Information Design and Wayfinding in urban bus transit: the case of São Luís, MA, Brazil

Abstract

This article evaluates the communicational efficiency of the urban bus transport system in São Luís, Brazil, through the lenses of Information Design, Wayfinding, and Universal Design. The study follows an exploratory approach, combining in-situ heuristic observation and documentary analysis of informational artifacts, based on ten heuristics adapted from Nielsen (1994), Calori & Vanden-Eynden (2015), and Pettersson (2002). A total of 23 observational records were collected across the stages of the user journey – planning, access, waiting, boarding, in-vehicle travel, and alighting – allowing the identification of recurrent failure patterns and design opportunities. Findings reveal three critical clusters of communication problems: (H4) insufficient legibility, (H10) absence of multimodal redundancy, and (H3) inaccurate or outdated information. These failures reduce users’ informational autonomy and system trustworthiness, disproportionately affecting individuals with low schooling, older adults, and those in informational vulnerability. The study contributes a replicable heuristic protocol and a set of practical design guidelines to enhance legibility, multimodal redundancy, and information governance. It underscores the role of Information Design as a mediator of communicational accessibility, promoting user autonomy and trust in public transport. The research is limited by its small purposive sample and the absence of direct user testing, suggesting future studies incorporating quantitative and participatory methods to strengthen empirical evidence.