Culture as a Factor in Web Design

As our community explores more of responsive design, we are creating better code and markup, but are we creating sites that are responsive to cultural differences? This session went through factors that can affect how sites are perceived in places with different cultural norms, like Africa and Japan. I talked about how to build visual and cultural diversity into websites, and how responsive design can address these quirks of culture, language, and tradition.

Presented at FOWD NYC

Transcript

1. Beyond
   Responsive Design
   Culture as a Factor
   in Digital Design
   

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2. Hi.
   I’m Senongo Akpem.
   @senongo
   

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3. A bit about me...
   

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4. Born and raised in Nigeria
   

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5. 10+ years all over the US
   

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6. 7+ years working in Japan
   

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7. A dose of realism...
   

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8. “Culture eats strategy
   for breakfast.”
   -Peter Drucker
   

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

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11. A Few Cultural Variables
    fabonthemoon- http://flic.kr/p/aQYzP2
    

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12. High Context Culture
    

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13. Low Context Culture
    

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15. DIRECTNESS
    

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16. http://y.qq.com/
    

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17. http://www.rdio.com/
    

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18. Which way is up?
    

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19. The Guugu Yimithirr
    Brian Cassey, The Courier-mail
    

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20. Collectivism
    

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21. Individualism
    

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22. http://www.messagesforjapan.com/
    

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23. High Power Distance
    

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24. Low Power Distance
    

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25. http://www.marks.jp/ http://www.moleskine.com/
    About pages
    

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30. Fast Messaging
    

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31. Slow Messaging
    

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32. https://www.gov.uk/
    

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33. http://www.priu.gov.lk/
    

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34. So what?
    

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35. Be Culturally Responsive
    

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37. Moving beyond media
    queries
    

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38. People need to feel
    at home with the
    cultural references in
    our interfaces.
    

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39. How about culture
    queries?
    

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40. 3 steps
    

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41. Add a native language option
    •
    3 steps
    

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42. Add a native language option
    •
    Make the interface
    •
    understandable
    3 steps
    

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43. Add a native language option
    •
    Make the interface
    •
    understandable
    Use cues that match the users
    •
    cultural characteristics
    3 steps
    

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44. http://gengo.com/
    

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46. http://www.sevenbank.co.jp/soukin/
    

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49. http://www.mtn.com.af
    

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52. There’s a
    difference between
    understanding
    an interface, and
    accepting an
    interface.
    - Carney, 1998
    

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53. http://www.pepsi.com/
    

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54. http://www.pepsitmall.com/
    

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55. http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food.html http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com/menu.html
    

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56. http://www.bbc.com/news/world/middle_east/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/middleeast/
    

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57. The Bollywood Technique
    mountainamoeba- http://flic.kr/p/4wZ1uu
    

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58. How much does
    culture affect the
    usability of the sites
    we build?
    

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59. A lot.
    

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60. No Really.
    A LOT.
    

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61. Final Thoughts
    chrisstreeter- http://flic.kr/p/8jMLVx
    

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62. You can find me online at:
    Thank You!
    @senongo
    senongo.net
    

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