Heuristic evaluation
Also called expert review, design review, UX audit
Heuristic evaluation is an expert review of an interface against a set of principles, such as Nielsen’s ten usability heuristics, that lists each problem found and the principle it breaks.
One or more reviewers go through the product screen by screen and check it against the principles: is the system’s status visible, does it speak the user’s language, can a mistake be undone. Each finding says where it is and how severe it is.
It is quick and needs no participants, so it suits the gap between design and launch. Its limit is the reviewer: two experts find different problems, and a principle applied from memory drifts from page to page. A written set of rules, applied the same way each time, is what keeps it consistent.
Where Stunt Double fits
Design reviews are heuristic evaluation against the rules you give a project, such as your brand and design system guidelines. They run on live pages and Figma frames, and each finding cites the rule it broke.
Related terms
- Usability testingUsability testing watches people attempt real tasks in a product to find where they hesitate, make mistakes or give up.
- Prototype testingPrototype testing puts an unfinished design in front of users to see whether they can complete the key tasks before anything is built.
- User personaA user persona is a profile of a type of person a product serves: who they are, what they are trying to do, what they know already and what gets in their way.