SUMMARY
Purpose: A design heuristic is a rule of thumb or principle that helps evaluate usability, identify UX issues, and guide interface improvements across products.
Design Thinking Phase: Prototype
Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis
Difficulty: ⭐⭐
When to use:Auditing a prototype before usability testingImproving an underperforming product featureAligning the team on usability best practices
What it is
Design heuristics are usability principles that serve as practical frameworks for evaluating user interfaces. The most recognised set is Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics, which include guidelines like “visibility of system status” and “user control and freedom”. These heuristics help teams spot friction points and quality issues early in the design cycle.
📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.
Why it matters
While heuristics don’t replace usability testing, they offer fast, consistent ways to flag UX flaws before a product hits real users. They're especially valuable when used by cross-functional teams — helping engineers, product managers, and business stakeholders speak the same usability language during design reviews.
When to use
- After completing wireframes or hi-fi prototypes
- During design QA before handing off to dev
- Retrospectively—when a feature underperforms post-launch
Benefits
- Rich Insights: Helps uncover user needs that aren’t visible in metrics.
- Flexibility: Works across various project types and timelines.
- User Empathy: Deepens understanding of behaviours and motivations.
How to use it
Follow this 3-step heuristic evaluation process:
- Choose a heuristic set: Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics are a reliable choice. Alternatively, use system-specific rules (e.g., Apple HIG or Material Guidelines).
- Evaluate the UI: Individually or as a team, go screen-by-screen and note where the interface violates or supports each heuristic. Tag each finding by severity (cosmetic, minor, major, blocker).
- Cluster issues and prioritise: Group findings by root cause or screen. Prioritise them based on user impact and implementation effort.
Example Output
Screen: Onboarding – Email Signup
Heuristic Violated: Error Prevention
Issue: No inline validation; users repeatedly submit forms with invalid characters
Severity: Major
Recommendation: Add real-time field validation for syntax and show helper text with allowed character sets
Common Pitfalls
- Lack of context: Heuristics aren’t rules — they need grounding in user behaviour, not theoretical perfection.
- Overloading the session: 10 heuristics × 20 screens = fatigue. Focus on key flows where friction matters most.
- Skipping prioritisation: Listing issues isn’t enough. You must triage by risk, impact, frequency, and feasibility.
10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Design Heuristics – UX/UI Edition
How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)
Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.
C.S.I.R. stands for:
- Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
- Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
- Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
- Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)
Level up your career with smarter AI prompts.Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results.Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence.First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member.
Prompt Template 1: “Run a Heuristic Audit on a Key Flow:”
Run a Heuristic Audit on a Key Flow:
Context: You are a UX/UI Lead evaluating a [feature or flow] before usability testing.
Specific Info: The design includes screens for [step 1 – step 2 – step 3]. Known user issues include [problem or confusion].
Intent: Identify usability violations based on Nielsen’s 10 heuristics and suggest severity-prioritised improvements.
Response Format: Present findings in a table with [Heuristic], [Issue], [Severity], and [Fix Suggestion].
If the flow seems too ambiguous, ask what the user goal or primary task is before proceeding.
Then, suggest a related heuristic that might need deeper investigation.
Prompt Template 2: “Generate Heuristic-Based Red Flags in a Wireframe:”
Generate Heuristic-Based Red Flags in a Wireframe:
Context: You are a product designer reviewing an early low-fidelity wireframe for a [SaaS dashboard module].
Specific Info: The wireframe aims to support [user goal], but has no error states, onboarding, or clear exit paths.
Intent: Quickly scan for heuristic violations in visibility, error prevention, and user control.
Response Format: Shortlist the top 5 heuristic gaps with labels and risk indicators.
Ask me to clarify the user goal if it’s missing. Then propose 1 UI pattern example that can address an issue.
Prompt Template 3: “Prioritise Heuristic Issues by Severity & UX Risk:”
Prioritise Heuristic Issues by Severity & UX Risk:
Context: You are a senior designer compiling heuristic review findings with a cross-functional team.
Specific Info: You identified 12 usability issues across [3 interfaces] with varying impact.
Intent: Help prioritise issues in a way that supports aligned action planning.
Response Format: Return a prioritised list using criteria: [Severity], [Frequency], [User Impact], [Ease of Fix].
Ask for clarification if any UI context is missing (like mobile vs desktop).
Then suggest which design system guidelines might apply.
Prompt Template 4: “Translate a Design Issue into Root Heuristic Violation:”
Translate a Design Issue into Root Heuristic Violation:
Context: You're reviewing stakeholder feedback on a [checkout experience] that reports “users get confused near the end.”
Specific Info: The interface includes multiple modals and a final summary step hidden behind a dropdown.
Intent: Diagnose which heuristic(s) may be at fault and offer reframing options to improve.
Response Format: Breakdown the flow, map symptoms to heuristics, then give UI reasoning.
If the user confusion description is vague, ask for clickstream or session replay detail next.
Prompt Template 5: “Create a Heuristic Review Workshop Plan:”
Create a Heuristic Review Workshop Plan:
Context: You’re a design lead preparing a team activity to audit a live product with PMs and devs.
Specific Info: The product is a [B2B reporting tool] suffering from poor task completion.
Intent: Design a fast-paced heuristic evaluation session for cross-functional alignment.
Response Format: Provide a workshop agenda with 4 segments: Setup, Evaluation, Synthesis, Prioritisation.
Ask who will be in the room (roles), and suggest facilitation techniques if needed.
Prompt Template 6: “Build a Usability Fix Tracker from Heuristic Outcomes:”
Build a Usability Fix Tracker from Heuristic Outcomes:
Context: You have just finished a heuristic evaluation round on a mobile onboarding flow.
Specific Info: Findings include 7 violations with varying impact. Some overlap with past sprint tasks.
Intent: Translate findings into a dev-friendly issue tracker list, linking to Jira or Notion.
Response Format: Return a CSV-style list with fields: [Issue], [Heuristic], [Severity], [Suggest Fix], [Owner].
Prompt me if any design system constraints should be noted.
Prompt Template 7: “Explain to Non-Designers Why An Issue Matters via Heuristics:”
Explain to Non-Designers Why An Issue Matters via Heuristics:
Context: You're preparing to present usability findings to product leadership.
Specific Info: One key issue — a hidden confirmation modal — is being deprioritised as “edge case”.
Intent: Frame why this point violates usability and could damage trust or conversion.
Response Format: Short narrative using heuristic language and user risk framing.
Ask if data (e.g. bounce rate) or user quotes are available to strengthen the point.
Prompt Template 8: “Simulate a Heuristic Review of Competitor UI:”
Simulate a Heuristic Review of Competitor UI:
Context: You’re benchmarking your [onboarding UX] against a direct competitor.
Specific Info: The competitor flow includes [user steps] and relies heavily on tooltip overlays.
Intent: Identify what heuristic principles they overuse, ignore, or execute well.
Response Format: Annotated analysis by heuristic, with [Issue], [Impact], [Opportunity].
If their UI is not public, prompt for screenshots or key screens to clarify.
Prompt Template 9: “Turn Heuristic Issues Into Research Questions:”
Turn Heuristic Issues Into Research Questions:
Context: You found heuristic issues in a recent UI design audit for a [health tracking app].
Specific Info: Key problems include lack of error messaging and inconsistent navigation states.
Intent: Create hypothesis-driven research questions to explore these issues with users.
Response Format: Convert each issue into a question template, e.g. “How might users respond when…” + rationale.
If needed, follow up with proper usability test methods for validation.
Prompt Template 10: “Summarise Which Heuristics Are Most Often Violated in Our Product Line:”
Summarise Which Heuristics Are Most Often Violated in Our Product Line:
Context: You maintain design QA across 4 digital products in the same family (e.g. banking apps).
Specific Info: Past audits show recurring themes, but no aggregated view exists yet.
Intent: Generate a pattern analysis to determine systemic UX problems by heuristic.
Response Format: Summary table by heuristic with [Number of Violations], [Examples], [Suggested Initiative].
Ask if product performance data (e.g. dropoff points) should be integrated for insight hygiene.
Recommended Tools
- Tably – Heuristic Evaluation with AI
- UX Checklist – Web App for UI Audits
- Pastel – Visual Feedback for UI Reviews
