Theme: international UI design and icons
In Class Activities
Activity 1: discussing the process books (insights, comments, etc.)
Activity 2 (analyzing websites using cultural dimensions) and 3 (dimensions for a healthcare website for immigrant communities) can be found through this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_2jo1gp6Hb0hcIDE2-D0QyK5iBuAdFvoBOtJ-ddES2c/edit?usp=sharing
At-Home Exercise: Analyzing a “Best Global Site” using bytelevel’s criteria
I chose to explore Google.com and specifically chose to compare the search & results pages.
Grade: A (The grade is based on the aspects described below)
Global reach: 150 languages! When you check the languages in Google settings, there’s 150 options to choose from. That’s a lot of languages!
Global navigation: Using geolocation, Google automatically detects the IP address or VPN and shows the location-specific content. But for the purpose of this activity, I used incognito mode and used the country codes to access the website for different countries/languages.
Global architecture: Google uses a global layout. For each country/language, the Google homepage and results page look identical. It is obvious Google has a global layout that is then localized. Even the mobile versions have a global layout as well with localized parts!
Localization and social: The homepage is localized to the language as well as reading direction. The results page is also fairly identical country to country. Variations for localization is language, what appears in results (news stories, pictures, images), and reading direction. What appears in the search results is really interesting. When I searched earthquakes on the American Google site, it starts with a card including information on the latest earthquake near Seattle. Below the card are news stories, then results linked to websites, videos, questions people ask, and related searches. On the Indonesian Google website, it first shows a card about the latest earthquake near Seattle like the American Google site, but then below the card is results to websites. It’s not until you scroll farther that there are video options to click on. The Egyptian Google has the reading direction right to left. Below the card for earthquake near Seattle is all links to website results. At the very bottom, it gives image options and then video options. What’s interesting though on the Egyptian Google is that the page numbers are shown left to right (image below).
Quotes
Kevin Cheng, Global UX, ch. 9
“Thinking globally is really about thinking locally.”
I find this quote interesting because in the Horton reading it talks about the difference between globalization and localization. My understanding of this quote is that in order to be a global thinker you have to think about the local culture which is different than the concept of globalization.
Global UX, ch. 9
“…we also heard people talk about consciously bringing their own cultural roots into their design work to add depth.”
Growing up bicultural, I wonder what kind of cultural roots would appear in my UX work.
Jackson
“Why do graphics communicate better to a wider audience? One advantage is easier communication…Another advantage is easier translation.”
I always find graphics to be highly useful to understand something, and I can see the benefit of it. This would save a lot of time and cost in terms of text, but a lot of research would need to be done to make sure graphics are well understood.
Dalton Maag in Modern Hieroglyphics by Richardson
“There certainly is room for creativity. ”Designing them to be sympathetic to the general graphic language and particularly the typographic language is key.’”
This quote made me think of Microsoft’s Inclusive Design methodology. A member of that team spoke in one of my classes last year and talked about Inclusive Design as well as showing their toolkit. In their toolkit, there were numerous graphics depicting different types of people. https://www.microsoft.com/design/inclusive/
Horton
“What culture IS a 28-year-old single mother who was born and raised in Germany, raised up as a devout Catholic, attended MIT, and now works for the Hong Kong office of a Swedish telecom that conducts business in British English? The answer is that she participates in multiple cultures.”
It’s interesting to think of culture in this way because when I hear the word culture I automatically think about a country and its traditions/practices/etc.
Exploration
I wanted to learn more about John Yunker and his intake on web globalization and found this article. https://www.godaddy.com/garage/how-to-take-a-website-global-an-interview-with-web-globalization-expert-john-yunker/
I think there are valuable tips from Yunker on what one can consider and do to design globally.
Semiotics: the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation
This word was in Jackson’s article, and I didn’t know what it was. Now I do!
We read a lot about translation as part of localization this week. Funnily enough, I stumbled on an article where Coca-Cola made a huge translation mistake. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/15/hello-death-coca-cola-mixes-english-and-maori-on-vending-machine?CMP=twt_gu
Coca-Cola is a giant global company, and you would think someone on the team would have made sure the combination of te reo Maori and English would work.
Professional Inspiration
I am a researcher, and I have no intention of becoming a designer. However, all the readings about designing for global inspires me even more to collaborate with designers. As a researcher, I will aim to do my best to understand different cultures and make sure to work closely with designers to ensure we are creating something that is understandable as well as non-offensive.
Sketch
Hannah's Process Book 