and efficiency of use
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
• Help and documentation.^[1]

During evaluation, experts examine each screen and interaction against these heuristics. They note violations and rate severity from cosmetic issues to usability catastrophes. For example, a missing back button violates "user control and freedom," while unclear error messages fail to "help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors." While created in the 1990s, these principles adapt well to modern interfaces.