<aside> ⭐ REFLECTION: I really enjoyed learning about Heuristic Evaluation and working on one for Translink. It was a process that I was completely unaware of previously but one that I think is integral to be aware of. It would be a great way to evaluate my own projects also which I must try for my next project. I collated some notes below on what it is so I don’t forget.

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Heuristic Evaluation

Heuristic Evaluation is a usability inspection method primarily used to identify any design issues associated with the user interface. It involves a small set of expert evaluators who examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognised usability principles (the "heuristics"). This method is particularly useful during the initial design stage to check whether the proposed design meets recognised usability principles. It is typically cheaper and faster than conducting a user study and allows designers to identify obvious usability issues before testing with users.

The 10 Heuristics for UX Design

1. Visibility of system status: The design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time.
2. Match between system and the real world: The design should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms.
3. 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.
4. Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.
5. Error prevention: Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.
6. Recognition rather than recall: Make objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use: Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user to such an extent that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design: Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed.
9. 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.
10. 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.

This flow chart determines how severely to rank the non-compliance with the heuristic.