Cross Cultural Design

A lot of times when we approach cross cultural design we think of it as design for another place that is not our own. We are American’s designing for Asians or Asians designing for Europeans. The process we go through is, undoubtedly, cross cultural because it requires us as designers to cross the boundaries of our “knowns” and design for a place that is slightly less known ... to us.

My problem with classifying this as “cross-cultural design” is that while the process required us to stay up late or take an early morning phone call, while it may have required a lot of additional cultural research and understanding, the resulting design is does not always require cross cultural use. Oftentimes our resulting product or communication still only resonates with people of one culture or another. So the question becomes: can we design products, create services, craft communication that in itself, through it’s function effectively crosses cultural boundaries and communicates to different groups simultaneously?

In an interview with the authors of Data Flow, LUST Design suggests that data visualization is an effective tool for cross cultural communication. It doesn’t have to rely on language. It is not dependent on a specific alphabet, it doesn't appeal to specific cultural knowledge, or rely on metaphores, histories or traditions. Because data can communicate through a language of visual symbols rather than an intricate play of cultural relationships, it can be an effective way to reach across geographical boundaries.

What else?

This blog post was expanded and published by the AIGA here...