Towards culture-centred design

Abstract

This paper addresses culturally rooted factors within user interface design. The design implications of globalisation are discussed, together with the related processes of internationalisation, localisation, ‘glocalisation’, iconisation and culturalisation, in order to establish a basis for a new approach to HCI design. The potential for a more diverse culture-centred, design-based system—‘Culture-Centred Design’ (CCD) is introduced, and a CCD process developed.\ud \ud A redesigned computer interface, incorporating a consistent and culturally rooted metaphor for a Chinese user target group is discussed. A culturally specific ‘garden’ metaphor is developed and applied as an alternative to the current global ‘office’ or ‘desktop’ metaphor. A working demonstration of the interface is piloted with a group of Chinese users to assess its success in terms of interactivity, usability and cultural significance. The overall results of the first two evaluation phases have shown very positive outcomes for the use of the CCD system and Chinese garden metaphor

Webpage Designs for Diverse Cultures: An Exploratory Study of User Preferences in China

“…This study added to the wealth of evidence that users from different cultures can perceive webpages differently and often prefer different designs [1][2][3][4][5][6][25][26]. We suggested that designers should understand the preferences of users from diverse cultures and provide specific designs to address their preferences.…”

“…A wealth of studies has revealed a cross-cultural difference in user preferences and judgments on the webpage design [1][2][3][4][5][6]. For instance, Simon [6] found that Asians disliked triangles and squares on webpages, whereas North Americans and Europeans preferred combinations of those shapes.…”

Testing of a Novel Web Browser Interface for the Chinese Market

“…We then compared these with CultureCentred Design (CCD) (culturally specific) icons that aim to differentiate from standardised ones, and have been designed specifically for Chinese users [13]. Eight basic Fig.…”

The significance of information visualisation based on the symbolic semantics of Peking Opera painted faces (POPF)

“…Design of visual information is produced by visual medium for people to pass on messages, and the design of information is at its center, with visual perception design as its soul, and mutual design as its essence. A study has shown that culture-centred design of interface demonstrated very positive feedbacks from users [4]. Cultural patterns have significant influences on the product design conceptualization [5].…”