---
title: Nielsen Norman Group — what it is | RGM® Glossary
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/nielsen-norman-group/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/nielsen-norman-group/
---

# Nielsen Norman Group

/ˈnilsən ˈnɔɹmən ɡɹup/proper noun

The people who named 'user experience' and counted how you actually read this page.

Founded
:   1998, by Jakob Nielsen & Don Norman

Coined
:   'User experience' (Norman, at Apple)

Famous for
:   10 usability heuristics, F-pattern

Output
:   Free research articles, training, certification

## Forms & parts of speech

heuristic evaluation · phrase (its method)

Expert review against the 10 heuristics.

"Run a **heuristic evaluation** before the usability test — catch the obvious cheaply."

## What it is

Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) is the UX research and consulting firm founded in 1998 by Jakob Nielsen — whose 10 usability heuristics (1994) remain the field's standard checklist — and Don Norman, who coined the very term 'user experience' at Apple and wrote The Design of Everyday Things. Its decades of eyetracking and usability research (the F-pattern reading studies, mobile UX, intranet design) publish as free weekly articles, training, and the field's best-known certification.

## Why marketers rely on it

It is the discipline's reference library: when designers argue, NN/g citations end the argument the way Search Central ends SEO ones. For marketers specifically, its research on how people actually read (they don't — they scan in an F-pattern), form design, and credibility perception converts directly into landing-page and content decisions.

## How to use it well

Use the free article archive as the evidence layer for design reviews (search by component — forms, navigation, carousels), run heuristic evaluations before expensive testing, and put one team member through the training when UX maturity becomes the bottleneck. Date-check older studies — patterns hold remarkably, but interfaces evolve.

**Worked example.** A marketing team's landing page buries its offer in a 900-word wall. The NN/g pass applies the scanning research: front-loaded headings, the offer's keywords in the F-pattern's hot zones, bullets where eyes actually land, one primary action above the fold. Time-on-page DROPS — and conversion rises 40%, because the page finally matches how humans read instead of how the team writes. The eyetracking study that explained it was free.

**Failure modes to watch.** Quoting heuristics without running the evaluation; designing for how stakeholders read (carefully) instead of how users read (they scan); and treating 1990s study details as pixel-level law rather than behavioral pattern.

## Synonyms & antonyms

### Synonyms

Nielsen Norman GroupNN/g

## Origin & history

Jakob Nielsen (ex-Sun Microsystems, the web-usability movement's loudest voice) and Don Norman (ex-Apple, where his 'User Experience Architect' title coined the field's name) founded NN/g in 1998 — pairing Nielsen's testing empiricism with Norman's cognitive-design theory.

Etymology: [source](https://www.nngroup.com/about/).

## Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

[View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=nielsen%20norman%20group&date=today%205-y)

## Common questions

What is Nielsen Norman Group?
:   The UX research consultancy founded in 1998 by Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman — the field's reference research source.

What are the 10 usability heuristics?
:   Nielsen's 1994 principles for interface evaluation — visibility of status, match to the real world, user control, consistency, error prevention and more.

What is the F-pattern?
:   NN/g's eyetracking finding that users scan pages in an F shape — two horizontal sweeps, then a vertical skim down the left.

## Related tools & calculators

- tool[Experiment planner](/tools/experiment-planner/)
- tool[Funnel drop-off analyzer](/tools/funnel-drop-off-analyzer/)

## Resources & people to follow

- referenceNNgroup.com — the article archive
- book*The Design of Everyday Things* — Don Norman
- referenceBaymard Institute — the e-commerce complement

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

## Related training

- module[CRO & experimentation](/training/cro-experimentation/)

## Disciplines

Areas of marketing where nielsen norman group is a core concern:

[Analytics](/training/marketing-analytics/)[Growth strategy](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/)

## Read next

## Related terms

[Baymard Institute](/glossary/baymard-institute/)[Customer journey](/glossary/customer-journey/)[Conversion rate](/glossary/conversion-rate/)[A/B test](/glossary/ab-test/)[Customer onboarding](/glossary/customer-onboarding/)

## Sources

1. trends[Google Trends — "nielsen norman group"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=nielsen%20norman%20group&date=today%205-y)