Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics: a compass for every interface

Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics were first published in 1994 and last updated by Nielsen Norman Group in 2020. They are not rigid rules but general principles that help designers review an interface quickly.

The ten principles

According to NN/g, the ten principles are: visibility of system status; match between the system and the real world; user control and freedom; consistency and standards; error prevention; recognition rather than recall; flexibility and efficiency of use; aesthetic and minimalist design; help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors; and help and documentation.

Putting them into practice

The common approach is a heuristic evaluation: a few people review the screens, note which principle each issue violates, then rate severity to prioritize fixes. It is faster and cheaper than testing with real users, but it does not replace it.