Homework – Usability and accessibility audit

Examine an existing digital service or competitor that offers a task similar to the main task of your project. The goal of the audit is to practice recognizing problems and justifying fixes with the principles you have learned (usability heuristics, WCAG, states). The result of the audit can also be used for your own project: it shows what you need to pay attention to.

Deliverables

• a shareable FigJam or Figma link;
• a short description of the examined service and the examined task (for whom, for what purpose);
• at least six annotated findings with screenshots or screen details; for each: what the problem is, which heuristic or WCAG principle it affects, what its consequence is for the persona, and with what improvement direction you would solve it;
• at least two findings should concern an accessibility issue (for example contrast, keyboard use, color as the only signal);
• a state list of the examined task (normal, loading, empty, error, success, disabled): which is missing or weak;
• an update of the persona from homework 2, if on the basis of the audit you see a new risk or need (with a short note on what changed and why);
• three usability or accessibility risks for the main task of your own project, each with a preventive direction.

Evaluation criteria

• A finding describes an observable phenomenon, not an opinion ("not pretty", "not intuitive").
• A finding is connected to a principle and states the user consequence.
• The improvement direction follows from the user problem, not just "make it prettier".
• The accessibility findings are not only the results of an automatic tool; you checked at least one by hand (for example using only the keyboard).

Tip

Do not choose a service that is too big. A single task (for example booking an appointment, adding to a cart, registration) gives a deeper audit than reviewing the whole site.