Redesign do website do Observatório Cidadania, Cultura e Cidade

Abstract

The Observatório Cidadania, Cultura e Cidade (Citizenship, Culture, and City Observatory) at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) was created as a space for dialogue and dissemination of information on culture and urbanism, connecting cultural groups, promoting democratic culture, and serving as a project laboratory and discussion forum. With the decision to revitalize the use and engagement of the observatory’s website, the team responsible for this interactive computational system identified usability issues and an outdated visual design compared to current technologies and trends. Thus, based on user-centered design guidelines, this study presents the implementation of a new design and the evaluation of the website’s updated visual interface to enhance its usability. Using the Design Science Research methodology, four iterative prototype versions were created. The design decisions were justified based on formalized knowledge and best practices in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Finally, the last prototype was implemented using UFSCar’s Plone platform and evaluated by three experts through the Heuristic Evaluation method. The results suggest good usability while also highlighting areas for improvement in future redesign cycles.