As part of the human-centered design process, there are various UX measures for evaluating the current status of an application. One of these is the expert review, also known as expert-based evaluation. This method has proven itself in providing helpful recommendations for improving usability within a very short time.
Structure of the Expert Review – Two Steps to the Result
An expert review usually consists of a heuristic evaluation and a cognitive walkthrough. In a heuristic evaluation, several UX professionals or subject matter experts examine the application using various heuristics, as the name suggests. Heuristics are recognized rules of thumb that apply to every interface, be it a website or a business application, and should be taken into account to ensure good usability. The list of heuristics should be manageable, which is why Nielsen’s ten heuristics provide a good guide. A checklist or questionnaire is then used to identify negative and positive usability findings.
When performing the cognitive walkthrough, the UX experts run through predefined scenarios for the various user groups. They pay attention to whether the users can recognize the various steps of the task and whether they notice the progress of their actions.
After these two steps, the experts discuss their findings and then sort the usability weaknesses according to their severity. Depending on the scope of the application, the results can be processed quite quickly. Recommendations for subsequent measures to improve the software can be linked immediately to the usability problems. This means that you, as the customer, can receive feedback quickly.
Your Advantages at a Glance
An expert review is highly scalable and therefore also suitable for small software projects. Especially for small projects, results can already be demonstrated by one or two UX experts within the evaluation. In addition, workflows or user groups to be examined can be prioritized individually, depending on your requirements within your project. Another advantage is that the recommended measures can be directly incorporated into a concept and integrated into agile development in smaller increments. This allows you to quickly implement improvements.
Conclusion
Expert reviews can only be used for customer projects that already have a concept for an interface or are currently in development, as it is essential to have an interface to review. Overall, an expert review by BREDEX experts is particularly worthwhile if the target group is not so easy to recruit for a usability test. All in all, you gain a new perspective on the existing interface from the user’s point of view, and usability problems can be quickly identified and remedied, either before or during development.
Do you have any questions about the expert review? Feel free to contact us directly by email.
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Alicia Pomreinke
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