Department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota: Twin Cities
WRIT 4501: Usability and Human Factors in Technical Communication
Nick Rosencrans
February 19, 2025
A heuristic evaluation is an informal method to assess a product or service against recognized usability principles. Nielsen (1994a) uses the term heuristics because “they are broad rules of thumb and not specific usability guidelines.” Oxford University Press (2022) offers the following definitions:
Heuristic | hjʊˈɪstɪk | Noun. A heuristic process or method for problem-solving, decision-making, or discovery; a rule or piece of information used in such a process.
Heuristic | hjʊˈɪstɪk | Adjective. Of, relating to, or enabling discovery or problem-solving, esp. through relatively unstructured methods such as experimentation, evaluation, trial and error, etc.
This report details the heuristic evaluation of the St. Paul Police Website as conducted by UX XOXO!.
Our client is the St. Paul Office of Technology & Communication, and we are evaluating their police website. The St. Paul police department prides itself on providing a vital resource for its community members. The website is used to file police reports, find information on records, apply for jobs/careers, and stay informed in the local Saint Paul community. The locals in the St. Paul community want to stay informed on what is happening for public safety, whether it be weather conditions or crimes around the area. Moreover, one of the website’s most important characteristics beyond promoting public safety is to promote community engagement. Due to the community- and safety-based nature of the St. Paul police’s services, we need to ensure that the website is organized and updated with positive usability features. In turn, they can demonstrate how reliable of a source they can be for everyday users, creating a space of trust and empowerment.
This report will address our purpose and methods used to conduct the heuristic evaluation. We will also provide results and recommendations for the St. Paul Office of Technology and Communication.
Heuristic evaluation is a widely recognized method for assessing the effectiveness and usability of user interfaces, grounded in Jakob Nielsen’s 10 heuristics. This evaluation technique allows us to identify usability issues by systematically analyzing a website against the established principles that guide, support, and enhance user experience. For this evaluation, we thoroughly assessed the St. Paul police website over one– to one-and-a-half–hour session. We considered a varying range of severity levels (see Table 1) that we can assign to our findings, based on their likely impact on the user experience.
For instance, the first heuristic, Visibility of System Status, emphasizes the importance of keeping users informed about ongoing processes and their progress for accomplishing their goals. This heuristic is crucial for maintaining user trust and efficiency (Harley, 2018); said trust and efficiency incentivizes users to use the system again and builds the system’s credibility, subsequently encouraging a user-system rapport.
By leveraging Nielsen’s 10 heuristics, our evaluation aims to uncover both the strengths and weaknesses of the St. Paul website’s design, ultimately providing actionable recommendations for improvement. Through this approach, we seek to enhance usability and ensure the St. Paul website effectively serves its community.
Table 1
List of Severity Codes
| Severity Code | Description |
|---|---|
| Good | Discoveries that indicate strong adherence to the heuristic, which may be a compelling factor in maintaining certain features or processes |
| Low | Incremental details, flaws, or hypothetical implications that lead to confusion, frustration, or inefficiency |
| Medium | Obstacles that require effort to look up a solution, or to find a workaround |
| High | Unavoidable problems that prevent users from completing their task on their own |