Nielsen's 10 Heuristics
- Visibility of system status — Does the system show what's happening? Loading states, progress, confirmation.
- Match with real world — Does it use familiar language and concepts? No technical jargon.
- User control and freedom — Can users undo, redo, go back? Emergency exits available.
- Consistency and standards — Same action = same result everywhere. Platform conventions followed.
- Error prevention — Does the design prevent errors before they happen? Constraints, defaults, confirmation.
- Recognition over recall — Are options visible? Don't make users remember from previous screens.
- Flexibility and efficiency — Shortcuts for power users? Customization for different needs.
- Aesthetic and minimalist — No unnecessary information. Every element earns its place.
- Help users recover from errors — Clear, specific error messages with recovery path.
- Help and documentation — Easy to search, task-focused, concise.
How to Evaluate
- Define the scope (which flows/screens)
- 3-5 evaluators independently review against heuristics
- Each evaluator lists violations with severity (0-4)
- Consolidate findings and deduplicate
- Prioritize by severity × frequency