Hi everyone, Apologies in advance for the long post. The agency where I work as an IxD recently started an employee driven lunch and learn series where I had the opportunity to introduce the idea of Heuristics to the group. I covered off the basics and background from Nielson on and it was all very well received. Following the session we opened up the floor and had some great dialogue on the personification of software and it's application to Heuristics. As a follow up I have been asked to present a more 'human friendly' version of Heuristics to the team using personal traits as a guide for non-expert use. We will most likely begin to guinea pig this idea into our process next week. I thought to myself today - 'what a great chance to finally post an IXDA discussion thread'. I have been reading along for a very long time...
So I would love any feedback you have to offer. Here is my first pass at a new take on Heuristics based largely on Nielson's originals as well as the ISOs ergonomics of human system interactions: Begin each Heuristic with 'A design should be...' 1. Transparent At all times a person should understand where they are, what actions are available and how those actions can be performed. Information and objects should be made visible so that a person does not have to rely on memory from one screen to another Ask Yourself: ⢠Where am I? ⢠What are my options? 2. Responsive Whenever appropriate, useful feedback should let a person know what is going on within a reasonable amount of time. If a person initiates an action, they should receive a clear response. Ask Yourself: ⢠What is happening right now? ⢠Am I getting what I need? 3. Considerate A person should understand the language, words, terminology and phrases presented to them. Error messages should be expressed in plain language, precisely indicate the problem and constructively suggest a solution. Predictable contextual needs and commonly accepted conventions should be followed. Ask Yourself: ⢠Does this make sense to me? 4. Supportive A person should feel supported in the effective and efficient completion of their task. A person should feel enabled to focus on the task itself as opposed to the technology chosen to perform that task. Ask Yourself: ⢠Can I focus on my task? ⢠Do I feel frustrated? 5. Consistent A person should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Additionally a person should not discover that similar words, situations or actions mean different things. Establish and maintain conventions. Ask Yourself: ⢠Are my expectations accurate? 6. Forgiving Despite evident errors in input, a person should be capable of achieving their intended result with either no or minimal corrective effort. Damage control, error correction, or error management should be handled by the technology as opposed to the person using that technology whenever possible and appropriate. Ask Yourself: ⢠Are mistakes easy to fix? ⢠Does the technology blame me for errors? 7. Guiding A person should feel capable of learning what is required to accomplish their goals. Help documentation and information should be easy to locate and search, focused on the task at hand and be only as long as necessary. Ask Yourself: ⢠Do I know where to go for help? 8. Accommodating A person should be able to initiate and control the direction and pace of an interaction until the point at which the goal has been met. Emergency exits should allow a person to leave any unwanted state without having to go through an extended process. Support undo and redo. Ask Yourself: ⢠Am I in control? ⢠Am I afraid to make mistakes? 9. Flexible A person should be able to modify the interaction and presentation of information to suit their individual capabilities and needs. Ask Yourself: ⢠Can I customize my experience? 10. Intelligent The technology should be able to recognize usage patterns and adapt itself to accommodate the individual. The person should experience an improvement of quality over time with repeat visits. Ask Yourself: ⢠Does the technology know who I am? ⢠Did the technology remember the way I left things? Thanks for you time!
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