Bridging cultures in content design
Guest author Thomas Chan shares his advice on designing international products for high and low context cultures for different international markets.
Content designers often need to work across diverse cultures. English may not be the primary language and Western design principles aren't necessarily the norm.
We need cultural nuance to translate content design principles across cultures. I am trilingual with experience in working at a Chinese eCommerce software as a service (SaaS) company. This means working between vastly different markets and cultures, which is challenging and rewarding. Here are some of the ideas I use in my work.
Understand what the product team wants to achieve
In a diverse team, people understand things differently. This is especially true in a cross-cultural environment.
There are low-context cultures and high-context cultures:
- Low-context cultures, like the UK, Germany and US prefer streamlined layouts and a simple UX journey. They have a lower tolerance for ambiguity.
- High-context cultures, like China, South Korea and Japan, prefer a larger volume of choices and information. They prefer every feature clearly listed and have a higher tolerance for ambiguity.
These cultural differences can have a drastic influence on the original copy draft or interface (UI) layout and, in some cases, the actual UX flow.
For instance, a Chinese mobile app may offer:
- a very long range of functions and services on the main page,
- user journeys that may contain a lot of text and images but may not be very explicit.
To a Western audience, a Chinese mobile app may be daunting, but it is often what a Chinese user expects. A Western version of the same app may offer fewer options, with a more streamlined consumer journey and less room for ambiguity.
For example, the Western-facing version of AliExpress, a Chinese eCommerce marketplace, closely resembles Amazon’s layout. The journey flows are all well-structured and straightforward.
On the Chinese version the layout is very different. There are significantly more options and the layout is less structured.
A cross-cultural content designer should be able to connect and understand the differences between these needs. They need to be curious and understand the product team's intent. Ask what the app is for, what it helps the user to do, and centre the content around that intent. Leave out any copy that does not align with the design intent.
Watch out for business goals in the content. For example, it might be the product team’s goal to help people to make sales. But do not say “This will help you boost your sales in no time” in your microcopy. That’s what the product team hopes will happen, but it’s not a guaranteed outcome for the user.
I use the 'inverted pyramid’ method to do this:
- List all the messages in the copy from your stakeholders against the key message you identified.
- Sort the messages from most to least relevant.
- Cut the least relevant messages.
Competitor research, design intent and writing
Before you write anything, research your competitors. Look at the tone and messages you think work. Use and adapt things you think will help you. Add a little flavour from your own brand, but remember to check your style guide.
If you notice your competitors making mistakes, learn from them. For example, a dashboard full of analytics jargon without no explanations may not work for users with less experience.
If you need to know more, ask questions with empathy. There are two kinds of empathy: internal and external.
Internal empathy is:
- understanding your designer's culture,
- repackaging their ideas in a way that is digestible to the audience and aligns with your brand identity.
External empathy is:
- grasping the intended users' needs at that moment in time,
- making sure the copy you write aligns with those needs.
Use empathy and put yourself in your designers' shoes. I ask:
- What is this copy trying to convey?
- What type of copy is this? Is it an error message or is it for enticing people to sign up?
- What is the objective of this copy or journey?
- Can you describe it using conversational words?
Now you know what messages work for your audience, it's time to start writing. For example, a paragraph explaining all possible benefits of a feature may not help a user navigating a complex journey.
A cross-cultural content designer is also a gatekeeper for an app's visual presentation and layout.
If you spot anything that doesn't seem right, work those ideas through and talk with your team. Ask if the layout makes sense to the audience. For example:
- Is it too crowded?
- Is it structured enough?
- Can you add or remove something to make the flow better?
- Has there been any feedback from stakeholders?
Explain and document
Once you're satisfied with the copy and the content design, it's time for testing and deployment.
The people you work with will have opinions on how to approach a goal. You'll likely get questions from different stakeholders. So, get to know your materials well so that you can explain your rationale.
As a content designer, you need to guide stakeholders through your thought process and get stakeholders on board.
Document anything that can help you replicate your success. This will help you when there are plans to update, scope to expand or if you revamp the product. For me, this means making a:
- style guide,
- term repository to keep all terminology consistent,
- visuals guide, together with the UX design team,
- results from competitor research.
Document your design ideas and how they satisfy both your team's and the user's needs. There are no right or wrong answers. Keep your explanation clear and concise and don’t overthink it.
For instance, a stakeholder may want to:
- spell out all the technical terms,
- give a very specific example for a feature’s potential benefits.
You could explain that simple, more inclusive language will resonate with more people and make the product easier to navigate.
Some words may sound off-putting in some cultures but perfectly normal in others. For example, ‘invalid ID’ is often written as ‘illegal ID’ in mainland China.
Test, test, test
Your job doesn’t end when the product or service is launched. Gather a small group of teammates or internal stakeholders from similar cultural backgrounds and conduct internal testing.
I like to use a questionnaire that can give the right nuances without taking too much time.
On one of my previous projects, I listed 10 pairs of screenshots. Each pair of screenshots showed a feature of the interface, before and after the revamp.
The screenshots were not labelled so that participants would not know which were old and which were new. I asked participants to:
- pick the screenshots they preferred for each feature,
- navigate a certain journey and spot any copy or layout that didn't make sense,
- give a score for their overall experience.
You can do it
Successfully designing for cross-cultural contexts requires:
- a deep understanding of cultural differences,
- careful application of content design principles.
Follow these and you can create products that resonate with users across various cultures, for a more inclusive and user-friendly experience.
Share your experiences
If you’ve worked on localising websites and apps you can share your experiences with Content Design London by emailing jack.garfinkel@contentdesign.london