Understanding the sociocultural, economic, and demographic factors shaping user experience design
How culture, economy and society impact each other and consecutively the solutions we design.
The sociocultural, economic and demographic difference between scenarios should be considered when thinking about design, especially when we think about user experience design. We can exemplify this by drawing some parallels between different scenarios, such as different countries.
Culture
First of all, we must understand that cultural differences can affect, and usually affect, how users interact with products and services. Chinese culture, for example, because it has been greatly influenced by Confucian philosophy, values collectivity and hierarchy, while in Brazilian culture it is more common to see a more individualistic and informal society.
This is reflected in all the human behavior of people inserted in these cultural scenarios, from how they work, communicate, manage problems, consume and purchase products.
Reflections of this exist even in the languages of both countries, it is proven that Mandarin-speaking people, a language widely spread by China, use the two hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, to be able to speak, while English speakers, for example, use only one at a time when communicating, which directly affects the way of thinking, communicating, learning and understanding the world, which highlights well the impact of the culture of a particular region on the society that is inserted there.
Cultural differences directly affect how users process and interpret information, which must be taken into account when designing the navigation and presentation of content, amount of information, positioning of items in interfaces, understanding of different voice in conversational interfaces, since different languages, for example, also use different muscles of the face for the voice to be produced in the correct way, which can make sounds slightly muffled, nasal, or aspirated which makes it difficult to understand by technological means, all this affects how we process the information and how we are affected by a specific cultural scenario.
Economy
Secondly, we have the economic differences, which can affect the ability of users to access and use products and services.
China, for example, is one of the most developed economies in the world, while Brazil still faces economic challenges. This can affect the availability and access to technology, as well as the ability of users to pay for products and services and even the infrastructure to offer them.
And this must be taken into account when designing affordable and scalable solutions, since solutions for the public sector, for example, need to be accessible by a wide range of users of the most varied sociocultural and economic standards. As well as projects of a social nature or solutions focused on audiences that fluctuate between upper class, middle class and lower class.
In addition, the economy also indirectly affects the level of education and knowledge of the users, so we cannot assume that everyone will be able to understand the proposed solutions to a particular problem in a particular project by having people who did not have access to education because of unfavorable financial conditions.
Demographics
Demographic differences greatly affect the design of the user experience. For example, the Chinese population is younger and more urbanized than the Brazilian population, which can affect how users interact with technology and the internet.
According to recent data, China, for example, has a number of mobile phone users and with significantly higher internet access than Brazil. More than 93% of the Chinese population has a cell phone, and about 90% have access to the internet, while in Brazil these numbers are about 80% and 90%, respectively which in proportion seem relatively close, but considering the size of the Chinese population today, they are very distant total numbers.
In addition, China has a significantly higher incidence of advanced mobile technologies, such as smartphones and tablets, while Brazil still has a wider user base of basic mobile phones.
This has important implications when thinking about the usability of solutions for these markets. For example, Chinese users tend to have a higher level of familiarity and skill with technology, and expect more advanced and sophisticated solutions.
On the other hand, Brazilian users may have less familiarity and skill with technology, and may need simpler and more intuitive solutions. This affects how the interaction and interface are projected, as well as the choice of features and functionalities.
In conclusion, the sociocultural, economic and demographic differences between the different scenarios have a significant impact on user experience design.
It is important that we designers can take these differences into account when designing solutions for different scenarios, to ensure that they are relevant and effective for users. In addition, the difference in the use and access to mobile technologies should also be taken into account.
In summary, it is crucial to consider the sociocultural, economic and demographic differences between the scenarios to ensure that the designed solutions are effective and meet the needs of users.
In the examples between Brazil and China it is simple to perceive the differences, but this type of information should always be considered, between neighborhoods, cities, countries, target audience, etc.
