Heuristic Evaluation vs Brand.yml

Heuristic Evaluation

By JR Brugger (Design Workflow)

Get expert UX reviews of your app or website using proven usability principles.

Brand.yml

By Posit

Define your brand colors, fonts, and logos once, use them everywhere in Shiny and Quarto.

Heuristic Evaluation

• Evaluates your interface against 10 proven usability heuristics like system visibility, error prevention, and consistency
• Documents each issue with severity ratings from cosmetic to critical
• Provides specific recommendations for fixing each problem found
• Reviews both new user and experienced user perspectives
• Prioritizes findings so you know what to fix first

Brand.yml

• Creates a single YAML file that stores your brand colors, fonts, and logo files
• Automatically applies your branding to Shiny web apps and Quarto documents
• Supports light and dark mode variants for colors and logos
• Integrates with Google Fonts and custom typography
• Works across HTML reports, dashboards, slides, and PDFs

Reach for Heuristic Evaluation when…

• You're about to launch and want to catch UX issues before users do
• You need to prioritize design improvements with limited resources
• You want expert feedback on a prototype or new feature
• You're preparing for user testing and want to fix obvious problems first

Reach for Brand.yml when…

• You're setting up brand guidelines for a team's reports and dashboards
• You need consistent colors and fonts across multiple documents without manual styling
• You're creating Shiny apps or Quarto reports and want them to match your brand
• You want to update your brand palette once and have it apply everywhere