Chapter 10
Agenda/Learning Objectives
Define International UCD
Discuss methods for researching international users
1) Define International UCD
a) The people or organization designing the product are not members of the same country,
region, or, perhaps, language group as the products potential users
b) Need more specific analysis of the project and users because you need to be familiar with the
2) Discuss methods for researching international users
a) Still implement See-Say-Do
b) Access to the target user population and resources for conducting research may be limited
c) Intercultural theories can provide general considerations for cultural analyses, but they dont
tell you enough about who a specific user population is and what their needs are and can
also lead to stereotypes
iv) Determine what other types of data you have access to? (i.e.: survey, focus group,
interview, census data)
3) Discuss methods for assessing the international UCD situation
a) Still analyze:
i) the products function
ii) the use environment and potential constraints of that environment
b) We also need to acknowledge different conditions we dont think about when working on
domestic projects:
i) How does the user plan to use the product or how they are currently using an existing
product that your design would replace?
4) Examine how to balance international user needs and affordances
a) Distinguish need-to-have versus want-to-have features
b) Just because a user wants a particular feature doesnt make a product usable for a given task
c) Consider the scope of the design to determine features
e) Designing for internationalization:
i) Use the most generally accepted principle of design (i.e.: F pattern for organizing web
site information where readers fixate on the top menu, the left hand menu, and through
half the middle page)
ii) Design content that is easy to translate
iii) Make search and help functions easily accessible and multilingual if possible
5) Explore considerations for building and testing an international UCD prototype
a) MVP (minimum viable product): uses a minimal design to answer your hypothesis about
what the user wants or needs
i) Ex: JTC UX Consultants is interested in expanding its consulting services to India
their web site design
c) Ready to test? You need to decide:
i) Where you are going to test
(1) Where and how will the testing take place?
(2) Will you travel to the users location to test?
(3) Will you perform remote testing from your location using screen capture and video
technology?
6) Review: Takeaways, Discussion Questions, UCD Quests
a) Review key points
b) Group discussion and Q&A
c) Prepare UCD Quest assignments (or present on previous activities)