kienbui1995 UX Audit
When to Use
When assessing an existing product's user experience before a redesign, after user complaints, or as a quarterly practice.
Core Jobs
1. Heuristic Evaluation (Nielsen's 10)
Evaluate each screen against:
- Visibility of system status — does the user know what's happening?
- Match between system and real world — familiar language, not jargon?
- User control and freedom — easy undo/exit?
- Consistency and standards — same patterns throughout?
- Error prevention — does the design prevent mistakes?
- Recognition over recall — visible options, not memorized commands?
- Flexibility and efficiency — shortcuts for power users?
- Aesthetic and minimal design — no irrelevant information?
- Help users recognize/diagnose/recover from errors — clear error messages?
- Help and documentation — findable when needed?
Score each: 0 (no problem) to 4 (usability catastrophe)
2. User Flow Analysis
Walk through top 3 user flows:
- Map each step from entry to goal completion
- Note where users might get confused or drop off
- Measure click depth: how many clicks to complete key tasks?
3. Prioritize Findings
Severity × Frequency:
- Critical (score 3–4 + common flow) → fix before next release
- Major (score 2–3 + occasional flow) → next sprint
- Minor (score 1–2) → backlog
4. Write the Report
Per finding:
- Screenshot + annotation
- Heuristic violated
- Severity rating (1–4)
- Recommended fix
Key Outputs
- Heuristic evaluation scorecard
- User flow breakdown
- Prioritized findings report with screenshots
- Top 5 quick wins
Anti-Patterns
- Auditing without real users (adds subjective bias)
- Treating all findings as equal priority
- UX audit without connecting to business metrics
- One-time audit with no follow-up measurement