What is Usability Heuristics?
Usability heuristics are a set of design principles or guidelines that are used to evaluate the usability of a product or system. These heuristics were originally proposed by Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Molich in the early 1990s, and have since been widely used in user experience design.
The heuristics are generally used as a checklist to evaluate the usability of a product, and they cover areas such as the visibility of system status, consistency and standards, error prevention and recovery, user control and freedom, and more.
Some common usability heuristics include:
- Visibility of system status: The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable amount of time.
- Consistency and standards: The system should follow established conventions and standards, to help users understand how it works.
- Error prevention and recovery: The system should prevent errors from occurring in the first place, or provide clear and simple instructions for recovering from them.
- User control and freedom: The system should allow users to easily undo or redo actions, and provide clear navigation and exit options.
- Flexibility and efficiency of use: The system should cater to both novice and expert users, and allow for efficient interaction for both.
By using usability heuristics as a design standard, designers can ensure that their products and systems are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying for users to interact with. These principles can also be used to identify areas for improvement in existing products, and to guide the design of new products from the start.