In this topic you move from learning heuristic evaluation (HE) to performing it on real work produced by your classmates. The module assignment asks you to independently evaluate three peer prototypes, applying the full HE process to each: inspect the interface, identify usability problems, classify each problem under one of Nielsen's 10 heuristics, assign a severity rating, and recommend a concrete fix. The key word is independently — in a proper heuristic evaluation, each evaluator works alone first, and findings are only pooled afterward. Comparing notes with a peer before you finish contaminates your results and robs the designer of a genuinely independent perspective.
Two other expectations shape this assignment. The first is professional conduct: you are critiquing an interface, not a person. Write findings that are specific, evidence-based, and actionable ("the Save button gives no confirmation, violating Visibility of System Status") rather than vague or personal ("this screen is bad"). The second is calibration. Because you are reviewing three different prototypes, your severity ratings should mean the same thing across all three. A severity 3 on prototype A should represent roughly the same user impact as a severity 3 on prototype C, which usually means revisiting your earlier ratings once you have seen all three.
The two videos below come from Nielsen Norman Group, the organization that originated the method. As you watch the first, pay attention to the step-by-step workflow — especially the practice of evaluating alone and merging findings later, and how problems are tied to specific heuristics. The second video is about facilitating usability tests rather than HE, but watch it for tone: how an experienced professional frames a session, sets expectations, and makes clear that the interface is under scrutiny, not the person. That framing is exactly the attitude to bring to peer evaluation.
A short, practical walkthrough from Nielsen Norman Group on how to systematically inspect a product for usability and experience problems. It is likely to cover who performs the evaluation, how many evaluators are typically used, the steps of reviewing an interface against a set of heuristics, and how individual findings are recorded and later combined. Expect guidance on documenting each issue clearly enough that someone else can act on it.
This is the core procedural video for the assignment: it comes from the group that developed the method and should directly address the independent-then-aggregate workflow you are required to follow across three peer prototypes.
Facilitation experts demonstrate how to introduce and prepare a participant at the start of a usability test session, including the use of a facilitator's script. The demonstration shows how to set expectations, explain that the product rather than the person is being evaluated, and establish a neutral, respectful tone.
Although it depicts usability testing rather than heuristic evaluation, it models the professional, non-judgmental communication standard expected when you deliver critique to a peer, and the scripted consistency it shows parallels the calibration you need across three prototypes.
The heuristic evaluation walkthrough gives you the procedure behind MO2: inspecting an interface systematically and attaching each observed problem to a specific one of Nielsen's 10 heuristics (MO1), which is also the backbone of the three-prototype assignment. Its emphasis on documenting findings so they can be understood and acted on by others supports MO3, where you must justify a severity rating and propose a targeted design improvement rather than a general complaint. The facilitation demonstration reinforces the professional conduct and consistency expectations of this topic, modeling the neutral, prepared tone that makes severity ratings and recommendations credible and comparable across all three peer prototypes you review.
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.