A complete guide to understanding the cognitive walkthrough with supporting examples.

1. z
Cognitive
Walkthrough By:
Yashashree Mahale

2. A cognitive walkthrough is a structured
approach to evaluating usability of a product.
• Formal method for evaluating user-interface
without users.
• Focuses on “First-Time-Use”.
• Task Oriented .

3. The four questions
asked during Cognitive
Walkthrough

4. Will the user try and
achieve the right
outcome?
This question is trying to
examine whether the interface
is making assumptions about a
user’s level of experience or
knowledge that aren’t
accurate.

5. Will the user notice the
correct action available to
them?
This question is about
finding hidden, obscured,
or confusing options on
your product that could
prevent users from making
the right choice.

6. Will the user associate the
correct action with the
outcome they expect to
achieve?
If your use of language is
poor, for example you use
overly complex words or
industry jargon, it can be
hard for a user to work out
what is needed to achieve
their outcome.

7. If the correct action is
performed; will the user see
that progress is being made
towards their intended outcome?
Assuming the users did the correct
action, will they know that. This is the
completion of the execution/evaluation
interaction cycle. In order to determine
if they have accomplished their goal,
the user needs appropriate feedback.

8. How to Conduct a
Cognitive
Walkthrough

9. Determine the
function of the
system
List the actions
possible
Identify and
carry out
appropriate
actions
Perceive and
interpret what
happened
Evaluate
progress
towards the
goal
1
3
2
4
5

14. Need to Do
 A well-developed interface.
 One or more task descriptions.
 A walkthrough scenario for each
task.
 Clear understanding of
Personas.
 Work Together and Be Skeptical

15. Benefits
 Learn and improve initial user
experience.
 Task-oriented – Focus.
 Easy to learn and quick to do.
 Forces you to articulate assumptions
about user knowledge and thought
process.
 Can do early in the process.
 Finding problems often implicitly

16.  Designers must understand their
users.
 Focuses on first-time users only
 Identifies the problems but
doesn’t (automatically) produce
solutions.
 Doesn’t tell how frequent or
severe the problems are.
Limitations