My final project focuses on conducting a UX audit of a chosen digital product to evaluate its usability and user experience critically. I will be analysing its strengths and identifying key issues before proposing research-driven design improvements to enhance the overall experience. This project will allow me to apply UX principles practically while developing my problem-solving and evaluation skills.
UX audits are a systematic evaluation method used to analyse how well a digital product performs from a user experience perspective. They assess usability, accessibility, content clarity, and visual consistency by comparing an interface against recognised UX principles and heuristics.
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Understanding UX audits helps me identify usability issues, evaluate how effective a design really is, and make informed improvements. It provides me with a clear framework to critically assess experiences and inform my own design decisions moving forward.
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The process also helps uncover friction points, usability issues, and missed opportunities that may negatively impact users. UX audits are widely used in industry to support redesign decisions, improve product quality, and ensure experiences are inclusive and user-centred. They also encourage designers to take a more critical, evidence-led approach when reviewing existing digital products and proposing meaningful improvements.
UX audits are important because they provide a structured way to evaluate existing digital products and identify usability, accessibility, and experience issues that may not be immediately obvious. They are carried out by reviewing key user journeys and interface elements against recognised UX principles and heuristics, allowing designers to document strengths, highlight problems, and prioritise areas for improvement. In relation to my project, conducting a UX audit enables me to apply critical, user-centred thinking to real products, strengthening my ability to analyse designs objectively and propose informed, practical solutions based on established UX guidelines.
For my next stage, I focused on selecting a digital product to analyse for my UX audit. Kyle provided examples such as Translink and NI Direct, which helped guide my decision. I chose to audit Translink, as it is a widely used public transport platform that serves a broad and diverse range of users. Although the service has been redesigned multiple times, public transport systems are rarely perfect due to their complexity and constant demand. This makes Translink a strong candidate for evaluation, as analysing and breaking it down will allow me to identify usability issues, accessibility concerns, and areas for improvement. By auditing a real, everyday product, I can apply UX principles in a meaningful way and propose realistic, user-focused solutions.
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I chose Translink for my UX audit as it is a high-traffic public service used by a wide range of users with varying needs. Auditing a transport platform allows me to identify real usability and accessibility challenges and propose practical, user-focused improvements.
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Choosing Translink is well-suited for conducting a UX report because it is a large-scale public service platform that must cater to a diverse user base, including daily commuters, occasional users, tourists, and users with accessibility needs. This makes it a strong candidate for analysis, as the experience needs to be clear, reliable, and efficient across many different scenarios and user goals. Additionally, transport services are highly task-focused, such as planning journeys, checking times, and purchasing tickets, which allows for clear evaluation against UX heuristics and usability principles. Even though Translink has been redesigned multiple times, public transport systems are constantly evolving, meaning there are always opportunities to identify friction points, accessibility gaps, and areas for improvement. Auditing Translink enables me to apply UX theory in a real-world context and produce practical, meaningful recommendations.
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Plan Your Journey with Translink | Bus & Train NI
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This UX audit aims to conduct a detailed and structured evaluation of the Translink digital platform, focusing on how effectively it supports users in completing essential public transport tasks. Given that Translink is used by a wide and diverse audience daily, it is important that its digital experience is clear, accessible, and efficient.
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This UX audit aims to evaluate the Translink platform by identifying usability and accessibility issues that impact user experience. The outcome will be a set of user-focused insights and design recommendations to improve clarity, efficiency, and inclusivity.
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Through this audit, I aim to uncover usability and accessibility issues that may not be immediately obvious but can significantly impact the overall user experience, particularly for first-time, infrequent, or vulnerable users.