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Senongo Akpem Design Director at Constructive @senongo Hey!

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Culturally Responsive Design Creating for Your Worldwide Audience

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a bit of background…

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Nigeria

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USA

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Japan

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We design for numerous cultures, whether we know it or not.

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Cultural Variables

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Multicultural design should expose the unwritten rules of society.

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vs Low Context High Context

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toji.or.jp

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vs Individualism Collectivism

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The Bollywood Technique

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Understanding 
 interfaces isn’t the same as accepting them.

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vs Low Power Distance High Power Distance

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Oscar Ruiz / publicis-mexico.com

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projects.newyorker.com/story/subway/

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vs Slow Messaging Fast Messaging

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gov.uk

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Tropico Vernacular / Lobregat Balaguer

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… a people whose idea of visual pleasure is an explosion of the colors and textures that constitute the experience of community. LOBREGAT BALAGUER

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vs DIRECTNESS

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W. Robert Moore/National Geographic Society/Corbis / UK’s Science Museum

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Clement Valla / Google

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All our design choices come with pre-existing assumptions.

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Code-switching

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We adjust our communication to emphasize (or minimize) our social differences.

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Meedan labs

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Build design projects with the flexibility to code-switch.

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Depicting the “Other”

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Air France /

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abidjan .net

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Ashaninka/ Osklen

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Narratives can deliberately break those stereotypes.

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captaindacosta.com

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Give your audience permission to explore nuanced cultural references.

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Yinka Shonibare

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Appropriation punches up.

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So what steps should we take?

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Culture eats strategy for breakfast. PETER DRUCKER

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Flexible Research

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reboot.org

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Test design that explores technical (& cultural) experiences. TIP

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Forgiving Interfaces

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Kim Suk / AP images

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Leo Juarez / NBC News

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Design forgiving interfaces that flex across cultures. TIP

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Layered Language

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FEED Montreal

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holohalo.net

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Create projects that work effectively in multilingual contexts. TIP

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A Sense of Place

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raponline.org

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lostnigeria.com

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lostnigeria.com

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Reference location in nuanced ways, to create a sense of belonging. TIP

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I’ll end with a final note of encouragement.

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Culture informs every part of our design practice. Use it!

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Senongo Akpem @senongo Thank you!