designing for the world: culturally-conscious design

DESIGNINGTHE WORLD

FOR THE

Culturally-conscious Design

CHRISTINE IMAIZUMI

@XTEEN

User Experience Lead, Thomson Reuters

MyMail Technology

YouPlusDallas.com

GodTube.com | tangle.com

WORKED FOR

LOCAL DALLAS STARTUPS

:)

"Their smiles looked strange to me. They opened their mouths too widely, and raised

the corners of their mouths in an exaggerated way.”

( ^_^ )

AROUND THE WORLD

Many usability and user experience best practices were created in western cultures and may not translate in other parts of the world.

CULTURAL CONSIDERATION

Considering the cultural traditions, economic status and demographics of a potential market helps to build a better, user-focused product.

That taught us the importance that you really need to go where your consumers are, not just to talk to them, but observe and spend time with them to gather the key insight.

Alberto Carvalho VP of Global Gillette

UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

STAND UPYES, YOU.

WHAT IS THEIR FAVORITE COLOR?

WHERE DID THEY GROW UP?

WHAT IS THEIR ETHNICITY?

WHAT IS THEIR FAVORITE FOOD?

HARAGEI: BELLY TALK

A highly developed intuition that allows a person to understand the the nature of the situation without verbal communication.

Modern societies, holding fast to traditions.

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

We didn’t all come over on the same ship, but we’re all in the same boat.- Bernard Baruch, American financier

HOFSTEDE ‘S FIVE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

Hofstede created cultural dimensions to provide a measurable way to categorize different cultures.

POWER DISTANCEThe degree people are comfortable with influencing upwards. Acceptance of inequality in distribution on power in society.

POWER DISTANCEThe degree people are comfortable with influencing upwards. Acceptance of inequality in distribution on power in society.

Distribution of power distance around the world. A high score indicates a bigger power distance.

Since the US has a lower power distance, the product needs to have a tone of respect and show interest in their needs. Communicating in a more informal and participative way will gain their trust.

INDIVIDUALISTIC/COLLECTIVISTICHow personal needs and goals are prioritized vs. the needs and goals of the group or organization.

INDIVIDUALISTIC/COLLECTIVISTICHow personal needs and goals are prioritized vs. the needs and goals of the group or organization.

US McDonald’s site is focused on the user navigating their own way throughout the site. Individualistic societies have their own interest and goals.

Where as a collective culture, shown in the Turkish McDonald’s site focuses on what’s popular or common, testimonials or social media sharing options.

INDIVIDUALISTIC/COLLECTIVISTICHow personal needs and goals are prioritized vs. the needs and goals of the group or organization.

MASCULINE/FEMININEMasculine societies have different rules for men and women, less so in feminine cultures.

MASCULINE/FEMININEMasculine societies have different rules for men and women, less so in feminine cultures.

Masculine cultures have high expectations and require upfront information to establish expertise.

Cultures that are primarily feminine, such as Norwegia, have a much more playful and happy look and feel, with less need for a serious tone and design.

MASCULINE/FEMININEMasculine societies have different rules for men and women, less so in feminine cultures.

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCEHow comfortable are people with changing the way they work or live (low UA) or prefer the known systems (high UA).

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE How comfortable are people with changing the way they work or live (low UA) or prefer the known systems (high UA).

Cultures with a high degree of uncertainty avoidance would need limited choices, restricting the amount of data they can access and simple metaphors.

Color cues and fonts are rejected by cultures with a high degree of uncertainty because they prefer clean, distinct choices.

COUNTRIES WITH HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE

Greece

Portugal

Guatamala

Uruguay

Belgium

LONG TERM VS. SHORT TERM ORIENTATIONFocuses on the outlook of the society, do they look to the future or stay in the past and present.

LONG TERM VS. SHORT TERM ORIENTATIONFocuses on the outlook of the society, do they look to the future or stay in the past and present.

Long term societies are oriented in the future and are consistently pragmatic. These cultures reward persistence and saving.

- Value content and navigation structure.

- Share future features with users

LONG TERM VS. SHORT TERM ORIENTATIONFocuses on the outlook of the society, do they look to the future or stay in the past and present.

Short term societies focus on the past and present.

- These cultures or societies value tradition and current social hierarchy

- Immediate gratification

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO DESIGN?

ELEMENTS OF A CULTURALLY CONSCIOUS USER EXPERIENCE

CULTURABILITYA systematic usability method using Cultural Markers such as

- Religion - Language - Customs - Colors - Metaphors - Icons & Symbols

to display patterns within the interface based on country and genre.

Barber & Badre, Culturability: The Merge of Culture and Usability

CRITICAL CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DESIGNLANGUAGEBeing cautious of quality of translation, representation and tone

LAYOUTPlacement of menu items, banners, navigational orientation and reading direction

SYMBOLISMMetaphors and symbols vary greatly from culture to culture. Icons, currencies and other elements will differ as well

MULTIMEDIAWhen to use video, animation, static images and/or sound

COLORColor varies across cultures and can impact a user’s expectations

Cyr (2004). Localization of Web Design

OUR APPROACH TO GLOBAL TAX

TAXATION ACROSS THE WORLD

Taxation and cultural characteristics of three different countries: Chile, Egypt and Hong Kong

CHILE

National Language:

Spoken Language:

Tax Jurisdiction Language:

Currency:

Reading Direction:

Writing Direction:

Spanish

Chilean Spanish, Chileno

Spanish

Peso

Left to Right, Top to Bottom

Left to Right, Top to Bottom

Moving Forward

Caution, Happiness

Warning, Victory

HONG KONG

National Language:

Writing System:

Spoken Language:

Tax Jurisdiction Language:

Currency:

Reading Direction:

Writing Direction:

Chinese, English

Traditional Chinese, Latin Alphabet

Chinese (Cantonese)

Chinese (Cantonese), English

Hong Kong Dollar

Left to Right, Horizontal

Left to Right, Horizontal

Assurance, Infidelity

Neutrality, Mourning

Good Fortune, Victory

Person is Deceased

EGYPT

National Language:

Spoken Language:

Tax Jurisdiction Language:

Currency:

Reading Direction:

Writing Direction:

Arabic, Egyptian Arabic

Egyptian Arabic

Arabic

Egyptian Pound

Right to Left, Top to Bottom

Right to Left, Top to Bottom

Color of Joy, Happiness

Caution, Warmth

Warning, Victory

TAKEAWAYS

Localization does not end with language

Take cultural cues for menu items, banners, & navigational orientation

Be aware of icons, currency/decimal points and other elements from culture to culture.

Color varies across cultures and can impact a user’s expectations.

LOSE THE WESTERN FOCUS

SEE THE WORLD

RESOURCES

ALSO READ

Culturability: The Merging of Culture and Usability Wendy Barber and Albert Badre

Cross-Cultural User Interface Design for Mobile Phones: A Literature Survey Huijuan Wu, Anthony Norcio, A Ant Ozok

Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, 2001 Full questionnaire as standardized, 1971 Hofsteded, Kraut and Simonetti

Brejcha, Jan. “Chapter 6: UI Language Components and Cultural Markers” Cross-Cultural Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2015.