What is the purpose of heuristic evaluation in UX design?

The purpose of heuristic evaluation in UX design is to identify usability problems in a user interface by having experts evaluate it against a set of established usability principles, known as heuristics. Heuristic evaluation is a relatively quick, inexpensive, and systematic way to assess the usability of a design early in the development process. Typically, three to five evaluators independently inspect the interface and identify any areas where it violates the heuristics. For example, an evaluator might notice that an error message is not clear or helpful, violating the 'Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors' heuristic. The evaluators then document their findings, and the UX team can use this feedback to prioritize and address the most significant usability issues. Heuristic evaluation helps uncover problems that might be missed in user testing, and it can inform design decisions before investing in more extensive user research. It’s a valuable tool for improving the overall user experience and ensuring that the interface is easy to learn, efficient to use, and error-free.