SMARTPHONE HEURISTICS
09 August 2010
HEURISTIC EVALUATION

To analyze a user interface for conformance with
recognized usability principles (heuristics).
BACK STORY

Jakob Nielsen
Heuristic Severity Ranking: 0 (not a problem) to 4
(catastrophe)
 10 usability heuristics


Bruce Tognazzini’s “First Principles of
Interaction Design”
HEURISTIC #1

Visibility of application status
Use appropriate feedback to keep people informed
about what is going on
 Web example: Orbitz search
 SmartPhones: What does Shazam do as it analyzes
audio?
 Your projects: where/when/how do you need to
provide feedback?

HEURISTIC #2

Match between app and real world
Adjust display to reflect user environment
 SmartPhones: How does “Maps” change to reflect
where you are?
 Your project: where/when/how does your app need to
reflect the user environment?

HEURISTIC #3

User control and freedom
Need “emergency exit”
 On desktop apps, the escape key
 SmartPhones: “cancel” and “x” and the “back arrow”
are common iPhone controls
 Your projects: where/when/how will your users want
to change their minds?

HEURISTIC #4

Error Prevention
Anticipate errors and design to prevent or present
clear recover option
 SmartPhones: spell-check override
 Your projects: where/when/how might people make
mistakes? How will you gracefully help them recover?

HEURISTIC #5

Consistency and Standards
Conform with norms; users should not have to guess
as to what words or actions mean
 SmartPhones: Where do you find standard controls?
 Your projects: where/when/how will you pick the
iPhone keyboard to offer?

HEURISTIC #6

Recognition Rather Than Recall
Minimize cognitive load
 Browsers: history
 SmartPhones: Foursquare has a tab to show you
recent or frequent check-ins and it will (usually) put
your most visited locations first when you are in that
area and ready to check in
 Your projects: where/when/how will an easily
accessible history be helpful?

HEURISTIC #7

Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
Accelerators for accomplished users
 Browsers and desktop apps: keyboard shortcuts
 SmartPhones: Where do you see suggestions as you
type? (AppStore, where else?)
 Your projects: where/when/how can you anticipate
your user needs?

HEURISTIC #8

Aesthetic and minimalist design
Clean design that minimizes unnecessary
information
 SmartPhones: What are examples of great minimal
design?

HEURISTIC #9

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from
errors
Speak like your user, not like a programmer!
 The Web: 404 errors
 SmartPhones: who has good examples? (not
Foursquare!)

HEURISTIC #10

Help and documentation
Contextual, concise, correct, specific
 SmartPhones: Ocarina offers contextual help upon
launch but makes tutorials easily accessible
 Your projects: where/when/how will you need to offer
“help”?

THINKING ABOUT SCENARIOS
We have a universal primary: find something (a
park, an exhibit, a market)
 We may have universal secondary (directions to
primary selection)
 Secondary goals: reviews/UGC

CREDITS
Kathy E. Gill, @kegill
 http://uwsmartphones.wordpress.com/
