The impact of cultural differences on the design of self-service technology

Product designers around the world are faced with new challenges as a result of globalisation of products. It is increasingly important that differences in the cultural characteristics important to user interaction are understood and adequately designed for. A study was conducted to investigate what allowance is made for cultural differences in the design of self-service products. The aim was to identify which cultural variables companies account for in design and which (if any) result in modifications to suit different markets. Fifteen companies, covering the US, UK, Australia and Brazil, responded to a questionnaire. Results suggest that designers place most importance on complying with legislation and standards. While many companies are probably aware of, and make some allowance for cultural factors, they tend to be limited to obvious variables (such as time and date formats) which are relatively easy to design for. Little allowance seems to be made for deeper, less obvious factors. It is possible that companies could achieve greater market penetration through improved user acceptance of products across global markets if more allowance for cultural characteristics was made in product design. Allowing for such cultural difference in product design is however likely to significantly increase costs at all stages in design, manufacture, implementation and support of global products. Although cultural differences in user acceptance of products are important, the business case for investing in designing for them needs to be demonstrated.