Museu do Jongo
A virtual museum for the preservation and celebration of Afro-Brazilian Jongo culture
Challenge
In 2024, we were invited by Instituto Floresta to create the website for the Museu do Jongo — a fully online museum dedicated to preserving and promoting Jongo, an Afro-Brazilian dance practiced by quilombola communities and recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Brazil.
Our challenge was to design an accessible, functional, and welcoming digital environment capable of bringing together different types of historical and audiovisual content, while also giving visibility to the communities that keep this tradition alive.
Strategy & Approach
Immersion and content structuring
We started with a deep immersion into the world of Jongo and the mission of Instituto Floresta. Based on this foundation, we developed a clear and scalable information architecture organized into the following main sections:
- History and origins of Jongo
- Multimedia archive with videos, photos, audio, and historical documents
- Interactive map showing the location of practicing communities
- Dedicated pages for each community
- News section with project updates
User Experience & Visual Design
Our UX approach focused on inclusion and ease of navigation, balancing rich content with a light and fluid structure. The experience was designed for the general public, researchers, educators, and members of traditional communities.
The visual design is elegant, with strong contrast between light and dark areas, highlighting images and videos. We aimed to visually represent the ancestry and symbolic strength of Jongo without relying on clichés.
WordPress Development
We chose WordPress for its flexibility, content-management efficiency, and reliability.
Custom features were developed specifically for the project, including:
- Custom post types for communities and archive sections
- Interactive maps with geolocation of Jongo communities
- Integration of video, audio, and historical documents
- News area with filters and frequent updates
- Implementation of accessibility best practices (WCAG) and mobile optimization
Resultados
O site do Museu do Jongo tornou-se um portal de referência na valorização da cultura afro-brasileira no ambiente digital. Desde o lançamento, observamos:
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Maior alcance entre educadores e instituições de ensino
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Ampliação da visibilidade das comunidades praticantes do Jongo
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Uso frequente por pesquisadores e estudantes
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Reconhecimento do projeto como exemplo de design com impacto social e cultural
Conclusion
Designing the Museu do Jongo website was much more than a design project — it was an act of respect toward the memory, identity, and territory of the communities that remain vibrant and active.
We created a digital space that honors the past while looking toward the future, combining accessibility, beauty, and purpose. We remain committed to design as a powerful tool for cultural preservation and transformation.
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”
“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”
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