CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN BIAS: GREAT DESIGN IS NOT UNIVERSAL

EUNJI “JINNY” SEO 2016 BIG DESIGN CONFERENCE

“While the visits for the English version grew very quickly, the Chinese version still does poorly. A feedback is the blog looks ’empty’ […]”

—Comments from “Why Japanese Web Design is So Different”

(Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory)

Collectivism IndividualismThe “West” The “East”

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

(Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory)

(Edward T. Hall)

Low Context High Context

Collectivism IndividualismThe “West” The “East”

Hall’s High Context Low Context Cultures

(Edward T. Hall)

(Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory)

Low Context

Contextual Relational

Holistic

Objective Analytical

Linear

High Context

Collectivism IndividualismThe “West” The “East”

UNDERSTANDING COLLECTIVIST & ITS IMPLICATIONS

Do you not like strawberries?

No, I don’t like strawberries.

Do you not like strawberries?

Yes, I don’t like strawberries.

The target is the center. 3rd person projection.

“How does someone else perceive this?”

The self is the center. 1st-person projection. Absolute to the individual.

“The painter must stand in front of the thing he is painting. With this premise, he depicts the world he sees from his perspective.”

“In traditional Asian paintings, you can see that the bird’s eye view (aerial view) dominates.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT AND RELATIONSHIPS IN THE EAST

•  Focused on the foreground object 118 ms sooner on average

•  Continued to look at the focal object longer

•  More eye movement between the focal object and the background

•  Looked at background for longer

HOW CULTURE AFFECTS DESIGN— EYE-TRACKING STUDY

“A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Users' Perceptions of a Webpage: With a Focus on the Cognitive Styles of Chinese, Koreans and Americans” Ying Dong * and Kun-Pyo Lee Industrial Design Department, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea

American Chinese Korean

Criteria I

Criteria II

American Chinese Korean

HOW CULTURE AFFECTS DESIGN IN TECH— REAL LIFE EXAMPLES

MCDONALD’S MOBILE SITES IN CHINA AND GERMANY

EXAMPLE #1

MOBILE SHOPPING EXPERIENCES IN USA AND KOREA

EXAMPLE #2

GOOGLE VS. NAVER—THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY AND USER-GENERATED CONTENT

EXAMPLE #3

SOCIAL MEDIA IN KOREA EXAMPLE #4

“People are living with this massive burden of managing a digital version of themselves [...] It’s taken all the fun out of communicating.”

—Evan Spiegel , Snapchat co-founder,

EMOJIS OR STICKERS— WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE ANYWAYS?

EXAMPLE #5

Great design is not universal.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHILE DESIGNING FOR THE EASTERN CULTURES

Consider Asian user’s comfort with grid layouts and non-linear progressions

Realize the overwhelming importance of context in Asian cultures, even in a virtual environment

Emphasize the human touch through a sense of community rather than one’s individuality

Thankyouslide

THANK YOU