This week in class, it started with a couple of UX people from the company Cirdan, to talk about their placements. They covered what they work on, what they develop, who they are, and what they look for when looking for a placement student.
Before this, I already had a look at their company, as it had caught my interest originally. I really liked the idea of working somewhat in the medical field and thought that this is a really great opportunity.
Diving into the next part of class, the lecturer decided to cover the importance and meaning of an heuristic evaluation, within UX design. It was really interesting to find out and understand how UX audits are conducted, by pointing out specific areas to look for and look at. To me, it’s a little bit more of a competitor analysis, only your looking more into the UX side of things, as well as providing visual changes/ suggestions where necessary than just standard writing and feedback.
I feel like this is a lot more structured version than anything, as it has 10 steps for me to look into that helps break down the most common areas that usually need evaluated, improved or changed.
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Aside from this, the lecturer thought it would be best to go on and provide a sneak peak at what the third project of this class is. Which is to create a heuristic evaluation of a chosen application, not knowing if we can choose our own or if they are to be provided just yet.
One of the most interesting areas and fun parts of this evaluation for me would be pointing out the issues of a system. I feel like getting the issues down and out first, would help designer build some ground to stand on, as they will understand the intended purpose and function of the specified area (Depending on it’s importance) and rebuild/ design from their.
The table below, created by my lecturer was one of the best visual examples to be created when evaluating an application. I really like this layout and structure. It’s really easy to understand, with the rating on what needs changed asap as well as where the issue is located through the key, and the small description that is easy to understand and quick to read.