UX NIELSEN HEURISTICS METHOD

The method comprises ten general principles, or heuristics, that serve as guidelines for identifying usability issues in user interfaces.

UX Audit techniques


Nielsen Heuristics, developed by Jakob Nielsen, is a widely used method in User Experience (UX) design for evaluating usability. This method comprises ten general principles, or heuristics, that serve as guidelines to identify usability issues in user interfaces.

120+

Projects successfully delivered for clients in 12 countries

92

Net Promoter Score based on feedback from our clients

90+

Software engineers on the board

Offices in

Ukraine
USA
United Kingdom
Poland
Azerbaijan

General principles

Visibility of system status

The system should always keep users informed about what is going on through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time.

Match between the system and the real world

The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms.

User control and freedom

Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue.

Consistency and standards

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

Error prevention

Even better than good error messages is a careful design that prevents problems from occurring.

Recognition rather than recall

Make objects, actions, and options visible to minimize the user’s memory load. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another.

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Accelerators, unseen by the novice user, may often speed up the interaction for the expert user, so the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Dialogues should not contain irrelevant or rarely-needed information. Every extra unit of information competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Help and documentation

Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.