Chapter 10
Takeaways
1. Perform user field research to understand international users. If you cannot visit the users
2. Investigate and design around users cultural needs and their locations infrastructures. Pay
3. Choose internationalized or localized design based on the scope of your project.
5. An internationalization approach can create one product to serve the needs of many, varied
6. When choosing whether to internationalize or localize your product, the decision should
come down to who the target users are and how users goals can be met in the design.
8. Users are different and deserve to be represented appropriately. Falling back on stereotypes
to design for users devalues the UCD process.
10. Localize user scenarios and tasks for your audience.
105
Discussion Questions
1. What are the barriers to locating international representative users? How might you address
these?
4. Do acculturation and assimilation mean that designers will one day just be able to design one
product that fits every users needs?
UCD Quests
1. Review the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) symbols
2. Review the assembly or set-up instructions for a product that you own. (Most manuals and
instructions are available online if you no longer have the printed version.) How are the
3. We cant assume products will be used in the same context in different cultures. Research a
product that was designed for a particular use in one culture but adopted for an alternative
use by users in another culture. (An example of this is the Japanese wooden Kokeshi doll. It
was crafted by Japanese artisans to represent symbols of fertility and bountiful harvest for
farmers and families. After the WWII, Kokeshi dolls became attractive tourist souvenirs with
4. Compare three international web sites for the same product (e.g., McDonalds). What are the
similarities and differences? Now, compare the International Olympic Committees web site