10 Usability Heuristics for Product Designing
Usability heuristic principles is important for designing products to improve user experiences. Heuristic evaluation is used for measuring the usability of an existing product and when creating new designs.
Although there are numerous heuristics, Jakob Nielsen’s heuristics are probably the most-used usability heuristics for user interface design.
1. Visibility of System Status: Users should always be aware of the system’s status and receive feedback on their interactions with it.
2. Match Between the System and the Real World: System should represent the experiences that users already had.
In the real world, carts represent larger objects, such as electric appliances; a basket represents groceries; and bag represents personal items, such as clothing.
3. User Control and Freedom: If user is making a mistake, they should be able to reverse their action.
4. Consistency and Standard: The appearance of a system should be consistent with fonts, colors and overall styling.
5. Error Prevention: Reduce the odds of making a mistake by giving users the option to confirm their actions before proceeding.
6. Recognition Rather than Recall: Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible.
7. Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: Wide range of users should be able to use the system effectively. Allowing users to use multiple shortcuts greatly reduces the possibility of error and user frustration and fatigue.
8. An Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Information provided to the users must be clear and simple. Extra information and excessive color/structure will divert their attention away from the content and reduce their visibility of the content.
9. Help users Recognise, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors: Make error messages understandable, and provide suggestions for correcting an error.
10. Help and Documentation: If everything else fails and users still require assistance, they should have help & support available to them.
Conclusion
Nielsen’s heuristics principles should be considered for user -friendly and delightful website design services. These principles are not the be-all and end-all, but they can prove extremely helpful.
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