Usability Evaluation Towards a Cultural Perspective: Design Guidelines for Peruvian Government Websites

Usability currently plays an essential role in the software development process. Companies are increasingly concerned with offering understandable, attractive, and easy-to-use websites to ensure their success in the market. However, based on usability studies, cultural factors can affect how people interact with the systems. Although multiple investigations have been conducted to determine the best design settings for each cultural context, there is no evidence of research that analyses the perspective of Latin American countries. In this study, we have analyzed the Cultural Models to establish guidelines that can guide the design of web usable user interfaces oriented to Peruvian citizens. Including cultural factors with which Peruvians are familiar could increase satisfaction with the website. The proposed guidelines were established and validated through a systematic methodology that involved several structured and well-defined steps. In this process, and using the proper cultural model, prominent design elements were identified as those that must represent the cultural identity and, therefore, must guide the design process of a Peruvian website. The selection of featured design elements was based on analyzing cultural factors and design elements presented on Peruvian websites and from countries with similar cultural characteristics. This work intends to serve as a reference to increase the quality of the software systems offered to citizens in Latin America.