HEURISTIC AUDIT · BENCHMARKING · 2023

UX audit for a major game studio

A legendary gaming company wanted to know where its website was failing users and what to fix first. We answered with evidence: an expert usability audit run with no direct user access, distilled into a ranked list of concrete fixes.

ROLE
UX/CX Researcher
TEAM
1 UX/UI Designer, 1 UX/UI Intern, 1 Account Manager
DISCIPLINE
UI/UX Research

Note: due to non-disclosure agreements, some projects are shown without branded or proprietary elements. What is shown is my contribution and the skills employed.

THE BRIEF

An expert usability audit with no direct user access. We evaluated design, navigation, and content against established usability standards, then delivered prioritized, evidence-based recommendations rather than generic best-practice advice.

THE RESEARCH PLAN
  • 01
    Collaborative kickoffAlignment activities with the client to frame goals and scope.
  • 02
    Competitor feature analysisFeature-by-feature mapping across direct and indirect competitors.
  • 03
    Usability heuristic analysisScored against Nielsen and Norman's ten usability heuristics.
  • 04
    Per-page and per-component reviewEvery page and component evaluated against the standards.
  • 05
    Content analysis and evaluationCompetitor content benchmarking and a content heuristic pass.
COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING

Three direct competitors, Blizzard, Bethesda Game Studios, and Epic Games, and three from outside the industry, Sephora, TripAdvisor, and Starbucks. Each was scored on the site's key features: who had them, who lacked them, and who executed best.

Blizzard led on navigation and content organization. Bethesda won on visual polish. Epic Games had the strongest search. Outside gaming, Sephora's reviews and recommendations impressed despite a cluttered interface. Mapping these strengths against the client's site produced a concrete improvement list grounded in evidence.

HEURISTIC ANALYSIS

Each of Nielsen's ten heuristics was broken into measurable elements and scored. Subjective impressions became quantified performance values, and every issue was ranked from cosmetic to critical.

Visibility of system statusMatch to the real worldUser control and freedomConsistency and standardsError preventionRecognition over recallFlexibility and efficiencyAesthetic, minimalist designRecover from errorsHelp and documentation
THE RESULT

Scored heuristics, competitor benchmarks, and a ranked issue list the client could act on in priority order.

10
NIELSEN HEURISTICS SCORED
6
COMPETITORS BENCHMARKED
1
RANKED, PRIORITIZED FIX LIST

Let's build
the next one.

Robert.t.marsch@gmail.com ← Back to all work