Enhancing Academic System Usability: A Design Thinking Approach to Redesigning the Simakip Uhamka Website Interface

There have been reports of usability and navigation problems with the SIMAKIP UHAMKA internet interface, a critical system for academic personnel that impedes operating efficiency. The primary objectives were to develop a high-fidelity prototype and design system using the Design Thinking framework and to evaluate how effectively the new design enhanced user satisfaction and usability for lecturers and academic staff. The five steps of the Design Thinking process—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test—were rigorously followed in this study. The evaluation used both qualitative and quantitative approaches, such as the System Usability Scale (SUS) and Usability Testing with the Think-Aloud procedure to obtain detailed user insights. Survey to quantify user pleasure. The outcomes demonstrated a significant improvement. Data on user performance showed reduced time on task, a high task success rate, and a low error rate. The new interface prototype received a qualitative grade of "Excellent" and was placed in the "Acceptable" category after the average SUS score from the quantitative evaluation surpassed the global benchmark of 68. These results show that the user-centered redesign significantly enhanced the system's usability, efficacy, and user happiness, providing a validated model for improving similar academic information systems.