Heuristic evaluation (HE) is a usability inspection method: instead of recruiting end users, a small group of evaluators inspects an interface on their own and judges it against a short list of recognized usability principles. The method was popularized by Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Molich in the early 1990s, and it remains one of the fastest, cheapest ways to surface usability problems in a design before (or alongside) user testing. In this course it serves as your bridge from abstract design principles to concrete, defensible critique of real interfaces.
The subtopics here frame four questions. What is HE, procedurally — who evaluates, how many evaluators, how findings are merged? Where did it come from, and how does it relate to other inspection methods such as cognitive walkthroughs? When should you reach for it — early in design, between usability tests, or as a quick audit of an existing product? And what are its limits — evaluators are not users, findings can be subjective, and HE tends to catch surface-level problems more reliably than deep task or workflow failures.
As you watch, pay attention to process details you will need to reproduce in your own evaluation: evaluating independently before discussing, documenting each issue with the heuristic it violates and where it occurs, consolidating duplicate findings across evaluators, and assigning severity. Also note where each video says HE should not stand alone — that caveat is part of understanding the method, not a footnote to it.
A concise walkthrough from Nielsen Norman Group of the heuristic evaluation procedure, including evaluating independently, working through an example interface, and consolidating issues found by multiple evaluators into a single list. The chapter markers indicate it closes with a summary of the overall workflow.
It comes from the organization that originated the method, and in under five minutes it maps directly onto the "what is heuristic evaluation" and "how to run one" subtopics with a worked example.
A longer practitioner-oriented tutorial on assessing a product's UX through heuristic evaluation, with a free template offered for structuring findings. The description frames heuristics as a way to catch a large share of usability problems, so expect discussion of why teams use the method and how to apply it to a real product.
It complements the NN/g overview with a studio practitioner's perspective on when to use HE and what deliverable it produces, which supports the "when to use" and "advantages" subtopics.
An NN/g explainer on cognitive walkthroughs, a task-based usability inspection technique focused on how learnable a system is for a first-time user. It should clarify how the walkthrough procedure is structured around specific tasks rather than general principles.
Seeing a sibling inspection method makes the boundaries of heuristic evaluation clearer, which is exactly what the "origins and context" and "limitations" subtopics ask you to understand.
Together these videos give you the procedural grounding the module outcomes require. The NN/g walkthrough and the Adam Fard tutorial show evaluators inspecting an interface against principles, documenting violations, and consolidating them, which is the core skill behind MO2, and both touch on recording and prioritizing issues in a way that feeds the severity rating and recommendation work in MO3. The cognitive walkthrough video positions HE among alternative inspection methods so that when you apply Nielsen's 10 heuristics in MO1 you understand both what they are good for and where another method would serve you better.
These videos were chosen from YouTube on October 3, 2026. Each has captions; the player turns them on. Videos on YouTube can be changed or removed — if one no longer plays, tell your instructor. If a player does not appear, use its Watch on YouTube link.