How does our cultural background influence product design?
If you’ve ever travelled, or worked with other cultures, you surely noticed that people can seem different. Strange even. We all have unique cultural norms. These norms influence the way companies do business and the way products are designed. In this article, we’ll look at four distinctive cultural dimensions that influence how we think. We try to understand how cultures communicate, how companies work, and how products are designed across the globe. We go through scientific studies and look at user interface examples to illustrate our cultural uniquenesses.
Power Distance
Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, used to commute on a bicycle. In other countries, the leaders might travel in golden cars. If Johnson had done that, the Brits would have been angry. However, if the king of Morocco was seen riding a bicycle with a helmet, he would lose respect. This is because of cultural expectations about how much distance should be kept between a leader and their people: the cultural dimension of power distance.
Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
How does Power Distance manifest?
In some cultures, people are used to having strong leaders. This is seen in places like China or Latin America. Individuals were making decisions for the entire empire to keep the empire stable.
In other cultures, often in colder climates, small tribes behaved independently and had to collaborate to survive.
The way our societies have been structured still influences how we act today. Some cultures have a high power distance (PD) whilst others have a low PD. This can be seen in the differences between these cultures, such as:
- Inequality:
In high PD countries, inequality is expected whilst, in low PD countries, this should be minimised. - Privileges:
Privileges for the elite are seen as normal in high PD countries. This is frowned upon in those with low PD. - Children:
Low PD countries treat children relatively more equally. They can form their unique opinions and debate with their parents or teachers. In high PD countries, it’s usually preferred that children obey. - Governments:
Governments are usually pluralist majority vote parlements in low PD countries. Elections and changes of governments happen smoothly. In high PD countries, there’s often a single head of state with a fair amount of autonomous decision-making power. - Income difference:
High PD countries have big income differences. They often have a limited number of very wealthy elites and a big lower class. Low PD countries usually redistribute wealth through taxes and have a big middle class.
We can globally divide cultures into a few buckets:
- High power distance:
A number of east-Asian, Arabic and Latin American countries - Medium power distance:
Mediterranean European countries - Low power distance:
Nordic and (western) English and German-speaking countries
See links in footer for complete list of countries.
Measuring Power Distance
Many scientists have been studying cultures and differences. The leading book in the field is “cultures and organizations, software for the mind”, written by the influential father and son Hofstede. They have done a lot of work in the field, particularly with IBM. They looked at the differences between the various branches of IBM located around the world and then checked to make sure their results were correct by looking at other studies.
The aspects used to assess power distance were:
- How often are employees afraid to express disagreement with their manager?
- What are the subordinates’ preferences and perceptions of their bosses’ decision-making style (autocratic, paternalistic, other)?
Power Distance in the workplace
Our parents and teachers have a big influence on how we view the workplace. In cultures with low power distance, parents and teachers leave us with the freedom to make our own decisions. When we become adults, we expect the same freedom in the workplace.
In companies with high power distance, only a few people make the important decisions. In cultures with low power distance, more people are involved in decision-making.
High power distance cultures are more likely to have lots of rules, whilst those with low power distance are more likely to trust their team members to make the right decisions.
Those in high power distance cultures prefer a supervisor with the answer to their problems, while those in low power distance cultures want to be trusted to make their own choices.
The study Power distance in English lingua franca email communication shows that students from high PD countries are likely to use formal email greetings and closings (Dear sir, yours sincerely, etc.). Low PD countries use more informal alternatives (hi, cheers, etc.).
How does power distance affect product design?
Increasing social status
In countries with high power distance, people are more likely to buy status brands. This is because these brands can help them improve their social standing and make them feel better about themselves. This is been confirmed by the study The Impact of Power-Distance Belief on Consumers’ Preference for Status Brands. People may also be drawn to status brands as a way to make up for low self-esteem. Being reminded of social standing happens more often in high PD countries.
On BMW’s website in Malaysia, the cars are the main focus. Photos usually show the cars from the front or from below, making them look larger. The BMW logo is also usually clearly visible in the pictures.
On Sweden’s website, the homepage shows the same photo grid. However, the context is more important here. There is more text, used to show advantages like charging the car whilst driving. The driver or environment is central in the photo, not the car. The cars are even shot from the air or from the side or back, making them appear less big.
When scrolling further down on the homepage, both websites show a bar that suggests the cars you should buy. The Malaysian website highlights the importance of the status again. You would buy one of those cars to “own a legend” or “drive prestige”. In Sweden, you should drive a BMW because they have electric models.
Impuls buying
In high PD cultures, obedience is important. In many eastern cultures, delayed gratification is even considered a virtue. Study shows that “countries with higher PD scores showed lower unplanned buying tendencies”. This means that people from high PD cultures have learned to control themselves better.
The study also proves that people from low PD countries are mostly more sensitive to buying vice / indulgent products, like chocolate bars. Healthy or practical products are less subject to impulses. This explains why supermarket checkouts are always surrounded by sugary products.
Amazon uses impulse buying to its advantage. In the United Arab Emirates (high PD), customers are not given any additional dialogue or suggestions when they add a product to their shopping cart. However, in Germany (low PD), customers are encouraged to buy additional items that would go with the product they are buying. This is because people in Germany are more likely to buy things impulsively.
How to assess brands?
In the study How power distance affects online hotel ratings: The positive moderating roles of hotel chain and reviewers’ travel experience, Chinese scientists find evidence that people from high PD cultures rate hotel chains higher than independent, small, hotels. Bigger chains, like Marriott or Radisson, can rely on their brand name and authority in the industry.
An example of this can be seen when we compare booking platforms Booking.com and Agoda. The western Booking.com shows photos of hotel rooms on the overview pages. Asian Agoda chooses to show the building of the hotel instead. What we can take from this is that Agoda’s users first want to be comfortable with the hotel brand itself. Booking’s users first want to verify how comfortable the rooms and beds are, before looking into the details of the hotel.
Who’s in charge?
The clearest way to understand the influence of power distance is to see how visible the hierarchy is in society. The military is an obvious world to look at. The army is heavily organized in ranks and escalation paths.
High PD cultures Liberia and Kenya have the homepage of their Ministry of Defence full of photos of people in powerful positions. Low PD cultures Finland and Norway keep their homepages clean and don’t show a single leader, despite the military domain being a hierarchical one.
Individualism and collectivism
Let’s now look at another cultural dimension: the difference between individualism and collectivism. In Northern European countries, parents pursue their kids to leave the house when they are 18. Many of them, when becoming young adults, then decide to do go on a solo backpacking trip. For Mediterranean people, these choices seem very strange. Selfish even. They value spending more time with their family.
Nordic countries are individualist societies, whilst Southern European ones are collectivist:
Individualism is a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family.
Collectivism is the opposite. People from birth onward are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups- which throughout people’s lifetimes continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
How does Individualism manifest?
As countries get richer, people tend to have more things for themselves instead of having to share them. Children might get their own bedroom, even with their own television. A family might have multiple cars. This naturally makes people operate more independently. It increases the individualistic behaviours of a society. This is one of the reasons why there’s a difference between individualist and collectivist cultures. However, Asian cultures always had a strong emphasis on collective goals and — despite their economical growth- stay fairly collectivist.
Some of the most visible differences and preferences between collective and individual cultures are:
- Growing up:
In individualist cultures, children are taught to look after themselves. In collectivist cultures, protecting happiness in exchange for loyalty is more important. - Resources:
Most stuff is shared with a group (usually the family) in collectivist cultures. Individualist cultures have more individual ownership. - Reputation:
Doing something unethical will make the entire group “lose face” in collectivist cultures. In individualist cultures, your actions are on you, and won’t affect your family. - Relational mobility:
In individualist cultures, it’s relatively accepted to end friendships and find new ones. This is less the case for collectivist cultures. - Opinions:
The more individualist a culture is, the more normal it is to have a conflicting opinion in a group. - Career path:
In collectivist cultures, it’s much more common for a son to choose the same profession as his dad. It can be seen as an honour. In individualist cultures, this might be perceived as a lack of autonomy.
We can globally divide countries into a few buckets:
- Highly individualistic:
Nordic and (western) English and German-speaking countries - Hybrid:
A number of Arabic and African countries - Highly collectivist:
A number of east-Asian and Latin American countries
Measuring Individualism and Collectivism
The aspects Hofstede used to assess individualism and collectivism where were:
Individualist pole
- Personal time:
Have a job that leaves sufficient time for your personal or family life. - Freedom:
Have considerable freedom to adopt your own approach to the job. - Challenge:
Have challenging work to do — work from which you can get a personal sense of accomplishment.
Collectivist pole
- Training:
Have training opportunities (to improve your skills or learn new skills) - Physical conditions:
Have good physical working conditions (good ventilation and lighting, adequate workspace, etc). - Use of skills:
Fully use your skills and abilities at work.
What we see is that the individualistic pole measures employee independence and the collectivist pole tracks dependence.
Individualism in the workplace
Collectivist cultures run their business like a family. They focus on the group instead of the individual. Bonuses are often given to an entire team and managers won’t quickly move employees from one team to the next. “Management by objectives” is not a practice that’s heavily applied.
In individualist cultures, the focus is on the individual employee and their goals, rather than the team’s objectives. People are rewarded for their individual achievements and can easily move between teams or jobs.
In collectivist cultures, relations between a company and a supplier are personal. This means that companies will primarily have relations with the individual salesperson and not with the company as a whole. A lot of energy is put into individual relationships and trust. If this salesperson will be replaced, the relationship with the company can’t be taken for granted anymore.
How does Individualism affect product design?
Choosing your personal motivations or serving your country?
When individualism is about your personal interests, collectivism is about the interest of the group. This group can be your direct family, but can also be your company or country. Recruitment websites for army personnel adapt their message to what’s important to their compatriots.
In individualistic Germany, the government encourages people to pursue their passions and dreams. They promote this idea by showing pictures of successful people in different fields, and show the headline “follow your vocation”. This helps to remind people that they can achieve their goals.
Poland leans more towards collectivism. Their website focuses on the honour to defend the country. “Are you seriously thinking about getting involved with the uniform of a soldier? You have come to the right place!” Wearing the uniform is considered more important than doing something that would accelerate your personal career.
What does a product offer?
How can companies make phone plans appealing to their potential customers? The German Vodafone website gives the user a clear and factual overview of the details of the phone plans. You are mainly informed about how much data a plan contains and the potential discounts you could get.
In high collectivist culture Colombia, companies have a different approach. Claro, the local provider, advertises its plans with the local user’s desires in mind. Claro shows that all social media traffic is included in your plan (stay in touch with your friend), unlimited phone time is provided to a handful of countries including the US (call with relatives) and a label “Family and Friends” is shown to further emphasis this importance.
In Germany, the clinical data is valued whilst in Colombia, the emotional advantages of staying connected with your loved ones is the selling strategy.
Online reviews
In the study Culture, Conformity, and Emotional Suppression in Online Reviews, scientists prove that people from individualist societies are more likely to write reviews that deviate from previously written reviews. People form their own opinion and are not influenced by old reviews. In collectivist cultures, people are more likely to follow the ratings of other users.
In collectivist cultures, advice from social groups is in general considered important. In individualist cultures “external” sources like media, are more often used to form an opinion.
Dutch website Bol shows reviews, like all online marketplaces. But as seen on most western websites, reviews are relatively subtly shown compared to their Asian counterpart. Thai website Shopee not only shows the ratings and reviews more prominently, but it also adds social proof by showing how many other customers have bought the product.
Uncertainty avoidance
The third cultural dimension we will discuss is uncertainty avoidance:
The extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations. Should we try to control the future or just let it happen?
Why do some countries have so many rules but no one seems to follow them? And why do the Brits politely queue although there is no law about that?
Throughout history, some cultures have been exposed to external forces to guide the future. This could be a strong ruler that would take charge, a religion that promises an afterlife, or even the weather that ensures the harvest. All these elements would put people at ease. The drawback is that the culture gets accustomed to this nurturing aspect. If people would lose this perceived security, they would get anxious.
Be aware to not confuse anxiety with fear:
Anxiety is a term taken from psychology and psychiatry that expresses a diffuse “state of being uneasy or worried about what might happen” It should not be confused with fear, which has an object. We are afraid of something, but anxiety has no object.
How does uncertainty avoidance manifest?
Some of the most visible differences we can see between people from high- and low-uncertainty-avoiding countries are:
- Rules:
People from high UA countries believe that the best way to avoid potential uncertainty is to implement rules and procedures. There’s a strong desire to use the law or company policies. In reality, those rules are often ignored. Low UA countries rely less on rules but might have unwritten social conventions that people follow. - Showing emotions:
Avoiding uncertainty can cause a lot of stress. This stress eventually needs to be released. This can be done by expressing emotions. Raising a voice or making gestures is much more accepted in high-UA countries. Low-UA countries often see showing emotions as a sign of weakness. - Trust:
Leaving the outcome of something in someone else's hands leads to uncertainty. High-UA countries, therefore, have a strong desire for specialists, people with degrees and older, and more experienced people. In their minds, their proven competencies make it more likely that an outcome matches their needs. Children and younger people can also be seen as less capable.
In low-UA countries, children are seen as reasonably equal participants in society. Trust in politicians is also higher in low-UA countries. - The truth:
High-UA countries are more likely to believe in one single version of the truth. People in these countries are expected to present facts that are correct. On the other hand, in low-UA countries, there can be many different opinions and beliefs and people are more open to debating different points of view. In the past, low-UA countries have been more accepting of other religions and beliefs, while high-UA countries have been less tolerant of those with different views (for instance, the Spanish inquisition).
Catholic countries are usually avoiding uncertainty (pope, roman emperor, etc.) whilst protestant countries are mostly low on uncertainty avoidance (cold weather, chasing a new life overseas etc.):
- High uncertainty avoidance:
Latin (American and European) and Mediterranean countries, Japan and South Korea - Medium-high uncertainty avoidance:
German-speaking countries, Arab and African countries - Medium to low uncertainty avoidance:
East-Asian countries, Nordic countries, English-speaking countries
Measuring the different countries
Hofstede’s questions to assess uncertainty avoidance were:
- Job stress — How often do you feel nervous or tense at work?
- Rule orientation — Company rules should not be broken, even when the employee thinks it is in the company’s best interest
- How long do you think you will continue working for IBM? (Changing employers brings uncertainty).
The answers to the survey questions varied from person to person, but when looking at the average responses from each country, it was clear that different cultures as a whole had different opinions.
What influence does uncertainty avoidance have in the workplace?
It’s important to not confuse uncertainty avoidance with power distance. These are two dimensions that have different effects on how we work within our companies.
Therefore, UA is not about hierarchy. Instead, there’s a strong emphasis on specialism. High-UA countries have a preference for specialists with degrees and experience. This is a way for a company to know that the employee will do the job right. In low-UA countries, generalists are more common: people that can cover a broader variety of tasks, not necessarily within their primary field of expertise.
In low-UA countries, managers are usually concerned with strategic matters. High-UA managers tend to be more involved in day-to-day operations. For high-UA staff, it’s also preferred that their direct manager has answers to their questions. The manager should be a guru. Low-UA personnel sees the manager more as a mentor or guide, rather than a teacher.
Low-UA countries have a tolerance for ambiguity. This makes them more suitable for innovation. It’s hard to predict what innovation brings. It’s an experiment.
High-UA countries excel in precession and following strict procedures. They are thus better at manufacturing. The airbus factory is in France, a country that’s also comfortable with having many power plants.
Agile methodologies also bring uncertainty. The output of the project is not written in stone. It will be defined along the way. It’s therefore explainable that low-UI countries adopt Agile as a development practice quicker.
How does uncertainty avoidance affect product design?
Authority in the professional fields
People in high-UA countries want to be advised by competent people. The ratio of doctors to nurses is much higher than in low-UA countries, where patients are fine with being consulted by a nurse.
This is something you see back in advertisements. High-UA countries rely on competence. The qualified doctor, in a white coat, is advising you to take these painkillers. This is trustworthy.
In low-UA countries, humour is often a more effective communication strategy. In this Malaysian ad, a celebrity consults you to use this brand of painkillers.
Trust in the company
By now, we covered a few times that high-UA countries need to show expertise. In this example of investment bank Saxo, the Italian website (high-UA) shows “Experience, Technology, Trading.” as the main title. The same page on the British website shows “Make the most of market moves”.
The Italian website focuses on establishing the company’s expertise. For the British website, it’s more important to show the opportunities for the customer and how their own competence can help them.
The Italian website also shows a “show me a demo” option. This gives the high-UA people a peak into what they would get when they sign up, and thus reduces uncertainty. This option is not available in the UK.
Providing a safety net
Every Ikea website looks the same, but the information on it changes depending on the country it is being viewed in. Every home page has a bar with items that show information that is relevant to people in that particular country.
The german (high-UA country) bar shows:
- Free parcel return — It’s OK to change your mind.
- Planning service with appointment — Our experts will help you with your planning.
- IKEA 0% financing — Make your dreams come true without interest or additional costs.
The danish (low-UA country) bar shows:
- Welcome to the warehouse — We look forward to seeing you.
Info and opening hours - Help for your next project — New kitchen, bath or bedroom? Get help from an expert
- Design with drawing software — Draw and design everything from kitchens and sofas to wardrobes and beds
The German content focuses on the option to return your goods for free. This reduces uncertainty. It then explains that you can get in touch with an expert that will help you with your planning. The Danish website shows this planning help too but afterwards shows that you can also do it yourself, something that’s not used on the German website.
The first item for the Danish is a nice welcome. Hygge, a form of togetherness, is important in their culture.
Giving the details
Jenny Shen worked on a study to find out why German users were less successful in booking travel deals on a particular platform, compared to Dutch users. The Netherlands is a lower-UA country. Its people are comfortable with committing to a purchase without knowing all the details. The high-UA Germans needed the reassurance. After studying the german users, Travelbird decided to add an extensive list of information about the trip for German users. Sales afterwards increased.
Masculinity & Femininity
Finally, let’s also discuss the attitudes towards cultural masculinity and femininity. Some Americans consider the Nordic countries “communist welfare states.” Scandinavians, on the other hand, might not understand why a country like the US has such big income differences.
Some countries may put more emphasis on competing and winning, while others may prioritise being kind and compassionate. Although we can see these nationwide trends, this doesn’t mean that every single individual follows these preferences.
A society is called masculine when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct: men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success, whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender and concerned with quality of life.
A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.
How do Masculinity and Femininity manifest?
Masculine countries behave more like how men were expected to behave throughout time: as the hunter of the tribe. Feminine counties have a stronger emphasis on the nurturing aspect of the mother.
This results in some of the following differences:
- Life priorities:
Masculine countries tend to prioritise higher earnings and recognition. Feminine countries would compromise promotions for a better quality of life. Part-time work, for both men and women, is much more common in feminine countries. - Role of the genders:
Masculine countries have a preference for assertive men and tender women. In feminine cultures, men and women are both modest and tender. - Family and parenting:
The father is expected to deal with the facts and the mother with the feelings in masculine cultures. In feminine cultures, those responsibilities are shared between both parents.
Feminine cultures are more tolerant of homosexuality, which can be seen as a threat to traditional family values in masculine countries. - Resolving conflicts:
The strongest wins in Masculine conflicts. Feminine conflict management is about compromise and negotiation. Most feminine countries have coalition governments as a result. - Society:
On average, masculine cultures are corrective whilst feminine cultures are permissive. This means that masculine cultures put emphasis on what you shouldn’t do. In feminine countries, what you could do is more important.
In your head, you might have already drawn some conclusions:
- High masculinity:
English and German-speaking countries, Japan, China - Medium Masculinity:
Latin countries - Low Masculinity:
Nordic countries, the Netherlands
Measuring the different countries
Hofstede’s aspects to assess masculinity were:
- To measure the masculine traits: the importance of
- Earnings
- Recognition for work
- Promotions
- Accomplishments in work - To measure the feminine traits: the importance of
- The relationship with your supervisor
- Cooperating with colleagues
- Living in an area you like
- Employment security
In the study, men generally place more importance on money and career advancement, while women prioritise their relationships with their supervisors and how well they work with their colleagues. In countries where feminine values are more prominent, both men and women tend to prioritise feminine values more.
Masculinity in the workplace
In the educational system of feminine countries, you are taught to help the weaker students. In masculine countries, the strongest performers often get praised. Taking credit for being the best is not appropriate in feminine countries. Getting high grades is also not important in feminine cultures.
Therefore, people from feminine countries are humble when they write their job applications and CVs. In Masculine countries, job candidates focus on selling themselves.
The result is that masculine applications are considered braggarts and insincere for feminine hiring managers. Feminine applicants can be seen as incompetent or insecure by masculine hiring managers.
On the job, a similar pattern can emerge. Masculine employees want to manifest themselves. They usually want to be visible, so that they will be noticed for the next round of promotions. Showing that you are better than your peers is frowned upon in feminine cultures. They expect you to keep a low profile.
How does Masculinity affect product design?
The role of the women
We spoke about how the role of the genders is expected to be different in masculine counties. Men should be strong and females tender.
The UI of H&M’s website is similar in each country but its content is localised. In masculine Italy, it’s desirable that women are pretty and sexy (“ciao bella!”). In this example, a feminine model with lipstick and dresses is chosen.
The Netherlands is a feminine country. Looks play a less important role in life. Practicality is valued, as seen in H&M’s choice to communicate the clothes. The clothes that the model wears can almost be men’s clothes.
More interestingly, the Dutch landing page for female fashion dedicates its main space to decoration and toys for the kid’s room. This resembles the importance of nurturing in feminine cultures.
Who are the heroes?
In masculine countries, powerful men (they are almost always men) are worshipped. Conquerers, generals and successful business people are portrayed as the role models of society. In feminine cultures, being successful in the creative industries (painters, writers and musicians) or being a protector of minorities is often valued.
This is something we can clearly see in a campaign for the local airline of a masculine and feminine country. American Airlines (masculine) honours its soldiers on their planes. Norwegian Airlines (feminine) shows portraits of historical figures in the artistic and scientific fields on their planes. The airline also chose to not only show domestic heroes but also use historical figures from the destinations that they serve. Valuing all countries instead of only your own is also a feminine characteristic.
Interpreting UIs
The assumption that gender differences are strong in higher-masculinity countries and weak in lower-masculinity countries has been examined by Diana Cy and Milena Head. In their study “Website design in an international context: The role of gender in masculine versus feminine oriented countries” they specifically looked at this cultural dimension and how it related to UX design.
In the study, feminine countries Canada, China and Chili were compared with masculine cultures Germany, Mexico and the USA.
The research showed that in places where people have a more feminine culture, there is not much difference between genders in certain UX elements. However, in places with a more masculine culture, there is a noticeable difference between genders.
Men generally make decisions quickly and are guided by facts, whilst women are more likely to be swayed by feelings and take more time to think through their decisions. In masculine countries, this difference is very visible, but in feminine countries, men are more likely to show feminine traits when it comes to decision-making.
The gender difference was also higher for the domains of navigation design and establishing trust.
If we compare the biggest domestic real estate websites in Italy and the Netherlands, we can see differences in information gathering. In masculine Italy, the overview page directly gives a lot of information for factual decision-making. In feminine the Netherlands, much more space is dedicated to giving the user an emotional connection with the property. Very little information is given in the overview.
When looking at the detail page for a single property, the emphasis in the Netherlands is still on the photos. It shows that first, things have to feel right before the facts become important.
Conclusion
Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and masculinity. Four dimensions that shape our beliefs.
What we can take from this is that, in communication and product design, we should be mindful of how we communicate with our audience. Do we want our users to see us as an authority in our domain, or as a friend?
We can think about where on a social spectrum we want to place our product. Do we lean more towards empowering the individual to fulfil their potential independently, or do we want this individual to feel part of a group?
If apps would be designed by a male-centred team, in a masculine country, it’s possible that the app doesn’t appeal to the female part of their local population, but also that both males and females of feminine cultures don’t like the design.
We went through only four of the many cultural dimensions that exist. The way we think, behave and communicate is very complex. We are a child of our culture. But culture is not the only aspect that influences us.
The city or neighbourhood in which you grew up has unique characteristics too. Your parents have raised you with certain values and your circle of friends have certain ideologies (sociology). Generations have different views on the world. We have different personalities (Jung). The experiences we had during our childhood impact who we are as adults (Freud). And finally, we have different motivations during the various stages of our life (Erikson).
Simply said, a millennial from Stockholm, who studied visual arts, and grew up without parents in a less developed neighbourhood, lives in a different reality than an Indian baby-boomer who was a child of a wealthy banker.
Understanding your target audience is not something that magically appears. A big part of western tech is produced in California, London, Berlin or Amsterdam. All these places value an individualistic, low uncertainty avoiding, low power distance life. Creating products in these bubbles can lead to imbalanced decision-making. We shouldn’t be surprised if products, created in these cities, with people from these regions, don’t work in other parts of the world.
Diversity is key. Having designers from various backgrounds increases the likelihood of having representatives with different values. It goes without saying that UX researchers should recruit diverse users too.
Having personas that represent the user’s motivation might not be enough. If we want to serve an international audience, we need to be aware of our cultural differences and therefore recruit users from all backgrounds.
If we put a bit of effort into listening, studying, and testing people from other cultures, they might become a lot less strange.
- Compare how specific countries relate to each other
- cultures and organizations, software for the mind
- Full rankings with all studied countries: Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity/femininity
- Power distance in English lingua franca email communication
- The Impact of Power-Distance Belief on Consumers’ Preference for Status Brands
- Power Distance Belief and Impulsive Buying
- How power distance affects online hotel ratings: The positive moderating roles of hotel chain and reviewers’ travel experience
- Culture, Conformity, and Emotional Suppression in Online Reviews
- US News Agility Ranking
- Build Bridges, Not Walls — Design for Users Across Cultures — Jenny Shen btconf Berlin 2018
- Website design in an international context: The role of gender in masculine versus feminine oriented countries
