Culture and Cross-Cultural Psychology Research

When writing my proposal for my COP question, I was really interested in looking into how psychology ties into culture influences on design, particularly cross-cultural psychology as this is extremely relevant to what I am looking into.

It is important to research into different cultures and the differences between them, but also cross-cultural similarities and how this relates back to design. This links back to globalisation which I have also been researching on over summer which was advised by Pete when receiving initial feedback on my proposal (see blog post 'Article Research 2')

Below shows the research and quotes I have gathered from 2 books that I found most interesting out of the ones I have read.

Book: Design, Creativity & Culture, an orientation to design
Authors: Maurice Barnwell

Page 15:

• “His award winning Skycap, the first helmet designed for snowboarders, sold well in North America but not in Japan…This was more than a matter of price or aesthetic; it was a matter of size- the helmets did not fit.” – this is relevant as it is a literal biological difference between the cultures, a western designer wouldn’t have even thought about it. 

^ From that project came SizeChina, which is a organisation tries to make things for accessible and workable to Chinese people in the way that its designed…
This could relate to how western and eastern design has become more similar and adaptable to more cultures through time…a positive way of  making design and function work across different cultures. (page 16 and 17)

Page 153:

Cultural Ideology of design:

• “Understanding culture is essential to the process of design. Culture is a lens through which we view what is happening in our world” – this could be used around the intro section, when talking about how important culture is towards design and how much impact it has had on the development of design through history.

• “Design gives identifiable form to the iconic beliefs and values of a culture"

• “When we eat we have to ‘interpret’ the designed environment” as in how do we eat when were there, how do we greet, how do we buy a bus ticket- each culture has a differently designed way of behaving…this ties into social cultural psychology?

• “When I was a student at Birmingham College of Art in England, it was fashionable to consider ourselves as Buddhist…we were fascinated by Zen but our ‘understanding’ was very superficial” this could relate to a case study about design and cultural appropriation…how you have to be careful when adapting a different cultures design/fashion/trends into your culture…is it culturally appropriate? 

Page 156:

• “In western clothing the fabric is cut precisely to the body shape and then sewn” Whereas in Eastern clothing (Pakistan/Arab countries etc, my nan even) the clothes are cut more loosely to the body, less tight…in order to look more modest and minimal, this plays on how religion and beliefs play such a huge part in the differences in design across cultures. Fashion/clothing differences and comparisons could be one of my case studies?

Book: Cross- Cultural Psychology 
Authors: John W.Berry, Ype H.Poortinga, Marshall H. Segall, Pierre R. Dasen

Page 73 (Gender behaviour):

Gender and culture could be one of the case studies/theories discussed in my essay- as gender obviously plays a big part in design…

• ‘girls are generally are socialised more towards compliance (nurturance, responsibility, and obedience), while boys are raised more for assertation (independence, self-reliance, and achievement)"

^ – In different cultures this will be true to certain extents, and obviously this will have an impact on design of certain products- i.e. in Asian culture, the design of a women’s shalwar kameez is to be modest and cover most areas of the body whereas there isn’t as much emphasis on men looking modest in Asian culture. But whereas in western culture, women can often dress more freely and revealing if they like and they can even wear the same clothes as men and often do e.g. a shirt and jeans.

Could this point above relate to how often Asian/eastern design (clothing, accessories, house decorations, pillows and blankets, cutlery) are very detailed, feminine, patterned, experimental as they’ve been designed by mostly women, as jobs like these are associated with and given to women in eastern culture, whereas typically men are expected to do more hands on jobs which require bringing most of the money in for the family.

Article Research- Impact of Culture on design/Differences Between Cultures

Articles focused on:

1: https://uxplanet.org/impact-of-culture-in-modern-design-techniques-1405d30663e3
2. https://www.designswan.com/archives/difference-between-eastern-and-western-lifestyle.html
3. http://creativeword.uk.com/blog/localization/culture-influences-design/

1: Impact of culture in modern design techniques:

This point could be mentioned near the introduction or when writing about a specific culture/country, at the beginning of the topic:

• ‘The designs are inspired by the culture and religion of a country. The graphic design origin from different countries has different values when presenting information, applying colors, the hierarchy of information and what the designer is going to present. If you are a designer who does designs for international clients you first really need to understand a few things.’ 

– This could be an example/point to mention that it is extremely important for designers that often design for international clients (which a lot of freelance AND studios do), so it is important to have relevant knowledge on the specific culture of where the client is.

More things to consider when designing for international clients would be how the graphic designs in that culture/that country changes, stay up to date with their changing design trends!. Also need to consider how visual language changes from country to country.

Following this…look into Indian graphic design and European graphic design or Swiss design. Compare the differences and state how the specific design they use is appropriate for that culture.

• ‘The most important thing is that we do a design which is relevant and talk to the people we are designing for.’

2. Difference between Eastern and Western Lifestyle

These points could be mentioned late introduction/middle when going deeper into social differences and when discussing social psychology- how the cultural lifestyle has a big role in influencing design in that country:

A) What I can gather/relate to from this is that in western culture explaining your point is a lot simpler and easier, were as in eastern culture its harder and more complicated as if feels like there is a lot more to consider, more people to consider, where you are, what you’re doing etc, in a lot more depth.

B) The image above links to how western design is often more minimal and sleek than eastern design- which is often more busy, but exciting and vibrant- this is clear to see in even social situations in eastern and western culture, the way we line up! Even the way we line up looks and is designed different (without us realising it obviously)

C) The differences in design through each culture is shown even through what we wear and the colour of our skin: white bikini on dark skin makes a tan stand out more which is seen as more attractive. Whereas, in eastern culture (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India) it is seen as more ‘attractive’ the fairer your skin is (this is what I have experienced and seen through my own upbringing) – so wearing darker colour makes you look paler because of the contrasts

3. How culture influences design

• ‘Where do you eat dinner? How do you sit? Do you speak while you eat? Who do you eat with? What do you eat? How do you eat? Do you drink with dinner? Only after? Do you like hot and spicy or sweet?’

-The point is simply that there is design in every single thing that we do- we do things differently through each culture, through the way we speak, eat, think etc. These every day activities impact how we see design (whether we think something is good or bad design, aesthetics, scale etc…

The quote below could be used when discussing how we do everyday activities in a differently designed way, because of our different cultures and what is appropriate to that culture:

• ‘As a result any design around the themes of dinner would be very different for both cultures. Would you use a knife & fork as imagery to sell dinner wares to a Japanese audience? Or would chopsticks be more relevant?’