UX heuristics & laws
The standards Tosin uses when evaluating your screens. Every cited rule has direct, defensible evidence in the analyzed image.
Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics
Visibility of system status
Always keep users informed about what is going on through appropriate, timely feedback (loaders, optimistic UI, progress bars).
Match between system and the real world
Speak the user’s language. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural, logical order.
User control and freedom
Provide a clearly marked "emergency exit" (undo, redo, cancel) for mistaken actions without forcing extended dialogue.
Consistency and standards
Do not make users wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
Error prevention
Eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation before they commit to the action.
Recognition rather than recall
Minimize memory load by making elements, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information across screens.
Flexibility and efficiency of use
Accelerators (unseen by novice users) speed up interaction for experts so the system caters to both inexperienced and experienced users.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
Interfaces should not contain information that is irrelevant. Every extra unit of information competes with the relevant units.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages in plain language, precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
Help and documentation
Even better when no documentation is needed. When it is, make it easy to search, focused on the user’s task, with concrete steps.
Cognitive & interaction laws
Fitts’s Law
Time to acquire a target is a function of distance and size. Make primary CTAs large, well-spaced, and within the user’s natural reach.
Hick’s Law
Decision time grows with the number and complexity of choices. Reduce options, group related items, and use progressive disclosure.
Jakob’s Law
Users spend most of their time on other sites. They prefer your site to work the same way as the ones they already know.
Miller’s Law
The average person can hold ~7 (±2) items in working memory. Chunk information; favor short menus and stepped flows.
Tesler’s Law
Every system has irreducible complexity. The question is who handles it: the system or the user. Move complexity into the system.
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
Users perceive aesthetically pleasing design as more usable. Visual polish buys you tolerance for minor friction, so earn it; don’t abuse it.
Postel’s Law
Be liberal in what you accept, conservative in what you send. Forgiving inputs (case, whitespace, formats) with strict, clear outputs.
Doherty Threshold
Productivity soars when computer and user interact at a pace (<400ms) that ensures neither has to wait on the other. Optimize perceived latency.
Severity scale
Prevents the user from completing the stated task. Must fix before ship.
Significantly degrades efficiency, comprehension, or trust. Fix in the same cycle.
Polish-level. Affects perception more than completion. Fix when convenient.