Responses of American readers to visual aspects of a mid-sized Japanese company's annual report: a case study

Maitra, K.; Goswami, Dixie

doi:10.1109/47.475591

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nevertheless, this decorational relationship is especially more visible in high context cultures, where aesthetic proposes are central, compared to technical or explanatory purposes in low context cultures [24]. Some authors [33] believe that Japanese emphasize aesthetics a lot and that it is important for them to give readers a good impression. So, visuals don't necessarily need to be related to the text.…”

Section: The Relationship Between Visuals and Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals

Qian

Karreman

Jong

2018

2018 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In today's global world, understanding local user preferences becomes an increasingly essential skill, especially for technical communicators who design products for people in other cultures. This study attempts to analyze and compare visuals in Chinese and Western manuals because visuals play an essential role in manuals. Based on a systematically designed coding scheme, we analyzed 50 Western and 50 Chinese household product manuals (1895 pages in total) designed in their own cultures and published after 2007. Results show many differences between Chinese and Western manuals with regard to visuals. All differences seem to point in the same direction; Chinese visuals appear to have an entertaining function while Western visuals are not meant to entertain the readers but have an informative or instructive function. This study aims to enhance the mutual understanding of information designers in cross-cultural manual design.

show abstract

Section: The Relationship Between Visuals and Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals

Qian

Karreman

Jong

2018

2018 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This expectation is not just limited to technical manuals but extends to promotional business communication. As Maitra and Goswami found out, when reading a company annual report (which should have an unmistaken promotional purpose), American readers still expect clear and simple visuals that bear direct correspondence to the text [8]. Given these expectations, it is not surprising that visual metaphors, which are ambiguous in nature, are not popular in the American samples.…”

Section: Visual Metaphors: Will They Enlighten or Confuse?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comparing Chinese and American manuals, Wang found that visuals used in Chinese manuals tend to emphasize technical information, whereas those in American manuals focus on task performance [7]. In another study, Maitra and Goswami found that American readers expect clear and simple visuals in company annual reports, whereas Japanese readers prefer aesthetically pleasing and semantically ambiguous visuals [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualizing Banking and Financial Products: A Comparative Study of Chinese and American Practices

2011

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the visual rhetoric used in Chinese and American promotional business communication. Comparing banking and financial product brochures published in the two countries, the study finds similar as well as different visual strategies. Most importantly, the Chinese samples frequently use visual metaphors, whereas the American samples hardly do. Prompted by this finding, I review relevant literature on visual metaphors and examine their structures and rhetorical functions. In addition, the study suggests that buyer images and cartoon images are used differently in the two countries, whereas product-related images are used similarly. I explore the contextual and cultural roots of these findings and offer suggestions on how to visually communicate with the Chinese audience and other international audiences.

show abstract

“…Icons, for example, pose particular challenges as Bosley [29] points out, because very few symbols have reached universal acceptance. Following a similar line of reason, Maitra and Goswami argue for a culturally sensitive visual design practice that takes into account the national origin of readers [30] while Kostelnick's discussion of "flatman" the non specific, two dimensional iconic figures that appear on restroom signs in airports, for example shows that some symbols have reached nearly universal acceptance [3 1]. Beyond revealing the information that users need to know, though, graphics play an important role in carrying the affective values associated with products [5].…”

Section: Graphicsmentioning

confidence: 96%

User Experience Design for Technical Communication: Expanding Our Notions of Quality Information Design

Williams

2007

2007 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Information design has traditionallyfavored instrumentalist and rationalist models ofcommunication over more rich, experienced-based models, defining a 'good' text as one that enables users meet their goals with expedience. This paper critiques the expedient view ofinformation design by offering a briefhistory of information design, and then presenting an alternative perspective derivedfrom experience design literature to show what might characterize an expanded notion of information design. This new model argues for addressing people 's emotional, psychological, physical, and social needs, as well as their cognitive ones and thereby redefining a 'good' text as one that embraces the complexity ofhumanity. This expanded notion of information design embodies Jurgen Habermas' concept ofcommunicative rationality which counters the ethic of expedience inherent in most information design literature andpractice.

show abstract

Responses of American readers to visual aspects of a mid-sized Japanese company's annual report: a case study

Cited by 12 publications

References 6 publications

Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals

Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals

Visualizing Banking and Financial Products: A Comparative Study of Chinese and American Practices

User Experience Design for Technical Communication: Expanding Our Notions of Quality Information Design

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About