101 _ womenomics meets design

female interaction strategyguidebook to a

female interaction – research based innovation, driven by co-financed by

102 _ womenomics meets design

About this bookFemale interaction is a design research project based on a collaboration between aarhus university and companies bang & olufsen, gN Netcom, danfoss, Lindberg international and design-people. the project was initiated by design-people and co-financed by the danish Construction & enterprise authority

the following Female interaction project team members have contributed to the writing of this book:

Klaus SchroederStrategy director, Ceo & partnerFemale interaction project responsible

Stine Mosegaard VilhelmsenSenior user experience designerFemale interaction project manager

Christina Søgaard JensenFemale interaction communication officer

Mette JakobsenProject manager, Lindberg international

Rune Nøragerinteraction PsychologistPhd. Cand psych.aarhus university

Marianne Graves Petersenassociate professor at Computer Science aarhus university

iSbN 978-87-995179-0-9

1 _ womenomics meets design content_ 1

Content

1. Womenomics meets design 5Introduction

A world economy in female hands

Pinking versus a holistic female user experience

2. Understanding gender differences 13Understanding gender differences

3. Gender differences made operational 17Gender principles

Female tech-user profiles

Data on gender differences in tech preferences

4. Female Interaction cases 25Hands free communication. Based on the Jabra JX 10 Bluetooth headset from GN Netcom

Music and media in private homes. Based on the Beosound5 from Bang & Olufsen

Indoor climate control in private homes. Based on the Danfoss Link from Danfoss

The impact

5. Introduction to Female Interaction methods 54Introduction to Female Interaction methods

Value-centred design methods

6. Summary, guidelines and how to get started 59 Summary and guidelines

Getting started

7. About the Project 64The project

Programme for user-driven innovation by the Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority

The team

The advisory group

Research papers

Female Interaction literature recommendations

2 _ womenomics meets design

FinAlly the world’s biggest market opportunity no longer has to depend on shrinking, pinking and prejudices. Female interaction has made the design of technological products meet the potential of Womenomics. it has moved the subject from why to how. From guesswork to research-based tools. Ready to explore and exploit.

Forget worrying about the female potential in different cultures; from France to Arabia women share many of the same dreams and daily challenges.

Forget worrying about the male reaction; if you live up to the expectations of women, you will exceed those of your male audience.

Forget pathetic pinking; the guys will leave, and most women prefer you to make an effort understanding what they really want.

Forget the current design and marketing assumption that female customers die when they turn 40. they don’t. Actually they enter the most spending-powerful period of their lives.

now is the time to be frontrunners in a market where user-driven interaction design is the key to the customers who possess the power of the purse within any trade area.

no excuses left. i am so happy that the Female interaction research project has eventually provided the proof of the pudding at a time when business badly needs it.

Helle Katholm Knutsen,Marketing’s specialist & Author within the potential of womenomics

Prologue

13 _ understanding gender differences

in this section we highlight some of the general differences between the behaviour and values of men and women in relation to technology. We aim to communicate the gender research in a straightforward and operational way – providing companies with guidelines and a basic knowledge to better understand and connect with their female target group.

in our work with Female interaction we have faced some reluctance towards the idea of working with gender dif-ferences when it comes to technology. this reluctance is primarily based on the assumption that a gender focus might result in growing inequality. attempting to exploit the poten-tial of using gender differences to make better products for both women and men, this assumption becomes an obstacle. the following clarification of concepts and research-based gender differences should be seen in that context: in Female interaction we focus on how to translate our knowledge into products that better match women’s preferences. the Female interaction project aims to release the potential of diversity.

Behavioural differencesas part of a thorough analysis of contemporary scientific gender research we extracted the following findings on di-mensions of gender in relation to technology (see figure on opposite page). the summary highlights some of the general gender differences between the behaviour and values of men and women.in general we see that the typical female traits in relation to technology is a focus on communion and that women have a more holistic approach to technology: the technology being meaningful only through coherence whereas the typical male traits include a focus on individual needs and a more detailed approach where technology can also be meaningful in itself.

not a matter of ability but a difference in motivation Men and women differ in their perception of what matters in life. there are much bigger differences between men’s and women’s motivation to buy and use technology than there are between their abilities to use technology. Male and female dif-ferences considered in this research project do not only relate to differences in what we can do respectively but what we typically like to do given the freedom and opportunity to do so. the focus of this project is on the processes and dynamics that create the gender differences: motivations, barriers and value perspectives.

Gender is a continuumFemale and male traits span a continuum i.e. ‘female’ and ‘male’ are not categorical distinctions. it is therefore not ap-propriate to sharply divide men and women - the continuum holds various degrees of masculinity and femininity. Some women act very feminine, while others have less feminine traits. gender is a variety of different expressions.

although stereotypical representations of women might be based on evidence, they often describe exaggerated female traits. the difference in the behaviour of men and women is the focus of the project.

2. Understanding gender differences

Tech developers

14 _ womenomics meets design

Behavioral differences Summarizing the research findings on gender traits.

HolISTIC APPRoACH (sense making through coherence)

• Interest in looking at the face as a rich source of emotional information in one to one situations

• Interest in the entire body in social situations

• Focus on main functionality in information and communication technology

• The mobile phone is used as a social device

• Technology as a tool (to achieve meaningful goals abstracted from the tool itself)

CommUnIon

• Social oriented regulation of emotions

• Balance and relations in the career

• Toys are private

• Physical attractiveness, nurturing and domestic skills in children’s play

• The internet is used for communication

• Internet shopping does not support the female buying motivation, which is based on emotional and social relations, and identity.

DETAIl APPRoACH (meaning in itself)

• Interest in looking at the entire body in one to one situations

• Interest in the body details in social situations

• Exploring features in information and communication technology

• The mobile phone is used for features like alarms, games, internet access etc.

• Technology as a toy

• Technology is meaningful in itself

InDIvIDUAl

• Action based regulation of emotions

• Material success

• Toys can be public

• Violent, competitive, exciting and somewhat dangerous in children’s play

• The internet is used for obtaining information/browsing

• Internet shopping enhances the male buying motivation, which is based on functionality / detail specifications

15 _ understanding gender differences

understanding gender differences _ 16

Tech developers differ from average usersWomen are a highly underrepresented group in the technolo-gy development departments. due to this odd gender distribu-tion, female traits are often overlooked and there is an implicit male bias in many technology products. tech developers have proved to represent specific male traits and are as a group typically positioned remotely on the gen-der scale. they share a systematic approach to tasks with a focus on details that are often abstracted from the context of use. these traits generally differ from the female traits that have a more holistic and social focus.Not only are they positioned far away from the female end of the scale but they don’t represent the average male user either, in other words they are positioned remotely in relation to the majority of users of both sexes (Capretz, 2002 – see list of literature).

The gender factorsHow a person expresses her or his gender is a combination of basic biological dispositions of the individual, the cultural influence we have been exposed to and the specific situa-tion we are in. besides our biological gender dispositions, there are national and cultural similarities and differences to be aware of – meaning that there is a difference between how gender is expressed in Scandinavia compared with, for example, arab countries. Furthermore the norms for enacting our gender differs along with the situation, e.g. from a profes-sional situation to a romantic one.

A difference in emotionsin general women appear more emotionally intense and ex-pressive than men. Women tend to report more frequent and intense experiences of positive emotions like joy, love, affec-tion, warmth and feelings of general well-being, especially in situations that involve intimate interpersonal relationships. Regarding non-verbal emotional cues women consistently excel in a number of ways. Firstly, they express facial emo-

tions more accurately than men. Secondly, women identify the meaning of non-verbal emotional cues (facial, body and voice) better than men. thirdly, women are better at using non-verbal emotional cues to facilitate thought, understand and manage emotions.

Feelings such as joy, embarrassment, surprise, sadness, fear, shame and guilt are mostly linked to women, whereas feel-ings such as anger, contempt, and pride are mostly linked to men. this difference is most prominent when it comes to the expression of such feelings, and to a lesser degree when it comes to the experience of them. in contrast to men women are also less responsive to anger stimuli. Finally, women report more empathy and sympathy than men do.

Situation

Culture

Biology