What it is
This skill conducts systematic usability evaluations of digital interfaces using Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics—the gold standard for finding UX problems before user testing. It walks through your screens and flows, identifies issues, rates their severity, and provides specific recommendations. Perfect for PMs, designers, and founders who want to catch usability problems early.
What it does
- 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
Use it 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
Add this skill to your AI
Copy the source URL and ask your AI to add it. Most coding agents — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Windsurf — will fetch and install it for you.
Try this prompt:
Add this skill to my project: https://github.com/jrbrugger/design-workflow/tree/main/designer-skills-main/prototyping-testing/skills/heuristic-evaluation