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Culture centered design

Conference Paper · September 2011

DOI: 10.1145/2037296.2037299 · Source: DBLP

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Gerrit van der Veer

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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 Culture centered design
Gerrit van der Veer
Open University of the Netherlands
gerrit@acm.org
ABSTRACT
As the world comes together, culture becomes an issue
We have been designing for each other for many centuries.
Originally, we knew our clients of design, who were
members of our tribe, or living in the same village. At
different locations on the globe, people designed for the
same functionality, sometimes in parallel without being
aware. In communities far remote from each other different
(often unique) ways of written communication were
designed and different countries claim the invention of a
variation of the printing press or gunpowder. If we look at
the design of clothing, we easily discover cultural
differences related to taste as well as to context of use.
The globe is rapidly shrinking. Most new designs will be
quickly discovered by strangers that live in far away
locations. In fact, recent design efforts often aim at world
wide adoption. But reaching new potential users does not
mean it fits them all, like it did fit those that lived in the
designers own village.
Design should consider the culture of the clients of
design and the users
Designers now need to be aware of this mechanism and
need to consider their design decisions in relation to what
they can expect of the various cultures and contexts of use.
This approach turns out to have two aspects:
1. One size will no longer fit all. Companies that aim at
an international clientele know that translating the text
of their website in the appropriate languages does not
work at all. If they can afford they often choose to
depend on local designers.
2. Even then, for a certain group of users (specified by
geographical region, language, professional or age
characteristics) there is a need to focus on some
prototypical user (and apply the concept of persona),
knowing that no group is completely homogeneous in
all identified relevant aspects. But that is a problem
already known in the tribal society.
7
Adoption of any artifact changes existing cultures or
triggers new ones
This happens in often unexpected ways depending on
existing local culture and context. Once mobile phones
became a common attribute for a young generation, in
countries like Italy the numeric keyboard was quickly and
eagerly used for text messaging (SMS), which developed
into the most popular way of communication between
youngsters, where in North America this possibility was
not picked up for several years. Social network systems
developed in different ways in different geographical areas
(Facebook vs. Hyves), and some developed more into
general professional or business oriented communities
(LinkedIn) or even discipline related (HR, DXY).
Designers need to understand culture in a pragmatic
way
We need to consider culture of the users and stakeholders
and we need to be aware of relevant cultural differences
between stakeholders of design. Without embarking on a
real philosophy of culture, we advocate to consider least (1)
esthetics; (2) language; and (3) cultural values.
1. Esthetics: Perception is a process in the mind of the
perceiver that concerns the interpretation of the
meaning, the appreciation of what is perceived, the
emotional value attributed to it, and the perceiver’s
tendency to (re)act, all of which is strongly affected by
the customs, ethics, and fashion that are part of the
user’s culture.
2. Language: all kind of perceived communication
elements may be understood differently by user groups
from different cultural background (or from a cultural
background different from the designer): signs and
gestures, symbols and icons, and colors.
3. Cultural values: both organizational and geographic
cultures differ significantly in values on several
dimensions (e.g., power distance, masculinity,
uncertainty avoidance, individualism), which, in turn,
effects appreciation of system behavior, as do norms
and habits that are part of the context in which
interactive systems may be accepted or rejected.
Finally we need to be aware of the effect of developing
context and the cultural change by the availability of new
interactive systems.
 Gerrit van der Veer
Gerrit van der Veer's teaching positions include Emeritus Professor at Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam (VUA), Faculty of Sciences, Dept. Computer Science, the Netherlands; Open
University Netherlands (OUN), School of Computer Science, the Netherlands and Thesis
superviser at University Twente (UT), Faculty Computer Science, Department Human-Media
Interaction, Enschede, the Netherlands. Gerrit is President of the European Association of
Cognitive Ergonomics (EACE), Honorary Member of Chi Nederland and President of ACM
SIGCHI.

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