Understanding cultural differences in user experience design
With technological advancements, globalization, and ubiquitous products, technology now serves as a conduit for user experiences. Consumers worldwide now demand more from products and services than just usability and aesthetics: they seek experiences. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, cultures, perceptions, thinking styles, and values. As the global market becomes increasingly interconnected and diverse, designers need to comprehend how culture influences the user experience and account for these cultural differences to create user experiences that are effective and engaging for a wide range of users.
Design thinking is how designers understand and design products and services. Recently, it has taken a more user-centric approach that promotes creativity and innovation. It involves understanding the needs of the consumers.
Human-centered interaction (HCI) is the method that understands human needs, behavior, and capabilities and uses that to create designs that can accommodate those needs and behaviors.¹ User experience in HCI entails various perceived, learned, and used aspects of the user’s interaction with the product. Furthermore, users’ judgment of the product or service is formed from their interaction experience.²
To create user-focused designs, one needs to consider their values, socio-cultural background, and tacit experiences too. Cultural differences can impact how individuals interact, perceive, and evaluate technology, influencing how products and services are designed. As technology expands internationally, it becomes essential to incorporate these cultural differences when designing for such a diverse group of users. Cross cultural designs ensure that products are accessible and inclusive and lead to the intended user experience across cultural boundaries.
Culture and its impact
Culture is shared knowledge that differentiates a group of people from others. People from different cultures have different thinking styles, values, perceptions, behaviors, and cognition. The globalization of technology and the increase in internet usage have made it viable for businesses to reach audiences worldwide. However, keeping political implications aside, many organizations need help understanding the cultural consequences of adopting their product design.
In 2009, Mattel, an American toy manufacturing company, opened a $30 million six-story Barbie store in the retail district of Shanghai. The store had a staircase lined with about 875 Barbies, a Barbie-themed bar with alcoholic beverages, and Barbie brand cosmetics. Mattel hoped to achieve high revenue growth with the opening of this new store. However, they failed to understand the Chinese market and eventually shut down after two years, leading to a huge revenue loss. In the Chinese culture, Barbie was seen as a distraction compared to other educational toys and games that were popular among locals.³
Each group of people experiences user interaction in their own way. Everyone has their own mental model: how we perceive the world and how our thought processes work. Mental models are people’s ideas of themselves, their environment, and the things and people they interact with.¹ Failure to understand the culture and mental models of the local population can have significant repercussions when designing interfaces, products, and technologies for a global user group. It is not necessary that a product that worked in a particular region with a user group might work in the same way in a different region.
Each culture absorbs and interprets design in its unique manner. When designing for a global audience, it is essential to keep in mind some common elements that are influenced by culture. Some of these, such as visual design, information processing, communication, and navigation,
are discussed below.
Visual design
Many cultures associate specific colors, shapes, and patterns with particular emotions or meanings. Incorporating these elements into a user interface can make it more appealing and intuitive for users from those cultures. One such example is that of Ubisoft’s mascot, Rayman. In the ’90s, Ubisoft’s mascot, Rayman’s color, had to be changed to blue in Japan as the previous color, purple, had negative connotations.⁴
https://didyouknowgaming.com/post/35354708808/rayman-2-the-great-escape
Other than colors, the visual design element that is used to enhance the user experience is the use of symbols. Different cultures align their meanings to colors and symbols.
A study on icon recognition in user interface design on participants from Korea and America showcased how the two cultures perceive the same icon differently according to the level of abstraction of the symbols.⁵
In his book, Design of Everyday Things, Dan Norman explains how the choice of metaphor dictates the proper design for interaction. He gives an example of scrolling the text on a computer display. Some people perceived scrolling as moving the text, but others saw it as moving the window. What is natural depends upon the point of view, the choice of metaphor, and, therefore, the culture. Suppose metaphors in design and mental models of user experience designers and target users align. In that case, the usability of the interface or product becomes efficient and leads to a positive user experience.
Cross-cultural UX design necessitates concentrating on the behavioral patterns of the target audience in addition to design elements like reading direction and color meanings.
Communication and navigation
Our culture impacts how we receive, interpret, and process information, as well as how we retrieve knowledge from memory. When considered collectively, these elements affect a user’s website navigation, including where they start, what they focus on, and their judgments about the product.
By understanding their target audience’s cultural norms and values, designers can create interfaces that are easy to understand and navigate, even for users unfamiliar with technology. For example, it may be more common in some cultures to use gestures or other non-verbal cues to interact with technology, while text-based commands may be more prevalent in other cultures.
One example is when eBay, one of America’s leading auction sites, expanded into the new global Japanese market. In 1999, eBay replicated its US online website, translated it to Japanese, and bought a local domain name. However, the company had to shut down operations three years after the launch. eBay failed to understand the cultural differences
between American and Japanese audiences, leading to less engagement towards the services they provided. Most of eBay’s intentions were thwarted by a lack of information about the situation in Japan.
Creating products and services for the international market is not just about changing the language; the symbolism, metaphors, colors, and patterns also need to be considered.
Information processing
In many cultures, certain behaviors and interactions are considered appropriate or polite, while others may be considered rude or offensive. Understanding these social norms and incorporating them into a user interface can make it more comfortable and intuitive for users from those cultures.
Cultural differences can impact the way individuals process and retain information. This can affect how information is presented in a user interface and the features and functionality most effective for a particular cultural group.
For example, Saudi Arabia’s Higher Committee for Scientific Research and Islamic Law prohibited the video game Pokemon Go! because they “possessed the minds” of Saudi youngsters, thus shutting down one of the Middle East’s most important marketplaces for Nintendo’s multibillion-dollar industry.⁶
Cultural differences can also impact the way individuals approach problem-solving and decision-making. In some cultures, decision-making may be more individualistic, with individuals making decisions based on their preferences and experiences. In other cultures, decision-making may be more collective, with individuals taking into account the needs and opinions of others in their group.
User experience (UX) is an ever-evolving concept that must remain in flux to meet users’ needs across different regions, cultures, and backgrounds. What may work well in one country may be a complete failure in another. To keep up with the times, UX designers must be knowledgeable and adept at creating unique experiences tailored to their audience. It is not only about creating an attractive design or making a product easy to use; UX designers must also be aware of cultural differences, as these can dramatically affect how their product is received.
Benefits and challenges of adapting user experience for a global audience
The increased global connectivity and designing for a diverse user group have their benefits. But also presents challenges for designers and developers of technology, who must consider the diverse needs and expectations of users from different cultural backgrounds.
One of the primary benefits of adapting user experience for global audiences is the potential to reach a broader audience and expand the potential customer base of a product or service. Businesses and organizations can increase their reach and attract new customers by designing technology products and services tailored to the needs and preferences of users from different cultural backgrounds.
Another benefit of adopting user experience for global audiences is the ability to create technology products and services that are more inclusive and accessible to all users. By designing technology products and services that are inclusive and respectful of different cultural norms and values, businesses and organizations can create technology that is welcoming and accessible to users from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
However, adapting user experience for global audiences also challenges designers and technology developers. One of the primary challenges is understanding and considering users’ diverse needs and preferences from different cultural backgrounds. This can be a complex and time-consuming task, as designers must research and understand their target audience’s cultural norms and values to create technology products and services tailored to their needs.
Another challenge of adapting user experience for global audiences is the need to create technology products and services that are flexible and adaptable to different cultural contexts. Of course, more research is required on how user-friendly, intuitive, and inclusive designs can be created for users from different cultural backgrounds.
[1] Norman, D. A. (2021). The design of everyday things. Basic Books.
[2] Sutcliffe, A. (2010). Designing for user engagement aesthetic and attractive user interfaces. Morgan & Claypool Publishers.
[3] https://www.theneweconomy.com/business/life-in-plastic-not-so-fantastic-barbies-great-decline
[5] Kim, J. H., & Lee, K. P. (2005). Cultural difference and mobile phone interface design. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction With Mobile Devices.
[6] Marcus, A. (2009). Global/Intercultural User Interface Design. Human-Computer Interaction
