Author Archives: Kevin Matz

How to conduct heuristic inspections for evaluating software usability

Heuristics are “rule-of-thumb” design principles, rules, and characteristics that are stated in broad terms and are often difficult to specify precisely. Assessing whether a product exhibits the qualities embodied in a heuristic is thus a subjective affair. If you inspect … Continue reading

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Focus groups as a usability evaluation technique

A focus group brings together a group of users or other stakeholders to participate in a discussion of preprepared questions, led by a facilitator. A focus group could be used as an usability evaluation technique if the group is shown … Continue reading

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Analytics as a usability evaluation technique

Once your product has been released, understanding how it is actually being used very valuable. Analytics refers to the use of instrumentation to record data on users’ activities, followed by the analysis the collected data to detect trends and patterns. … Continue reading

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Quantifying cognitive load and task efficiency

If we wanted to attempt to quantify the cognitive load — i.e., the thinking and effort involved — for performing a particular task, we could write out a list of the actions or operations that a user would have to … Continue reading

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The impact of hardware devices on software ergonomics

A product that is ergonomic is designed in a way that helps reduces physical discomfort, stress, strain, fatigue, and potential injury during operation. While ergonomics is usually associated with physical products, the design of the a software application’s interface also … Continue reading

Posted in Interaction Design, Product Management, Psychology for UX Design, Uncategorized, Usability, User Experience Design | 1 Comment

Software requirements in a nutshell

Requirements are statements of things that your product must achieve for it to be considered successful. If you are building a customized solution for a client, requirements express the wants and needs of your client. If you are building a … Continue reading

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