the interactive relationship between culture components...

Global Journal of Emerging Trends in e-Business, Marketing and Consumer Psychology (GJETeMCP)

An Online International (Double-Blind) Refereed Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3170)

2020 Vol: 6 Issue: 1

729 www.globalbizresearch.org

The Interactive Relationship between Culture Components and

Emotional Response Levels of the User

Tamer Yousif,

Industrial Engineering Department,

Canadian International College for Engineering (CIC),

Cairo, Egypt.

E-mail: [email protected]

Fekry Gamal Ibrahim & AbdElnaby Abo Elmagd,

Industrial Design Department, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.

______________________________________________________________

Abstract

Industrial designs in the third millennium focus on users’ emotional needs in order to emerge

them within the design. And therefore, creating an emotionally attractive design / system

which provides pleasure for users during interacting with it in all its aspects. As well as,

focusing on the cultural impact on user’s emotions during interacting with the product /

system. There is no doubt that user’s emotions and responses are affected by the cultural

background within the society. Moreover, there are many differences in emotional responses

and concepts when comparing two different cultures. Hence, this study aims to elicit the

interactive relationship between culture components and emotional responses level. This can

be by extract the mutual influence between culture and emotional response. It also aims to

clarify how to benefit from this relationship to develop the design of product / system.

___________________________________________________________________________

Key Words: User Culture; Emotional Satisfaction; Culture Design; Emotion Design.





1. Introduction

User Centred Design concept has made the user the main interest, through focusing on

understanding his abilities, limitations, actual desires and the nature of tasks he performs.

There is no doubt that user’s and society’s cultures are one of the most important factors that

significantly affect the acceptance of the product during the process of use. Therefore, they

should be taken into consideration, as the compatibility between the design and the culture

concepts has huge impact on achieving user’s emotional satisfaction, which is the main

objective that users seek. The different emotional responses represent the psychological

aspect of user during his relationship with the product. Therefore, the designer should be

aware of the society culture, in order to design highly accepted products that achieve positive

emotional responses, which in turn achieve profits for the industrial organizations.

Many researchers have made some studies about the relationship between culture and

emotional response. For example, Rungtai Lin (2007) focused on analyzing the meaning of

culture, besides defining a cultural product design model to provide a valuable reference for

designers to design a successful cultural product. The design of products linked to the daily

lives of individuals and inspired by the culture of society, is the best way to spread the culture

of that society. Kin Michael (2010) aimed at finding out the impact of the cultural differences

of Hong Kong and Beijing residents and tourists who come to these two cities on their

emotional response to the use of the same street furniture. The study indicated that the user’s

cultural background affects the kind of emotional response. Yonghao Qu (2012) referred to an

important point, the relationship between emotion and brand loyalty and the relationship

between culture and brand loyalty. It is an important point that must be taken into account to

achieve loyalty, because knowledge alone is no longer sufficient to achieve loyalty. But also

the emotional satisfaction of the user through the suitability of the design for his culture. Ran

Liu (2013) indicated some of main factors that influence the emotional response, perception

and culture. How can different cultural background users perceive the design, and thus the

difference in the kind of emotional response to the product by their differences in how the

product is perceived. WeihuaLu (2014) aimed at measuring the relationship between the

cultural background of the user and his emotional response to one of the elements of the

product. The study emphasized the difference in the user's preferences and emotional

response to the form of the product according to its culture. Hanafy, I. & Reham, S. (2016)

tried to identify colour-emotions associations between university students in Sultanate of

Oman. The authors carried out a study investigating colour preferences of the students from

different cities in Oman for two different topics. It was found that there is a link between their

colour preferences for each topic to elicited emotions. Kirsten Jæger & Malene Gram (2019)

aimed at explore students’ emotions, both positive and negative, in relation to participation in





educational programs abroad, with a special focus on the exchange – between two different

traditions groups from China and Denmark. The study found there are different emotional

responses and the visions between the Chinese and Danish students towards the educational

systems.

Yi Wang, Su Lu, Jia Liu, Jiahui Tan and Juyuan Zhang (2019) Results showed that there is

a difference between Chinese and United States audiences. Instead, the differences lie in an

audience’s responsiveness to characteristics of the ads. Specifically, while United States

audiences showed a strong preference for ads featuring Chinese brands compared to those of

United States brands, Chinese audiences did not differentiate them.

From the researcher point of view, all the previous studies focused only the influence of

culture on emotional response of the user. The only mentioned point, culture determines the

affects the kind of the user emotional response. All the previous studies didn't refer to the

Correlation between culture components and emotional response levels. This paper tries to

take a look at the interactive relationship between culture and emotional response, through the

mutual influence between them. This paper guides the product designer to the nature of

relationship between culture and emotional response. This can lead to accepted cultural

products and give positive feelings for the user.

2. Methodology

The research depends on the study of the different components of culture through the

definition, the importance and impact on the user. Then study the emotional response through

the definition, different levels and the role of industrial designer at each level. After that,

extract the relationship between the components of culture and levels of emotional response

through the correlation and mutual influence between them. And how can the culture and

emotional response affected by each other.

3. Culture Components that Influence the Product / System Design

Culture concept has varied throughout the ages. Culture is the composition that determines

our nature and way of life. It includes values, traditions, knowledge, arts and beliefs that the

person could acquire as a member of the society. Cultures are different according to each

society. However, all cultures consist of sets of elements that form their constructions, and

influence the system / product design as shown in figure (1).

Figure 1: Culture components that influence the product / system design





3.1 Symbols

Symbol in industrial design represents a draw, figure, idea, concept, meaning or semantic.

It’s also one of the communication means between the user and the product / system.

Moreover, designing symbols should feature the following elements: clarity, recognizable,

understanding. So, the symbols should be designed to match the user culture, so that it can be

understood and used. For example, the difference in perception between Americans and

Koreans. Americans and Koreans were asked to determine which one is power “ON”.

Americans selected green, whereas Koreans selected red, figure (2).

Figure 2: Perception of Symbol

3.2 Language

Language is the communicating tool, and the way that user depend on to acquire

knowledge, exchange information and memorize it. Language is the most important tool in

communication among individuals in the society in all life fields. In addition, language has a

strong relationship with human’s ideas. And since it is one of the product / system interface,

the following factor should be considered:

User should be able to understand and read the language kind in the interface, and it

is preferred to be the user’s mother tongue. Figure (3) shows the difficulties to use

the interface due to not being able to understand the language.

Figure 3: Difficulties in understanding an interface because the language is not the users’ mother tongue





3.3 Standards

Standards are the rules and principles that control user’s behavior and determine how to

act in a specific situation, what he should and shouldn’t do and how to deal with other users.

Standards ease the interaction among all society’s individuals. Standards are divided to

(Habits – Traditions – Norms).

3.3.1 Habits

Habit is what you used to do and repeated it until it became familiar to watch. Then,

societies apply them automatically, but habits acceptance within a society differs from one to

another. Moreover, users understanding and emotional response to stimuli varies according to

their culture background. Thus, the more matching between the product / system design and

society’s habits, the more emotional responses are found. Industrial designers should be

aware of that.

Figure (4) shows an example of how habits could affect the design. There are two different

designs of microwave interfaces, the first one is ‘Panasonic company in Brazil (1), and the

second one is ‘Electrolx company in Sweden (2). Design (1) contains more information and

has different symbols shapes, and that what the company asked its designers to deploy after

noticing that Brazilian people have a habit of not reading products manuals, and have

different habit in food, which led to the importance of setting all the symbols in the interface

to help users read it fast.

Figure 4: Two different Designs of Microwave Interface

3.3.2 Traditions

Traditions mean inherited culture, or imitating the old generations in the same society at

belief, behavior … etc. There is no doubt that industrial designers need to know the special

traditions of users before presenting the product / system to guarantee their acceptance. For

example; South Korean and Dutch societies inherited special traditions about kitchen and





cooking food devices. South Korean society prioritizes their interest in task and beauty of the

design as well as vast storing areas, while Dutch society interest in the design’s task and

simplicity. That reflects the refrigerator design in both societies. As in South Korea it appears

more beautiful and has more capacity matching the South Korean people view and saying of

“food is a treatment for body and soul”, figure (5).

Figure 5: South Korean Refrigerator

On the other hand, the Dutch refrigerator more simple, less beauty and has smaller storing

space; matching Dutch people interest, figure (6).

Figure 6: Dutch Refrigerator

3.3.3 Norms

Norms are set of standards, concepts and measures that are agreed on or have general

acceptance and appreciation among people in the society. They are like ethics in the society.

One of the most common norms in lots of societies is different colour preferences between

men and women. Therefore, designers should consider that difference in designing their

product / system by linking gender norms with every design. It appears obvious in personal

caring products of both genders, as women prefer colors such as pink, while men tend to

prefer the dark colors such as black and blue, and they consider pink as not acceptable colour

to them, figure (7).





Figure 7: Personal caring products for men and women

3.4 Religion

Some cultures are related to religious background. And religion is related to social

behaviors which represent the repeated rituals that become habits related to religion. The

religious values that emerge from rituals and legislations affect user’s evaluation of the

product / system, therefore designers should consider the following:

Some societies are satisfied with the existence of religious values in all areas of their

life such as Islamic societies. Therefore; designers in these societies should consider

this side in order to avoid any revulsion to this group. For example, it is not

acceptable to design public urination units without cover, figure (8).

Figure 8: Public Urination Unit

3.5 Values

Values are main component of any society’s culture, they determine and organize people’s

social activities in the society. They also represent cultural levels and measures that are being

used to distinguish between what is desired, preferable and aesthetic.

Values have several models such as; economic, aesthetic, religious, political and social

values.





3.5.1 Economic Value

Economic value is related to physical utility, wealth, interesting in what is economically

beneficial, working towards gain wealth then investing it, production, marketing and

consumption.

There are two kinds of economies; socialism and capitalism. Societies that follow

socialism tend to distribute the local wealth evenly among citizens. The capitalist countries

has a contrast in distributing wealth, as it is concentrated with a few individuals who seek to

gain everything new in order to achieve personal interests such as discrimination and luxury.

For example: the comparison between a socialist country and a capitalist country to choose

between two coffee maker devices (A - B). As it is obvious in figure (9), people from the

capitalist country have emotional responses towards product (B) due to its high price which

gives them the feeling of luxury. While people of socialist country prefer product (A) due to

its low price.

Figure 9: Two Coffee Maker Devices

3.5.2 Aesthetic Value

It is related to art and beauty, and it concerns about encouraging technical innovation and

artistic taste. Standards of the aesthetic value vary according to each society, therefore,

designers have to study and identify these standards in order to choose the best design. For

example:

Multinational students have participated in a comparison to choose their preferable

model of the medical glasses (figure 10). The results found that Asian students prefer

the circle model with little beauty more than European students.





Figure 10: Medical Glasses Used in the Test

3.5.3 Religious Value

It’s related to religious rules and religious behavior such as the knowledge of the world

beyond this life, the origin of the human being, his fate and his faith in God.

Religious values emerged from religious rituals and rules influence thinking trends in some

societies. Moreover, thinking of what is forbidden and what is not, makes designer respect

these beliefs, e.g., it is not right to put God’s name on a shoe and export it to Islamic

countries, because these kinds of designs contradicts with Islam religion, figure (11).

Figure 11: Shoes Contain God’s Name

3.5.4 Political Value

It is related to political activities such as power, control and the ability to lead people. The

political environment within the society affects the design, for example, democratic societies

support freedom and give opportunities for creation in all life fields. That helps designers to

create high-tech products filled with pleasure and entertainment for users. In contrary,

countries that don’t respect public freedom make designers’ experience very weak. Figure

(12) shows an example of an Asian country (A) has much power and less freedom, and a





European country (B) has less power over its people and more experienced designers.

Therefore, designer needs to know the impact of the political environment on users’

technological experience.

Figure 12: Different Kind of Power between Two Countries

3.5.5 Social Value

Social value is related to the social aspects in the life such as helping others, developing

emotions, compassions and altruism, serving others and feeling social responsibilities.

In the field of industrial design, designer should focus on the designs that have benefits for

others in order to achieve lots of targets such as social protection, human rights and

sustainable development. Figure (13) which shows an example of a cheap affordable

accommodation unit for disaster-stricken people who lost their homes to protect them from

being homeless.

Figure 13: A Quick Shelter for Homeless People

3.6 Way of Thinking

When human receives external information through his cognitive ability, his memory

saves this information to use in the future. Therefore, thinking is the process of setting new

information in new systems in order to deal with several situations.

Thinking is a way to solve the problems that face anyone during interacting with the

surrounding community. Western thinking, especially after the industrial revolution, tends to

leading and controlling which leaded to quick thinking, not wasting any time and relying on

technology to achieve progress. Figure (14) shows an example of an elevator design in

western societies that relies only on one external controlling panel to choose the desired floor.





while eastern thinking depend on two controlling panels; one outside the elevator to call it,

and the other one inside the elevator to choose floors, which leaded to upsetting the eastern

users due to not being able to solve the problem of waiting the elevator without any guidance

panels.

Figure 14: Elevator

3.7 Laws

Law is a set of rules that organize society’s issues. These rules define people’s rights and

duties. There are absolutely differences between countries in setting and applying laws.

Therefore, industrial designer should know these differences and their impact on designing

several products / systems.

For example, USA imposes strict restrictions on the imported products, especially cars, in

order to preserve the environment. Where imported cars are subject to safety standards under

the ‘vehicle Safety’ and ‘clean Air’ laws. Therefore, imported cars in USA need to pass the

standard fuel emission developed by ‘Environmental Protection Agency’. This lead to

modifying most of the imported cars to match the American standards except most of the

Canadian cars.

4. Emotional Response

Emotions are the human inside force. They consist of feelings, sentiments and reactions

such as love, hatred, sympathy, pleasure and pain.

User’s emotional response is an expression to his emotional reaction towards the product /

system or towards a specific motive. It has different forms; verbal, emotional and dynamic.

4.1 Emotional Response Levels

Emotional response clarifies the relationship between designer’s work and user’s feelings

and responses towards that work. Emotional response has three forms and levels shown in

figure (15).





Figure 15: Emotional Response Levels

4.1.1 First level: Visceral

It is called the first impression responses or the immediate responses towards the external

surface look of a product. It deals with feelings and physical characteristics of user’s through

vision, listening and touching in order to determine whether the product is safe or not and

good or bad. These kinds of responses do not depend on user’s previous experiences.

4.1.2 Second level: Behavioural

This kind of responses only occurs when user deals and uses the product. Responses in this

case depend on user’s previous experiences and future expectations.

4.1.3 Third level: Reflective

This type of responses is self-conscious and reflects self-perception. These responses can

form an integrated sentimental feeling affected by user’s experience, learning and culture.

Figure (16) shows the three levels requirements and their relationships with the user.

Figure 16: Relationship between the Three Levels of Response and the User





5. Analysis and Results

The relationship between culture components and levels of emotional response through

their correlation. Figure (17) shows the strong relationship between culture components and

levels of emotional response as follow:

Figure 17: Correlation between Culture Components and Levels of Emotional Response

5.1 Values, Standards, Religion

They have direct relationship with visceral response because they affect user’s evaluation

of the product / system and its external appearance. Therefore, if the designer does not

consider the moral and religious prohibitions in designing the external appearance, the

product will surely be unacceptable and vice versa. This kind of relationships helps users to

preserve valuable privacy to their principles and standards as well as preserving these cultural

components for next generations.

5.2 Language and Symbols

Language and symbols have direct relationship with the behavioral response, because

through them, user can control and use the product interface. Therefore, they affect the ease

of using the interface. The more clear the language and symbols are, the more satisfied and

enjoyed the user feels. That adds new ideas to user’s intellectual and cultural storage, and

preserves his cultural identity when language and symbols matches his culture.

5.3 Standards

Have direct relationship with the reflective response level, as user at this level is affected

by his experience and culture which are affected by values and standards. According to

“Donald Norman”, reflective level means the emotional value of the product in the light

culture privacy, where the main interest of some users is the product performance, therefore,

the product should fulfil this standard.

5.4 Way of Thinking

Way of thinking has direct relationship with the behavioural response level, because the

way of thinking affects on the way and ease of use. So the designer should design the





interface according to user’s way of thinking. So, the relationship between the culture concept

and the emotional response can be seen through the mutual influence of each other, figure

(18).

Figure 18: The Mutual Influence between the Concept of Culture and Emotional Response

Accordingly, the designer should Taking into account:

- Matching the design of the product elements with the user's cultural background, leads to

positive impressions and a sense of happiness.

- Matching the user interface design with the user's cultural background will facilitate the use

of the product, and thus the user's sense of pleasure during the process of use.

- The design of the product reflects a meaning or a value preferred by the user, leads to the

user's enjoyment of this value or meaning inside.

- Both initial positive impressions of the product, ease of use and value reflected by the

product lead to the user's acceptance of the product, its sense of pleasure and emotional

satisfaction, and thus increase sales consistently and increase market share, figure (19).

Figure 19: The Interactive Relationship between Culture and Emotional Response





6. Conclusion

There is an interactive relationship between the concept of culture and the emotional

response of the user. This interactive relationship means there is a mutual influence between

culture and emotional response. Culture affects emotional response by determining how the

user responds to the emotion and variation in the type of emotional response according to

different culture. The more the product / system design corresponds to the cultural

background of the user, the more positive emotional response to the product / system. On the

other hand, Emotional response affects culture by adding new experiences and knowledge to

the user, identifying and maintaining the preferred cultural style of a community, and

preserving the peculiarities of the values and customs of a society.

- The emotional response to the same design differs from users with different cultural

backgrounds.

- Product elements should be designed in accordance with the customs, traditions, values and

norms of the user, as well as the selection of symbols and language that the user can

understand.

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