Globalization has encouraged the concept of brands’ inclusivity toward different cultures. Interculturality in businesses not only allows global brands to resonate with their foreign audience on a deeper level, but it also greatly contributes to the success of their products and services in a foreign market.
Talking about culture, the UX and UI design of your website, software, or mobile apps should be localized for every new region. You have to closely look at different socio-cultural factors in any region to figure out what your target audience is actually looking for based on their fears and fascinations.
Cultural and Social Factors that Influence the UX and UI Designs
Here are 5 top cultural factors that you must evaluate before designing or redesigning your UX and UI for any target marketplace.
Collectivism vs. Individualism
Is it an individual society or a collective society? In individualistic cultures, people like independence. They see themselves as free individuals who must think about their personal happiness and well-being first. On the flip side, in a collective culture, people like to be a part of a community. There is more interdependence and mutual care for each other. In UX design, a website’s call-to-action and social media integration options can vary based on Hofstede’s IDV metrics. These metrics also define whether your customers will see the impact of a product on a community level or as individuals. You can use the translation management solution to manage all your individualistic and collective culture UX design on one platform.
Masculinity vs. Femininity
This metric is not about the patriarchy or matriarchy social system; it has more to do with the attributes of society and how it leans towards masculinity or femininity. A culture is called masculine when it prefers assertiveness, achievement, and rewards. On the other hand, feminine cultures are more likely to appreciate cooperation, modesty, and well-being.
From a UX/UI design perspective, if a culture is masculine in nature, your user experience should offer some material or conceptual rewards. Similarly, for feminine cultures, UX must focus on building loyalty, and you must talk about social responsibility and well-being through charity. A linguistic software program may help you create more feminine or masculine messaging for different cultures.
Uncertainty Avoidance
It is the ability of a culture to deal with unexpected and uncertain situations. Do they feel uncomfortable or comfortable while facing something ambiguous? By understanding the tolerance of uncertainty in a culture, you can get an idea of how ready they are to adopt an innovative brand or cutting-edge design.
If the level of uncertainty avoidance is high in a culture, they may not be very open to any design that is different from what they are used to. You must make everything feel more familiar to the user and try not to use any innovative elements. On the contrary, if a culture is tolerant of uncertainties, you can be more playful with your designs and come up with unique aesthetics.
Significance of Hierarchy
Some cultures give more significance to hierarchy than others. In a hierarchical-based culture, people follow the hierarchy and get their orders from the individuals on top of the hierarchical models. It can be applied to an organizational or political model. Though all societies practice hierarchy to some extent, However, some societies exhibit a large degree of power distance, while others have a low degree of power distance.
It is important for UX designers to keep the power distance index in mind. In societies with low PDI, you can expect the people to take commands from their perceived authority. People would appreciate it more if you let them have their personal responsibility and assert themselves openly. In cultures with high PDI, the idea of personal responsibility is not so prevalent, and people like to take instructions from higher authorities with clear guidelines. So, you have to create your product experience similarly. MarsHub is the best localization management system that may help you deal with different UX designs for different cultures all in one place.
Indulgence vs. Constraint
This cultural dimension deals with the gratification of one’s needs and how much freedom society gives an individual to fulfill his or her desires and enjoy life. Some cultures are relatively more open to free gratification without any surveillance or restrictions. While some cultures closely control and monitor the activities of each individual, nobody can freely go after their desires and gratifications unless there is some social validation for them. Such societies regulate the gratification needs of a person and have strict cultural norms.
In UX design, you have to keep the indulgence vs. constrictive index of the culture in mind because the higher the index is, the more options and choices you must provide for food, colors, themes, designs, etc. On the other hand, constrained cultures may not respond well to the abundance and variety; it makes it confusing and doubtful, so you better go for a modest UX design for such cultures
