Usability & UX - Zara

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ZARA
The Zara website reflects Jakob Nielsen's usability heuristic for user interface design (Nielsen 1995) and demonstrates both positive and negative aspects of usability and ux. Using the principles of "Match between the system and the real world," "Consistency and standards," and "Visibility of system status," this blog analyses the website. I choose the Zara website since it serves a worldwide audience, which makes it crucial that it adheres to the heuristic principle by being user-friendly and intuitive. Match between system and real world Zara's navigation, which utilises real-world terms like "Men" and "Women" to ensure user-friendly interaction, resonates the minimalistic style of its modern, sleek fashion brand. The navigation function allows users to filter options by size, colour, and price is highlighted in Figure 1. Therefore, meeting user expectations and improving efficiency by making it uncomplicated for users to identify relevant products.
Consistency and standards 
Figure 2 highlights Zara's overuse of large, high resolution images, which hinders functionality despite being visually appealing. The excessive scrolling disrupts navigation and violates Nielsen's "Consistency and Standards" heuristic, by prioritising aesthetics over usability. Additionally, key details like product descriptions and pricing are obscured, frustrating users and creating a disjointed experience that sacrifices functionality for design.
Evaluation
Zara succeeds in delivering a visually appealing interface and an adaptive navigation to user needs.However, the website prioritises aesthetics over functionality, which severely affects Zara's usability. Overall, addressing these problems would align the website closer with Nielsen's heuristic and provide a smoother, more intuitive shopping experience. 

References 
Nielsen, J. (1995). 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design. (Accessed: 20 November 2024). Available at: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
Zara Website. (n.d.). Available at: https://www.zara.com/uk/ (Accessed: 20 November 2024). 

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