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
2. Hi. I’m Senongo Akpem. @senongo
3. A bit about me...
4. Born and raised in Nigeria
5. 10+ years all over the US
6. 7+ years working in Japan
7. A dose of realism...
8. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” -Peter Drucker
9. We design for numerous cultures, whether we know it or not.
11. A Few Cultural Variables fabonthemoon- http://flic.kr/p/aQYzP2
12. High Context Culture
13. Low Context Culture
15. DIRECTNESS
16. http://y.qq.com/
17. http://www.rdio.com/
18. Which way is up?
19. The Guugu Yimithirr Brian Cassey, The Courier-mail
20. Collectivism
21. Individualism
22. http://www.messagesforjapan.com/
23. High Power Distance
24. Low Power Distance
25. http://www.marks.jp/ http://www.moleskine.com/ About pages
30. Fast Messaging
31. Slow Messaging
32. https://www.gov.uk/
33. http://www.priu.gov.lk/
34. So what?
35. Be Culturally Responsive
37. Moving beyond media queries
38. People need to feel at home with the cultural references in our interfaces.
39. How about culture queries?
40. 3 steps
41. Add a native language option • 3 steps
42. Add a native language option • Make the interface • understandable 3 steps
43. Add a native language option • Make the interface • understandable Use cues that match the users • cultural characteristics 3 steps
44. http://gengo.com/
46. http://www.sevenbank.co.jp/soukin/
49. http://www.mtn.com.af
52. There’s a difference between understanding an interface, and accepting an interface. - Carney, 1998
53. http://www.pepsi.com/
54. http://www.pepsitmall.com/
55. http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food.html http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com/menu.html
56. http://www.bbc.com/news/world/middle_east/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/middleeast/
57. The Bollywood Technique mountainamoeba- http://flic.kr/p/4wZ1uu
58. How much does culture affect the usability of the sites we build?
59. A lot.
60. No Really. A LOT.
61. Final Thoughts chrisstreeter- http://flic.kr/p/8jMLVx
62. You can find me online at: Thank You! @senongo senongo.net