Usability Heuristics Worksheet

This worksheet is designed to help you evaluate your existing interface(s) or wireframes. The best insights come from watching users interact with a solution. Use this worksheet to help categorise and validate your observations.

This resource is designed with the following assumptions in mind:

- You have identified a clear need for your solution - You know your audience, and have identified clear personas

Bear in mind that every interface has its trade-offs. Success is finding balance between usability, feasibility and viability. Don’t expect a perfect score card.

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Disclaimer: this worksheet is a free resource, provided for general information purposes only. Smudge disclaims all liabilities for damages, whether direct, consequential or incidental, arising out of the use of this material or the information provided herein. Contact us for more information on usage. Copyright © Smudge Apps, 2018.

As technology has become ubiquitous, platform conventions have become more important, and also, more useful. Frequent tasks have been committed to muscle memory and users have developed subconscious expectations. When you match the conscious and subconscious expectations of the user, you make it simple for them. Check out this blog post where we unpack this in more detail.

ConsistencyMatch the conscious and subconscious expectations of the user.

Heuristic Thought Starters

Ensure consistency and leverage familiarity with the platform you’re designing for. This will reduce friction and increase the productivity of the user.

Ensure consistency within the experience you’re creating. For example, design language, user interactions and interface elements should be consistent.

Ensure consistency with the most prevalent “mental models”. Where possible, help users better understand new concepts by leveraging metaphors for familiar experiences.

Your Observations

Do the appearance and behaviour of UI elements reflect the conventions of the platform?

Consider how frequently users will access the experience: the less frequent the usage the more you should leverage platform conventions.

Does your interface match user expectations of speed and fluidity (e.g. loading data, animations)?

Are UI elements (e.g. fonts, colours etc) in harmony with each other and consistent at every touch point? Are you following a style guide? If so, be mindful of balancing your brand requirements with the user’s expectations of the platform.

Are UI and navigation elements used for a clear and consistent purpose throughout the experience?

Does your interface leverage what users believe they already know about how it should behave? (e.g. pushing down a pedal in a car implies “more”, pinching fingers on mobile implies “zoom”)

For every interaction, consider the trade-off between leveraging an existing metaphor and introducing a new one that users will need to learn.

As the number of devices in our lives has increased, and the tasks those devices handle have become more numerous and complex, careful consideration needs to be given to why, when and how to communicate with users. The need to communicate “appropriately” applies to both the medium and the content. Under-communication, over-communication and miscommunication are all equally frustrating.

CommunicationUse different forms of communication appropriately.

User interactions should be acknowledged with perceptible feedback in real-time; however low-level system status doesn't need to be communicated, it should be implied.

Passively communicate information that is frequently accessed but intermittently important by making it easily accessible; the user can engage with it when they choose.

Proactive communication should be concise, unambiguous, and initiated only when:

- intermittently-important information becomes critical;

- a one-off event occurs that might need the user’s attention or they’ve elected to be notified about.

UI elements should accurately and concisely denote the action or behaviour you are trying to elicit. If an action is required, the user’s options should be clearly indicated.

Does every interactive element offer immediate feedback to the user to acknowledge an action (e.g. do buttons respond instantly when touched)?

Be mindful of unnecessarily communicating to the user about low-level system status.

Are you communicating only the most relevant intermittently-important information at all times (e.g. operational status, Wi-Fi signal, battery life)?

Is persistently-available information readily accessible but sufficiently unobtrusive?

Is every piece of user dialogue in your interface useful and/or necessary?

Do you use language that is understandable by everyone in your audience?

Are you matching the user’s expectations about what communications they have opted to receive?

Are the appearance and tonality of UI elements consistent with their function (e.g. are destructive actions such as deleting a file marked in red)?

If / when an action is required, are the user’s next steps clearly indicated?

Heuristic Thought Starters Your Observations

Designing an interface that is flexible shows respect for users. Every user is different, so we should assume different users will approach the interface with different intentions, different constraints and in a variety of different environments. Human error is inevitable. Error forgiveness is as important as error prevention.

FlexibilityEmpower the user to work in a way that suits them.

Design for everyone in your audience: users may have varying levels of expertise and/or cognitive and/or physical ability. Anticipate and support usage in different environments.

Users should be able to initiate interactions based on a wide variety of contextual intentions. Support non-linear workflows.

Forgive human error. Users should be able to experiment, change their minds and make mistakes without breaking anything.

Heuristic Thought Starters Your Observations

Do you support accessibility features (e.g. variable font size, speech-to-text) where appropriate?

Do you provide multiple input methods (e.g. shortcuts, gestures, voice recognition)?

Have you considered a variety of constraints (e.g. colour-blindness, one-handed use, bright sunlight)?

How forgiving is your interface? Could a user accidentally perform a destructive action?

When a user makes an error, do you provide clear options to keep moving? (e.g. “Sorry, that hotel is full, but here are three similar options nearby”)

Does your user flow support a variety of contextual entry points? Different users will be solving for different needs (e.g. “I want something to eat right now” vs “What is the best restaurant in the city?”)

At any point in the flow, is the user forced to stop what they’re doing or go backwards in order to continue or complete a task?