Expert Review Method

Expert Review Method in UX

In the process of designing and refining digital products, finding usability problems early is essential. Testing with real users is key. But there are also smart ways to use usability experts. They can quickly find issues. One such method is an Expert Review. This involves experienced User Experience professionals assessing an interface based on their knowledge of usability principles and design standards. They draw on their experience from studying user behaviour across many projects. Expert reviews complement user testing by identifying clear usability issues and offering expert insights on design quality. This article will explain Expert Reviews in UX. It will cover their main features and processes. We’ll discuss why they are important for usability evaluation. Lastly, we will outline their pros and cons.

What is an Expert Review? 

An Expert Review, or expert evaluation, involves one or more UX professionals. These experts have a lot of experience in usability and interaction design. They examine a user interface and assess it using established usability principles, design heuristics, and industry standards. They also rely on their expertise gained from observing user behaviour over time.

The core purpose is to identify potential usability problems or areas of friction that users might encounter. An expert review differs from usability testing. In usability testing, you watch real users interact with the product. In an expert review, evaluators use their judgment and knowledge. They predict where users might struggle, get confused, make errors, or find the interface inefficient or unsatisfying.

An Expert Review can be structured in different ways:

• Heuristic Evaluation: A specific type of expert review where evaluators assess the interface against a defined set of usability heuristics (like Jakob Nielsen’s 10).
• Checklist Review: Evaluating the interface against a custom or standard checklist of usability guidelines and best practices.
• Ad-hoc/Critique: A less formal review where experts explore the interface and provide feedback based on general usability principles and their experience.

Regardless of the specific structure, the key element is the expert evaluator’s expertise. They use their knowledge of user behaviours, cognitive principles, and design patterns. This includes both effective and ineffective methods, as well as accessibility guidelines. They look for any deviations from best practices. The result is a list of possible usability problems and ways to fix them. Experts often see usability issues in predictions that users would notice, too.

Process and Principles Conducting an Expert Review  

Conducting an effective Expert Review, whether structured or more freeform, involves several steps focusing on leveraging the evaluator’s knowledge.

1. Define the Scope: Clearly determine which parts of the interface, which specific task flows, or which features will be included in the review. Define the goals of the review.
2. Identify the Expert Evaluator(s): Select individuals with substantial experience in UX design, usability evaluation, and ideally, some familiarity with the product domain or target users, although a good expert can apply principles across domains. Using several experts can spot more problems, but the benefits lessen after a few evaluators.
3. Choose Evaluation Criteria (Optional Structure): Decide whether to use a specific framework (like heuristics), a checklist, or conduct a more open-ended critique. Using a structured approach can help ensure consistency and coverage.
4. Conduct the Review: The expert(s) navigate the interface, performing tasks or exploring freely, actively looking for potential usability issues. They apply their knowledge of usability principles, design patterns, consistency, clarity, error prevention, and efficiency.
5. Identify and Document Problems: As problems are found, the expert(s) document them. This typically includes:
   • A clear description of the usability problem.
   • Where in the interface the problem occurred (e.g., specific page, element).
   • Which usability principle or best practice was violated (if using a structured method).
   • An assessment of the problem’s severity (e.g., minor, moderate, major, catastrophic), based on the expert’s prediction of its impact on users.
   • Recommendations for how to fix the problem. Screenshots are essential for illustrating the identified issues.
6. Synthesize Findings (if multiple experts): If multiple experts conducted reviews independently, their findings are compiled. Similar problems are grouped, and problem severity ratings are compared and discussed to create a consolidated list.
7. Report Findings: Compile the identified problems and recommendations into a clear, concise report. Prioritize the findings based on severity to guide design and development efforts.

The quality of an expert review is highly dependent on the skill, experience, and relevant knowledge of the evaluators involved.

Why Expert Reviews Important

Importance: Efficiently Identifying Usability Issues

Expert Reviews hold significant value within the UX research and design process, primarily due to their efficiency and ability to leverage accumulated knowledge. Their importance includes:

1. Speed and Cost-Effectiveness: Can be conducted relatively quickly (hours to a few days) and at a lower cost than user testing, as there are no expenses or time associated with participant recruitment and scheduling.
2. Early Problem Detection: Can be applied very early in the design cycle, even on low-fidelity wireframes or static mockups, allowing teams to identify and fix usability issues before significant development effort is invested.
3. Leverages Accumulated Expertise: Capitalizes on the deep knowledge of usability principles and design patterns that experienced UX professionals have gained from countless hours of observing user behavior and evaluating interfaces.
4. Identifies Obvious Issues Quickly: Experts are adept at quickly spotting violations of common design conventions, inconsistencies, accessibility problems (if reviewing against those), and clear points of confusion that are well-known usability traps.
5. Complements User Testing: Expert reviews are excellent for finding a significant number of the most obvious or common usability problems upfront. This means that in future user testing, sessions are less likely to focus on easy-to-fix issues. This lets researchers explore complex workflows, mental models, and subtle problems that only real users might uncover. It makes user testing more efficient.
6. Provides a Baseline Assessment: Offers a quick way to get a professional opinion on the overall usability quality of a design or competitive product.
7. Educates the Team: Review findings, especially when tied to specific usability principles, can help educate the broader product team on common usability issues and best practices.

Expert reviews are a smart way to spot many usability issues early. They rely on established knowledge, making them a helpful first step or a quick check during design.

Pros and Cons of Expert Reviews

Using Expert Reviews for usability evaluation offers clear benefits in terms of speed and cost but also has inherent limitations due to the absence of actual users.

Pros of Conducting Expert Reviews:

• Fast and Cost-Effective: Quicker and less expensive than user testing (no participant recruitment).
• Early Application: Can be used on designs at any fidelity level, even static mockups.
• Leverages Deep Expertise: Benefits from the evaluator’s accumulated knowledge of usability principles and patterns.
• Identifies Obvious Issues Quickly: Good at catching violations of conventions, inconsistencies, and clear points of confusion.
• Excellent Complement to User Testing: Helps fix many problems upfront, making user testing more efficient for uncovering deeper issues.
• Flexible: Can be structured or less formal depending on needs.
• Easy to Schedule: Only requires coordinating the time of the expert(s).

Cons of Conducting Expert Reviews:

• No Actual Users Involved: Findings are predictions based on expertise, not observations of real user behavior. May miss problems specific to the target user’s context, mental model, or technical skill.
• May Identify Non-Problems: Experts might flag issues that real users would not actually struggle with or notice.
• Relies Heavily on Expert Quality: The effectiveness and accuracy of the review are directly dependent on the skill, experience, and relevant knowledge of the evaluator(s).
• Doesn’t Capture User Feelings or Subjective Experience: Cannot provide insights into user satisfaction, frustration levels in practice, or emotional responses.
• Doesn’t Provide Quantitative Data: Cannot measure task success rates, time on task, or error rates in real use.
• Risk of Expert Bias: The expert’s own biases or assumptions can influence their findings.

Expert reviews are most useful when done by skilled evaluators. They help spot potential usability issues based on their expertise. Ideally, this should be backed up or supported by research involving real users.

Expert Reviews are a Tool for Efficient Evaluation

An Expert Review is a useful method for checking usability. Experienced UX professionals evaluate an interface using known principles and their own knowledge. This approach helps find potential usability issues and areas for improvement. It does this without needing to involve end-users in the review.

Methods such as Heuristic Evaluation are types of expert reviews. They offer a clear framework for assessment. The main strength of an expert review is its speed and cost-effectiveness. This allows teams to quickly find many obvious usability issues early in the design cycle, even with low-fidelity prototypes.

While findings come from expert predictions, not user behaviour, a good expert review can spot many issues. Skilled evaluators can identify problems and enhance user testing. By using expert reviews to uncover common issues early, teams can use user testing, like Userlytics, to confirm results. This approach helps explore complex workflows and discover problems that only real users might show. Expert reviews are essential for improving design quality based on proven usability knowledge.