tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13754697092314849212024-03-12T18:23:25.009-07:00The Idea KaleidoscopeDiving into the Multifaceted World of Art, Culture & AdvertisingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-55403234052334977832018-11-25T17:58:00.000-08:002018-11-28T22:31:56.282-08:0036. PROCESS BOOK // Week 9<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Favorite Quotes</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Corporate culture brings assumptions. For example, a company can be focused on sales or research or technology. Working as a research scientist at Nokia, Rachel Hinman had to take the company culture into account as she planned her research, and address its underlying assumptions.</span></i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>" </i></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(W. Quesenbery, "Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 5)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Each company has its own culture, which surely has an effect on how business is being conducted day-to-day and what expectations there are for new employees. Companies often select candidates based on whether they would fit in well within their corporate culture, so this makes sense. Some are looking for sharp-minded engineer thinkers, some are looking for risk-taking go-getters to satisfy the company's exploratory ambitions, but some want to to stay small, so they are looking for somebody humble. It's important to study a company's corporate culture before starting a project, especially if you are coming from a different company or foreign culture. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sometimes the market decides your strategy for you.</span></i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>" </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(W. Quesenbery, "Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 5) </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That's the whole idea of Agile Development - you adjust to the fluctuations of the market and user needs. If users find a different use for your product or their needs change, so should your product - it's important to be flexible to succeed.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"One thing that seems to help is cross-functional teams, with people from the technology, business, and design sides all working closely together. Often, these teams are also cross-cultural, </span><span class="beginpage" pagenum="86" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" id="180" name="180" style="outline: none;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" id="page86" name="page86" style="outline: none;"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bringing together people from different locations to work on a product. Despite the challenge of managing a global team, the added diversity in both the culture and skills disciplines is an advantage." </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(W. Quesenbery, "Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 5) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That's true that diversity in skills often means diversity in backgrounds/viewpoints. The richness of opinions challenges and at the same time moves a project in a direction that's non-conventional. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Working at a distance means you have to be more aware of including everyone. When UX is separate from the main product team it can be especially difficult, because not being colocated can mean getting left out of conversations." </i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(W. Quesenbery, "Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 6) </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I believe working together physically in one location is ideal, but today there are so many online tools that can make global collaboration possible that there's no excuse for people not to do it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Being able to meet the people you are working with just changes the tone of the whole relationship because you understand who you are working with. This travel can pay off in future working relationships."</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(W. Quesenbery, "Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 6) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I agree that nothing can replace traveling and being immersed in the business environment/culture of a foreign country. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Cross-cultural communication demands an extra level of awareness. There are all the little adaptations to develop a communication style, all the small details of business etiquette and differences across cultures." </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(W. Quesenbery, "Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 6) </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Communication styles and etiquette do differ culture to culture, so even from a business perspective, if you want to establish trust and build a strong relationship, it's important to do "the homework" in advance and learn about the culture first. That will just make it easier for everybody on the team to connect and trust each other. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"</i></span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Roughly two-thirds of consumers feel businesses are as responsible as government for driving positive change, and they believe companies can both increase profits and improve conditions in the communities where they operate...</span></i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>When faculty and students assign worthiness to work solely on the basis of obvious message content or self-declared client or designer intent, they not only overlook the daunting systems-level complexity underlying social and environmental problems, but also ignore the potential in every design project to “do good.” </i></span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>" </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(M. Davis, "Core Values Matter") </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I wonder if this customer expectation from brands is a new trend. Comparing the American and Russian market trends, it seems that it's only arising in Russia, which could be the effect of globalization or the innate human desire to drive progress. </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Notes</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 13pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt;">"Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 5: Global </span><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Companies</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> and Global Strategy</span></b></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Organizations have cultures too, and it's hard to identify them from within, but they do affect decision-making/strategy. Creating global products starts with creating product concepts and their market strategies. </span></span><br />
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<b>4 Global Product Strategies</b><br />
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<li>The global market changes fast, so your product should be planned with global markets in mind. You have to build the flexibility into the product from the very beginning</li>
<li>In global teams, the headquarter typically has more control than regional offices, no matter if the product is being designed for local markets or not. But control also depend on the individual employee's role within the regional office - the higher up he/she is, the more say he/she gets. </li>
<li>Having a diverse, cross-functional team is always an advantage.</li>
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<b>Outsourcing</b></div>
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<li>Pros: gives equal rights and opportunities to all UX specialists across the globe, brings creative ideas to a corporate culture via bringing diversity</li>
<li>Cons: distance may lead to the disconnect between an outsourced specialist and the client/user</li>
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<b>Advice for Outsourcing in UX</b></div>
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<li>Travel and blending of staff</li>
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<b>Managing Global UX Teams</b></div>
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<li>Bridge organizational, cultural, and technical boundaries; make team more collaborative</li>
<li>Make sure UX includes strong global perspectives; respond to help requests from foreign locations</li>
<li>Manage corporate politics; participate in work outside UX</li>
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 13pt;">"Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World", Chapter 6: Effective Global Teams</span></h4>
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<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Many companies have one central UX team (located either at the HQ or biggest market) who works with regional partners and outside companies on research and design </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Some are organized into offices (placed strategically in largest markets) by function (e.g., developers in China and India; UX in USA and Asia).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">If meeting in person is impossible, phone calls or video chats are more effective than email</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Time zones and accents may vary and create additional challenges. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Getting physically together is important at key points of any project (kickoff, milestones, etc.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Diversity is the top advantage of global teams</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Global teams require extra cultural awareness (etiquette, communication style)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Building all-inclusive relationships, where everybody is heard, is important </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Some individuals can act as a cultural bridge between different cultural groups, smoothing out communication</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Building UX and cross-cultural knowledge is also important: keeping everybody updated about UX techniques and general knowledge about users, markets, and cultures via local and global communities. </span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Meredith Davis, "Core Values Matter"</span></span></h4>
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<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">People connect emotionally with companies' stories that are representative of these companies' internal ethos, and show loyalty when these values stay ethical and humanistic overtime. Progressive companies constantly reorganize to make sure these corporate values reflect that. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Social media drive communication and feedback between users and companies, in the form of likes, diskiles, and advocacy. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Quality, reliability, transparency, honesty, authenticity - most important values for companies to have, as expressed by users</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Users are becoming more aware and concerned with environmental and social impact of the products they use - most believe that businesses are responsible for driving positive change </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Designers thus have to make sure to design for "better good" via social innovation design, that goes beyond the look/feel and product messaging </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Social innovation can be top-down (recognize a social problem and find the solution) or bottom-up (discover the power of cooperation and redesign existing products, services, skills, and knowledge)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Transition design is a design-led societal transition towards more sustainable features</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Value-driven businesses produce more productive and loyal employees, more loyal customers, and are thus more prepared to sustain any crisis internally and externally, because of strong bonding</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Designing for social change and equity starts with inclusivity (diversity) within the very field of design </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Examples of value-driven companies: Everlane, Patagonia</span></span></li>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Exercises</span></b><br />
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<b>The danger of a single story</b><br />
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My single story: </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Being completely unfamiliar with the Asian culture at the time when I came to America for the first time and saw so many Asians, I assumed that first of all, all people of Asian descent were foreigners, and that those who studied at the university were children of rich Chinese factory owners and businessmen. That was partially influenced by the stories I heard from my college friends and observations I made about these Chinese students shopping in luxury brand stores and driving luxury cars. That's the impression I got about all Chinese living in America. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But as I got immersed more and more into the daily life outside the university, talked to some of these students, and observed Chinese people working middle-class jobs, my single-story understanding of the Chinese people has expanded. Just like in any other culture, there is a socio-economic divide, and even though those students studying in universities may represent the richer (foreign) groups of Chinese, it certainly is not applicable to the entire population living in China or the Chinese population living in America.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
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To expand your viewpoint, it's important to consider multiple "sources", which may manifest in: </div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Immersing yourself into the local culture</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Taking a class on cultures or a foreign language course</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Reading books/literature</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Meeting new people, being humble </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Changing your environments, expanding your interests</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Inspirations + Explorations</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The "Core Values Matter" article was very inspirational. It definitely reflects the current moods and customer expectations for brands. Large companies who spend a lot of money on user research, tend to find these kind of insights about values and bring them to life through their brands. As I thought about that more, I realized how many resources these large corporations have that they can put into doing good for the world. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Doing some additional research on core values, I found this great </span><a href="https://trendwatching.com/" style="font-weight: normal;">resource</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> for trend watching. This specific </span><a href="https://trendwatching.com/trends/big-brand-redemption/" style="font-weight: normal;">page </a><span style="font-weight: normal;">is very relevant to the core values article. It proposes the idea of "big brand redemption" and summarizes key points in a very nice format. Its core argument is that big corporations are the problem to begin with: they are exploiting natural resources and inhumane work labor, they cause pollution and push unhealthy diets and lifestyles into markets. At the same time, they have huge financial reserves, human capital, worldwide reach, and most importantly - an ethical obligation - to do public good. The idea of brand redemption encompasses redeeming their guilt and "changing consumer mindsets and shifting social and economic realities". The site offers a few brand examples: Volvo, CVS, Unilever, JPMorgan Chase and their attempts to solve world's problems of smoking, deathly car accidents, child death, and neglected communities. These are great at showing how a brand's forces can be directed into making the world a safer, healthier, and nicer place to live. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Reading through the article and the big brand redemption proposition, I felt very inspired. I tend to focus so much on the details of my work that I often lose sight of the bigger picture - the mission. If I can help make somebody's life at least a tiny bit better, that means I'm doing something right and that gives me the motivation to continue. I think it's important for everybody to keep the big, nonmaterial goals in mind. </span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-51262944169062124102018-11-15T01:40:00.001-08:002018-11-15T13:33:51.932-08:0035. PROCESS BOOK // Week 8<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Favorite Quotes</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt;">The constraints of developing countries usually force technological breakthroughs that help innovations crack global markets. The new products become platforms on which companies can add features and capabilities that will delight many tiers of consumers across the world.</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;">" </span></span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">(A. Winter, "Engineering Reverse Innovations")</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I agree with this statement because it's true that having more constraints (as in thinking about non-ideal locations and other physical disturbances) can make designers re-think the solution from scratch to address them, and that can open up opportunities (assuming the product gains success in the local market) on the global arena, since the likelihood of such issues is high in other emerging markets and may even be relevant for first-world countries with local adaptations. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Levitt (1983) suggested that the world has become a global market place, or a ‘global village’, where each and every consumer shares similar values, lifestyles and desires for product quality and modernity...</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Globalization advocates, such as Plocher and Honold (2000), have taken this to their advantage and presented the case for ‘globally-oriented-mass-produced goods’ believing that the homogeneity of global culture, the similarity of thinking and the cost increase in accommodating design nuances of foreign cultures into products would be good reasons for encouraging such ‘global’ products worldwide.</span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">" </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;">P. Sathikh and Kumar, "Transitive Culture: How </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">Global</span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;"> Product Design is Changing User Behavior"</span>)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I picked this quote because I agree and disagree with it. I agree that there are certain universal truths, needs, and values (such as family, entertainment, comfort) across global markets, but at the same time there are so many individual cultural variations that require adaptation that it's simply wrong to try to forcefully homogenize the world by universal design, as the following quote says, </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">These global products are produced on the simple idea that it is necessary to ‘homogenize and converge consumers’ needs and tastes in order to create an infrastructure for unified marketing and for the selling of standardized products (Razzaghi, et al 2005)." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i style="color: #3d85c6;">"The concept of emerging markets is usually too general to design a product around, sometimes even if the target market is just one country." </i>(A. Chavan, "The Washing Machine that Ate My Sari - Mistakes in Cross-Cultural Design")</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Emerging markets are everywhere. In fact, they are spread across continents - Asia, Africa, South America, and considering their cultural and historical differences, they can never be merged into a single pile as a "target market". And just like this quote points out, even one country might be too broad to design for - you really need to know your local demographic, as regions/tribes/nations do differ even within a </span>single country. Take Russia - it's a huge developing (Second World) country with over 160 nationalities, each of which has its own customs, languages, religions, and culture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"Standard economic measurements like expected growth rate are certainly useful in evaluating an emerging market, but the history of emerging market design is littered with the wrecks of product launches that foundered on subtle nuances like speech protocols or the ways dining implements are used " </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">(A. Chavan, "The Washing Machine that Ate My Sari - Mistakes in Cross-Cultural Design"</span></span><span style="background-color: white;">)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think evaluating case studies within the emerging market space you are entering is particularly helpful as you can learn on somebody else's mistakes instead of making your own. Case studies, news, anecdotes from people who had conducted research or designed in that market previously - any of these would help in preparation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arialmt";"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"The story of how Guard came to be illustrates the balance companies must strike when creating products for emerging markets: It's not as simple as slapping a foreign label on an American product." </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "arial";">("How Gillette execs spent a fortune developing a razor for India using MIT student focus groups...without considering t</span><span style="font-family: "arial";">he country's lack of running water")</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This speaks to the importance of being immersed in the environment and getting firsthand experience with the local users. Without being present, it's very easy to "assume" and start "slapping labels on", especially coming from the dominant culture. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Notes</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 13pt;"><b>Reverse innovation</b> is the design products and services in developing economies and, after adding some global tweaks, exporting them to developed countries (A. Winter, "Engineering Reverse Innovations")</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">failure of existing reverse innovation projects stems from a</span></span><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 13pt;"> failure to grasp the unique economic, social, and technical contexts of emerging markets</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 13pt;">this failure is avoidable if you adhere to certain design principles</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 13pt;">success comes when engineering creatively intersects with strategy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">do not minimize the upfront risks - don't downplay the importance of reducing the product's cost and improving its performance. In emerging markets, your product must match or beat the performance of competitor products at a lower cost </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(100% of the performance at 10% of the price)</span></li>
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<b style="font-family: font000000001be921fd; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Five traps to avoid </b><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">when reverse innovating</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">1. Adapting existing Western products to the local market instead of designing new ones from scratch</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><b>Design principle: Define the problem independent of solutions</b>. E.g., when the </span></span><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fe"; font-size: 13pt;">MIT team analyzed the wheelchair market, it found that of 40 million people with disabilities who didn’t have wheelchairs, 70% lived in rural areas, where regular wheelchairs wouldn't work, so they designed new minds with that in mind. The team designed design requirements for the local market: a price of </span><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fe"; font-size: 13pt;">$250, 3 mile travel range/day, i</span><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fe"; font-size: 13pt;">ndoor usability and maneuverability, and e</span><span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fe"; font-size: 13pt;">asy, low-cost maintenance/local repair.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "font000000001be921fd";"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">2. Trying to reduce the price by eliminating features</span></span></div>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Design principle: </span>Create an optimal solution, not a watered-down one, using the design freedoms available in emerging markets.</span></b></li>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. Forgetting to think through all the local technical requirements</span></div>
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<li><b>Design principle: Analyze the technical landscape behind consumer problem</b></li>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Neglecting stakeholders</span></div>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Design principle: Test products with as many stakeholders as possible</span></b></li>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Disbelief in the global appeal of the products designed for emerging markets</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Design principle: Use emerging market's design constraints to create global winners</b></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Transitive Culture</b></span></h3>
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<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">World's culture is being transformed due to globalization</span></li>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"<i>Transitive culture </i></span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanps"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>i</i></span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanps"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">s behavior as it is being cultivated, or cultured, that connects the accumulated experience of the past with the present way of life influenced by artifacts and products of the technology era, which is being socially learnt and transmitted" </span></span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;">(P. Sathikh and Kumar, "Transitive Culture: How </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">Global</span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;"> Product Design is Changing User Behavior")</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: small;">Global products share the same features across all world's markets. "</span></span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">These global products are produced on the simple idea that it is necessary to ‘homogenize and converge consumers’ needs and tastes in order to create an infrastructure for unified marketing and for the selling of standardized products (Razzaghi, et al 2005)."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">The emotional and cultural importance behind buying decisions is often overlooked in this process</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Globalization (forcing universal product features) results in cultural neglect</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">Global design often means finding a common denominator that enhances global validity of products </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">One of the first signs of transitive culture came with global mobile phone penetration, which since then has found various local manifestations (news/prayers deliver over sms and new movie releases through mobile phone access in India, cell phone novels in Japan, etc.)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">Case Studies</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><b>Whirlpool Case Study (A. Chavan, "The Washing Machine that Ate My Sari - Mistakes in Cross-Cultural Design")</b></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When designing for an emerging market, the following segmentation will help establish who the target group is:</span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Designing for the other 90</span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">percent</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Design for the bottom of the pyramid</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Design for sustainable development</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Innovation for emerging</span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">markets</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Design for social change</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Design for global development</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Design for emerging markets</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">(DEM)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">When designing for an emerging market, do not assume that users' needs and expectations are the same as in your own environment. "</span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Kellogg made the error of </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">transposing developed-market </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">experience onto an emerging </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">market, assuming that people </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">in Bangalore started their day in the same way as people </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">in Battle Creek, Michigan" and ate something cold (cereal with cold milk) for breakfast. Kellogg then pulled the cornflakes that would dissolve in warm milk from stores and reengineered them to stand up to warm milk. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Whirlpool's the "World Washer" (globally designed washing machine) failed in India because traditional Indian garments, Sari, were thin and got caught and torn in the space between the machine's agitator and drum. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Emerging markets need solutions at affordable price points, since the overall living standard is much lower as in the West, even though there is a local gap between the poor and the rich (in local terms). <i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"S</span></i></span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">treamlining or eliminat</span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">ing complex features, without reducing core quality, results </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">in a more attractive and afford</span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">able product."</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Bollywood Method of research can be used in India: " </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">“emotion tickets” are categorized into the nine rasas, each one expressed in a booklet through </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">images and dialogue from </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Bollywood films. When interacti</span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">ng with products, customers </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">record their feelings using the </span><span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">appropriate emotion ticket." This method helps put the participants at ease and simplifies the feedback process. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Pampers Case Study (M. Frazier, "How P&G Brought the Diaper Revolution to China")</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Disposable diapers weren't the norm in China (cloth diapers were used instead) up until the late 1990s when P&G brought that Western tradition there and changed their market once and forever. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">Chinese diapers had to be cheap, soft as a cloth, and keep a baby dry for 10 hours, to win the market. That's what P&G did - added softness and increased absorption. To decrease price, it moved diaper manufacturing to China to cut on shipping costs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "caecilialtstd";">To market them, P&G conducted a study that proved that babies fell asleep faster and slept longer in these Pampers diapers, which they extensively advertised and even linked that with improved development - which was a hit in the culture obsessed with academic achievement. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-weight: 700;">Gillette Case Study ("How Gillette execs spent a fortune developing a razor for India using MIT student focus groups...without considering</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-weight: 700;">he country's lack of running water")</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After an initial failure to test with the locals (Gillette tested with MIT students), Gillette team went to India. Trough several hundred observations of Indian men shaving in their local habitat (small huts with rare access to running water or mirrors), Gillette redesigned its razor (Gillette Guard) to make it cheaper to buy and convenient to use in such environments. It now represents two out of three razors sold in India. Before that, Indian men were using double-edged razors with no protective guards to protect the skin from cuts. It turned out that for Indian men, not cutting themselves is far more important then getting a very clean shave. With that in mind, Gillette designed the new razor's protective guard and removed the second blade to cut on costs and further improve safety. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Exercises</span></b><br />
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<b>Machine Translation of a Russian poem (Esenin, 1923) to English</b></h4>
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Machine translation (MT) did a pretty good job at translating almost all the words that had a straight meaning, without any regard to the original rhyme or poetical (elevated) language though. </div>
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What didn't get translated well was:</div>
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<li>Metaphors ("seeing the eyes of the golden-brown pool" was used instead of a metaphor like "your eyes the color of a gold-brown lake" and "hair color in the fall" instead of "your hair the color of fall"). </li>
<li>Words that have multiple meanings in Russian (wrong meaning was selected in the translation of "have forgotten dear <b>gave</b>"). "Gave" as the past tense of "give", in plural, has the same spelling as the Russian word for "<b>distance/destination</b>," which in that context should have been used instead. Another whole line that got a wrong translation because of the spelling/wrong meaning selection was "<b>tread</b> a gentle, easy <b>camp</b>" for what should have been translated as "gentle <b>step</b>, graceful <b>waist</b>". The Russian words for "step" and "waist" have multiple meanings, and MT didn't consider context to select the appropriate translation</li>
<li>Possessive pronouns (in translation of "свои/свою"- "lose <b>your</b> life" is used instead of "lose <b>my</b> life" and "in <b>their</b> own" instead of "in <b>my</b> own". The Russian possessive "own/self" (singular and plural -"свой/свои") is spelled the same way when used in conjunction with personal nouns/pronouns and will adjust to the gender and plurality depending on that noun in the context. For example, "у меня своя жизнь" means "I have my (own) life", but "у него своя жизнь" means "he has his (own) life."</li>
</ul>
<div>
The translation could be better if MT used context to determine the right translation of words when their spelling yields different meanings. That can be done by further testing language processing algorithms of the AI system used. For example, AI could be "taught" different metaphors and simple language rules by letting it scan the literary translations done by professional literature translators that are in open access and revising MT's algorithms based on such cross-comparison. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It looks like Google MT lets users edit translated text if they feel like there is a better word choice. It says, "y<span style="background-color: #f9edbe; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">our contribution will be used to improve translation quality and may be shown to users anonymously" </span>but it's unclear what happens if multiple people submit different edits, and some of those edits are not correct. It's not very clear how MT would prioritize these edits and based on what exactly the translation quality will be improved. </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's my poetically translated version (not word-for-word, but very close) of the poem's first lines:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Blue fire flamed up</div>
<div>
Erasing my home destination.</div>
<div>
It's the first time I've sung about love</div>
<div>
It's the first time I've stopped my contention. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I felt like an arrogant brat,</div>
<div>
Drinking and loving beyond fixation.</div>
<div>
Tired, I've moved past all that,</div>
<div>
Gaining my life's foundation."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Inspirations + Explorations</span></b></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">This week's case studies were very insightful as they highlighted what work well and not well in designing for a local culture and why, and what strategies companies applied to improve their products. Reading through their insights and solutions has inspired me to look at some other cross-cultural case studies. So far I have looked at one by <a href="https://uxdesign.cc/airbnb-case-study-how-design-helps-cross-culture-business-e0b97a0852aa">Airbnb</a>, which was also interesting to read as it described some strategies (storytelling, user-generated designs) that the company used to drive its multicultural presence and global appeal. I hadn't thought about that before, but now I can see the value of case studies as something really easy to read and absorb, since they are pretty short but full of important insights. Also, I think it's important to document your process (all phases), so that in the end it can all be put together as a nice summary of "learnings", just like this <a href="https://thrivethinking.com/case-studies/">company</a> is doing. They are using "case studies" to build their agency's portfolio. </span></h3>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-24628792654571643112018-11-08T00:12:00.002-08:002018-11-08T20:40:15.393-08:0034. PROCESS BOOK // Week 7<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Favorite Quotes</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"The observation was generalized into a theory: insofar as the formal properties of different languages are different from one another, each of the world's languages gives access to a different mental world.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">" </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Bellos, </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“How Many Words Do We Have for Coffee?”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I agree with this quote - there are different mental models embedded within languages (words) themselves - from how we perceive time, to how we give directions, and describe our surroundings. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"To expand our minds and to become more civilized members of the human race, we should learn as many different languages as we can. The diversity of tongue is a treasure and a resource for thinking new thoughts.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">" </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Bellos, </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“How Many Words Do We Have for Coffee?”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">That's true that learning new languages opens up a door to learning new philosophies and worldviews, therefore, knowing multiple languages makes you more well-rounded. </span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">"</span></i></span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The lack of a one-to-one relationship between countries,
languages, and scripts means that designers must consider both language and
country as potential determinants of design. The multitude of permutations
of language, dialect, country, and script has implications for at least two key
aspects of an internationalization project: language rendering and translation."</span></i></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Aykin, "Practical Issues and Guidelines
for International Information Display"</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Sometimes the country is the same, but there may be several dialects or scripts within that same country (Japan, China), so that's a very good point. Designers need to consider not only the translation aspects of internationalization, but also the look and structural adaptation (as in numerical, nominal, etc.) of text. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Explorations</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>As I was reading about Edward Sapir's theory of language equality, I remembered <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_grammar">the universal grammar theory</a> by Chomsky, which basically states that the human brain is hardwired for grammar from birth, so all languages have certain common principles. This one more time supports the idea of language equality in the sense of the ability for deep thought and expression. The rest (prestige vs. primitivity) are just labels given to languages based on their economic/political power and influence.<br />
<br />
Reading a bit more about language adaptation in UX, I stumbled upon this <a href="https://uxplanet.org/16-rules-of-effective-ux-writing-2a20cf85fdbf">article</a> with tips for UX writing. In this article, two key points stood out to me as important for localization: jargon and humor. Jargon is never a good idea to use, especially in those cultures that do not have advanced technical skills, while humor is generally good, but it's very specific to the culture (can be misinterpreted) and can get annoying when it appears as part of error messages/notifications.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Notes</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
Below is my summary of important notes from the readings this week. These include some facts, history, and tips that I find interesting and important.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Different language = different mental world (e.g., no terms for "left" and "right", but cardinal orientation instead - North, South, East, West, etc.)</li>
<li>Grammatical category of evidentials (Hopi language) - marking whether the noun is in the field of vision</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>Old hypothesis: primitive languages are not suited to higher thought because they seem to be deficient in conceptual words (e.g., "past", "time", "law", "God"). These primitive languages are concrete and lack in abstraction.</li>
<li>The European drive toward standard languages put "primitive" languages under the threat of extinction due to economic, political, urbanization causes</li>
<li>BUT: Edward Sapir: "All languages are equal", based on his long study of languages. There are no patterns of similarity and/or complexity that distinguishes them. They simply construct different mental models, which are equally valid for their own contexts. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li><b>Translation DOWN</b>: towards a vernacular/a language with lesser cultural, economic, or religious prestige. Translating down leaves a visible residue of the source (prestige) language. </li>
<li>Translating down used for practical reasons - from the language of dominance to the languages used by peoples living within the field of domination (the USSR literature was made availible in Kazakh, Ingush, etc. languages of the Republics)</li>
<li>Most translations done today are translations down (from "more prestigious/dominant" languages like English, German, French)</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li><b>Translation UP</b>: towards the more general/prestige tongue. Erases most of the text's foreign origin. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Formal equivalence</b>: translation in which common meanings closely correspond to the source language</li>
<li><b>Dynamic equivalence</b>: the translator substitutes some expressions with roughly the same meaning in the receiving society (this is practiced more in translating down). It often uses localized word substitutions. This is why Bible in Greek or Latin is closer to the essence of meaning than in vernacular translations (English). </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>Nearly 80% of all translations in all directions (over a decade) are from English</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Internationalization Guide - Things to Consider</h3>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Language (dialects and scripts within a single language)</li>
<li>Character sets (ASCII, ISO, Unicode, UT8-8, etc.)</li>
<li>Fonts (use simple fonts and leave enough space between lines and letters)</li>
<li>Text orientation</li>
<li>Local paper/screen size</li>
<li>Hardware (printers, keyboard styles)</li>
<li>Translation (abbreviations, spelling, word size/spacing, names/address formats, number formatting, calendar/holidays, etc.)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Exercises</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fitbit app - adapting for Brazil.</span></h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Icons</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EmAUZwsqjuWAuOAcBU9L0-8dMz1ygjBJRSzMEym3-1utiuPliIqGdCikiuwyezzj3xnd=w720-h310" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for fitbit app" border="0" class="irc_mi" height="310" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EmAUZwsqjuWAuOAcBU9L0-8dMz1ygjBJRSzMEym3-1utiuPliIqGdCikiuwyezzj3xnd=w720-h310" style="margin-top: 83px;" width="174" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since the dashboard of the app is icon-heavy, I would </span>research if these images have the same interpretation in Brazil, and if not, redesign them to make sure they are understood. These seem to be pretty neutral at first glance. The two icons I'm most concerned about are the two green icons (see above) that are meant to represent <b>calorie burn</b> and the <b>time being active</b>. The calorie burn icon looks like a water droplet (although it's supposed to look like a little fire). I made sure that the literal translation of the English "burn" is the same in Portuguese (otherwise it wouldn't even make sense to make it look like fire), and it is the same meaning ("queimar" = burn). Making it look more like fire would be my recommendation (as on the screen below). It's interesting that FitBit uses these two slightly different icons interchangeably. I would recommend switching out the one on the main dashboard to the one seen below and sticking to it throughout the entire UI. The second questionable icon is the one representing power/energy. I did some more linguistic research, and it seems that the icon should be appropriate, since the use of Portuguese words for "power" and "energy" ("poder" and "energia") are also used to mean the same concept, and googling Portuguese icons for "energia" has revealed the exact same representation. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Language</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<ul>
<li>The words used on the main dashboard in the English version are pretty short or use short versions ("cals" for "calories", etc.). I translated these words into Portuguese, and they are pretty much the same length (calories, escapes, minutos, milhas). Since the U.S. UI is very simplistic, there shouldn't be a problem with direct translation of the annotated icons and at the same time keeping the same spacing between them and the general look. </li>
<li>One word that needs to be changed is "miles" into "kilometers", because that's the measurement people in Brazil use (km). </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TG0lwzZ2SKo/W-TxL7rkWFI/AAAAAAAAFYA/eESIXNf1BLcriBScTAPL8F6YFb-8S8TYACLcBGAs/s1600/screen2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="506" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TG0lwzZ2SKo/W-TxL7rkWFI/AAAAAAAAFYA/eESIXNf1BLcriBScTAPL8F6YFb-8S8TYACLcBGAs/s320/screen2.png" width="179" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HuHrO-2cs5U/W-TxL9oa5jI/AAAAAAAAFX8/dN-nP-b2npQk0_UAL7xWCqxfb-8rTqNyACLcBGAs/s1600/screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="392" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HuHrO-2cs5U/W-TxL9oa5jI/AAAAAAAAFX8/dN-nP-b2npQk0_UAL7xWCqxfb-8rTqNyACLcBGAs/s320/screen.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Color</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
In terms of color choices, Brazil's favorite colors are bright green and yellow, which the current UI offers, so I'd recommend keeping that. The purplish-blue color used to represent the sleep cycle in the examples above needs to be changed in hue to blue (maybe with a teal tint?), because in Brazil, purple is <a href="http://blog.dynamiclanguage.com/the-meaning-of-colors-around-the-world">associated</a> with death and mourning. That is certainly not the association Brazilians would want looking at their sleep patterns.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Date and time format</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5XJmmEjNuyg/W-UAG3j22OI/AAAAAAAAFYc/wYZQ2pmKyjIKUKJ0hP_en7dX9OnInGLWgCLcBGAs/s1600/screen3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5XJmmEjNuyg/W-UAG3j22OI/AAAAAAAAFYc/wYZQ2pmKyjIKUKJ0hP_en7dX9OnInGLWgCLcBGAs/s400/screen3.png" width="225" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5tP5G3i0FTw/W-T9LHSGxWI/AAAAAAAAFYU/GWCZF4-0nU8HJ2IV7zfHiWsxDLZ5u1WXQCEwYBhgL/s1600/screen3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="484" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5tP5G3i0FTw/W-T9LHSGxWI/AAAAAAAAFYU/GWCZF4-0nU8HJ2IV7zfHiWsxDLZ5u1WXQCEwYBhgL/s400/screen3.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
The date format of the workout (January 23) from the example above (on the right) would have to be switched around, as follows: 23 de Janeiro. The time format in the upper left example (6:46pm) would have to be changed to the 24-hour format that Brazilians use, as follows: 18:46.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Additional functionality</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
Secondary research on wearable technology in Brazil <a href="https://www.euromonitor.com/wearable-electronics-in-brazil/report">states</a> that many Brazilians would like to not only track their physical, but also mental progress: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "freigtexprobook" , serif; font-size: 18px;">The health and wellness trend was no novelty among Brazilians but became reality for many. Health and wellness-orientated consumers are quick to demand new interactive ways to track their physical and mental health as well as physical activity and the increase in volume underpins the gradual entry of these devices into individuals’ daily lives."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "freigtexprobook" , serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "freigtexprobook" , serif; font-size: 18px;">For design, this could mean introducing a way to track mental states, for example, by allowing the users to log their mental states daily (marking their emotional state on a happy-down scale), so that the app could provide them with a recommendation or warning if their mental state becomes concerning. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "freigtexprobook" , serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b>Metrics tracked </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
Additional research is needed to determine what metrics the users would want to track and self-input (calories eaten, water intake, etc.)<br />
<br />
Forums seem to be a good way to research important metrics, but not all relevant content that I found was in English.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Food (calorie) log</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I found one thread with users' <a href="https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-com-Dashboard/Food-Database-for-Brazil/td-p/2100068">feedback</a> about Fitbits not having Brazilian food in the database for calorie intake measurements. This could be solved by including local popular foods in the local database (moqueca, brigadeiros, quindim, etc.)<br />
<br /></div>
<br />
<b>Goals</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JEMZpf2dzWU/W-UJf2Wr4II/AAAAAAAAFYo/tvOKpSbDSPYk1p-pX2-k91HYMpeWbSukQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-08%2Bat%2B8.12.18%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1214" data-original-width="1422" height="341" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JEMZpf2dzWU/W-UJf2Wr4II/AAAAAAAAFYo/tvOKpSbDSPYk1p-pX2-k91HYMpeWbSukQCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-08%2Bat%2B8.12.18%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The question is, would we let the users set and adjust their exercise goals or pre-set them for them?<br />
<br />
This seems to de dependent on Hofstede's Power Distance metric. According to <a href="https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/">Hofstede Insights</a>, Brazil's Power Distance is almost twice as high as the USA metric, meaning that the users might want somebody making decisions for them more so than in the US (for somebody else to be in charge and guiding them), so for the FitBit app that could mean offering pre-set goals that the users can choose from, or set them for the users based on a quiz/calculated level of activity, calorie intake, and body index. For example, the app could pre-fill (as a suggestion) the user's goals based on personal data, but make them editable, so the user doesn't feel restricted.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notifications</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
The types of notifications that the users would like to receive, if any, are pretty hard to determine via secondary resarch.<br />
<br />
I would research this during usability testing and qual interviews, where I'd ask users what kind of warning or feedback they would like to receive, and I would test a few different options with them.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
<b>Style</b><br />
<br />
Based on several Brazilian <a href="https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-HR/If-I-buy-a-fitbit-in-USA-will-it-work-in-Brazil/td-p/1187813">forum comments</a>, it seems like FitBits are still symbols of status as they can't be easily acquired in Brazil and are often brought from the USA. Brazil is a high <a href="http://daily.unitedlanguagegroup.com/stories/editorials/brazils-cultural-dimensions">indulgence</a> country: "<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #253968; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">While the current recession has certainly dampened Brazil’s impulsive buying tendencies, the Brazilian spirit won’t be quelled in the long run. A high indulgence suggests that Brazilians’ emotional, passionate nature lends itself toward enjoying life. Despite financial strains, Brazilians still believe in living life to the fullest through leisure time, having fun, and splurging occasionally"</span><br />
<br />
With that "symbol of prestige" thinking in mind, FitBit designers could use that to their business advantage by introducing Fitbit bracelets that truly look and feel luxurious (stainless steel, rhinestones, leather, etc.) so that Brazilians could feel/showcase the status of owning such a device.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Socialization</b></div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since Brazilians love socializing (Brazil is a highly <a href="http://daily.unitedlanguagegroup.com/stories/editorials/brazils-cultural-dimensions">collectivist</a> society), it's recommended to add an element of friendly competition/rating/sharing, where the user can easily share their data with friends or set group goals that the users can work towards together, as opposed to individually. For example, one user can set "challenges" for his/her friend and once the friend completes it, he/she gets a bonus and can set a challenge for his/her friend in return. </div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Challenges</b><br />
<b><br /></b>1. The language - searching something in English doesn't yield many answers, especially for visual (icons) validation. This information would need to be double-checked and tested with the native speakers.<br />
2. The language issue can be overcome by reading/buying reports highlighting insights for international markets. Usually you have to pay to get access to the report, but major insights can be summarized in the description.<br />
3. The notifications and feedback desired by the users is hard to research through secondary research, even in the local environment for local users. I would conduct user testing for them - there is no way around it, unless you are a Brazilian and know for sure what you'd like to see.<br />
4. Even though that language is a major barrier, some multilingual speakers post their issues and feedback on English forums, and I found some of the threads to be culturally helpful scrolling through.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Inspirations</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>I really love reading about different languages, especially about isolated and rare ones, as they carry so much culture and unique worldviews. As a former linguist who taught English to ESL speakers, I've read quite a few books and research papers on the specifics of their grammar/syntax, but have never gotten to learn one of such languages. There was a student in my linguistics class once who studied Paiute (one of the Native Indian languages), and I have always thought that was very cool, since she was learning it not just for the sake of learning, but also teaching it to preserve it, since these indigenous languages are endangered. I would like to learn a language like that. It would also be interesting to explore how technology fits into these less dominant languages/cultures.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-90271999937194441392018-10-31T23:01:00.003-07:002018-11-08T20:41:58.612-08:0033. PROCESS BOOK // Week 6<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Favorite Quotes</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"For some, a workshop is one way to change the dynamic from passively listening to actively creating a new culture... </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the wonderful things about making the report immersive and interactive is that you are creating an experience that allows everyone to be part of the report.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> " </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(W. Quesenbery, </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World, </i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapter 8</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I like this quote because it speaks to the value of immersive experience, during which the team feels included in the decision-making (insight-generating) process.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"[Taking photographs,] it's easy to focus on the people </span><span class="beginpage" pagenum="164" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" id="347" name="347" style="outline: none;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" id="page164" name="page164" style="outline: none;"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">doing the thing you are researching, but in that local context, we need to ask why people aren't doing the thing. That can highlight the differences in perspective. Choosing not to do something is just as big a choice as choosing to do something." </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(W. Quesenbery, </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World, </i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapter 8</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">This quote was an interesting revelation to me as I never thought about things that are not happening (people not doing the things you are researching) as important before. I think that can be captured not only by means of photographs, but also by simple observation and interviews. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> "</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>That conversation starts with the informal debriefings and is continued through the work of analyzing and sharing the results. During that process, what Bas and Geke call the moment of synthesis occurs, when something triggers an understanding and becomes a new idea."</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(W. Quesenbery, </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World, </i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapter 8</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Insight and idea generation seem to be such simple and at the same time complicated processes that nobody can precisely pinpoint when they occur. What are those "triggers" and is there a theory or framework for getting to important insights? It would be interesting to learn more about that. </span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Explorations</span></b><br />
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When immersing yourself into a new culture, it's helpful to leave your biases and preconceptions aside (including what you know about technology and communication). Not everybody in the world is as privileged as we are in the US to have daily access to technology and the Internet, as one of the articles pointed out, so it's important to distance yourself from that preconception. This reminded me of the technique of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220286405_Making_by_making_strange_Defamiliarization_and_the_design_of_domestic_technologies">Defamiliarization</a>, when a researcher or designer tries to disconnect himself from what's common for them, so their mind turns into a blank slate. This technique is often used by cultural anthropologists, and the article provides some interesting insights about how homes are designed differently in different cultures (based on how people live and use their physical space), pointing out how the values are different, and you can't force some of these values. For example, the article states, "<span style="color: #454545; direction: ltr; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;">Efficiency is overrated.</span><span style="color: #454545; direction: ltr; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;"> In Western, and especially </span><span style="color: #454545; direction: ltr; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;">American, culture, technology is </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px;">designed to make us more efficient, both outside and inside the home...Rituals in the home may be inefficient, but they should not be optimized away." </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that is very much dependent on the culture you are designing for.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Sketches</span></b><br />
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Choosing the right prototyping method (summary of <a href="https://design.google/library/sketch-scroll-or-swipe/">article</a>)</h3>
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<li><i style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73); color: #414549; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Bandwidth, community, and location</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> - three things to consider before creating a prototype:</span></li>
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<li style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Location:</span> Where are you testing your prototype?</li>
<li style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bandwidth</span><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:</span> Is internet access readily available? </li>
<li style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Community</span>: How do people in this setting relate to technology? </li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">Start with paper prototypes that are less detailed and more conceptual or -</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">Scrolls - a series of paper prototypes for various screen interfaces (one page per every step in a user journey; glue the pages </span></span></span><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">end-to-end and roll up the pages, showing one step at a time and asking the user to narrate what he thinks is happening)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">Use digital prototypes to test discoverability and navigation</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">Swipe-through </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">is a good way to test a digital prototype in a low-connectivity environment because the screens and images can be saved on the device prior to testing and do not require Internet connection</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Dynamic, high-fidelity prototypes show full functionality of a product and are thus more clear how to use, but are usually expensive to build</span></span></li>
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<h3>
Connectivity, Culture, and Credit (summary of <a href="https://design.google/library/connectivity-culture-and-credit/">article</a>)</h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">These 9 points are recommended for designers when creating apps, services, and devices tailored to the lives and local infrastructure in emerging markets. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Internet availability and connectivity </b>(is it always <span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);">available and the same speed in all locations? How long users need to walk/travel to get connected to the Internet?)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Outside the US, smaller simpler devices are the norm </b>(</span><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Is your product designed to work with older, low-end devices and software?)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Data limitations </b>(Are local mobile phones prepaid? What do people do to save data? </span><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Can your product provide value while respecting the data budget of users?)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Not everybody uses credit cards</b> (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">38 % of the world’s population doesn’t use a bank, cash-on-delivery and mobile money are other popular options. </span><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How do financial transactions work with your app?)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Bridge cultural divide</b> (what do your users fear? Is security an issue?)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Support multiple languages</b></span></li>
<li><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Leverage human relationships </b>(does your solution improve local social infrastructure?)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="background-color: white;">Balance meaningfulness and hierarchy with the local aesthetic</span></b></span></li>
<li><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="background-color: white;">Design for delight</span></b></span></li>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">Attacking the Phishing Epidemic (from <a href="https://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=6958">article</a>)</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "libre franklin" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"The ultimate goal is to condition the user to a standardized interface that can both authenticate the validity of the resource as well as authenticate itself to the user before the user is willing to accept its legitimacy and input a password." - this is important to provide the user with peace of mind and let them feel secure. </span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">How Fintech Apps Use UX to Build Trust (tips from <a href="https://taplytics.com/blog/how-fintech-apps-use-ux-to-build-trust/">article</a>)</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73); color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">1. Create a feeling of security - "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px;">alerts create a positive, safe experience"</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73); color: #414549; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;"> E.g., </span></span></div>
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<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;">the bank’s app requires users to sign in every time they open it, and it automatically signs users out if they leave the app open without using it for a period of time</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #414549; font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(65, 69, 73);"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">as an additional safety measure, the app automatically sends notifications every time a purchase is made</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #292929;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(41, 41, 41);">2. Explain what you ask for -</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"To encourage users to submit accurate info, fintech apps explain why they need this information"</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3. Require as little work as possible</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;">Rather than forcing log-ins or in-app processes, Digit allows users to easily set savings goals, transfer savings, and receive account updates through texts"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929;">4. Add an element of fun</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Looking at their feed, Venmo users can see the goofy messages their friends have sent to each other in payments. The feed doesn’t share transaction amounts, so users’ privacy is protected and a lighthearted, enjoyable spirit is maintained."</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Inspirations</span></b><br />
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I liked reading the companies' tips and case studies with their approaches to culturally-appropriate UX design. That has put the theory into practice for, at least in their examples. Of course, companies and products do differ, but most of the same principles can be applied. It's good to be culturally aware and realize that living in the US (where access to technology is the norm) is very different, and you have to un-see it to be able to relate to the local population, their everyday lifestyles, and user-technology interactions. To put it in one sentence, one important takeaway for me from this week was that being a researcher, it's important to distance yourself from your own culture (defamiliarize) and immerse yourself into the culture in question, by taking smalls steps at a time with a child's perspective (asking such simple questions as - what kind of technologies do people have? Are they expensive? Does everybody have access to the Internet? How do you send pictures/videos/download content? Etc.)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-83636374427751609062018-10-24T22:50:00.000-07:002018-10-31T10:38:44.798-07:0032. PROCESS BOOK // Week 5<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Favorite Quotes</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>To UX people, the need is very clear: "You can't understand the user without understanding the eco-system around them," as Anjali Kelkar put it. That means getting out of the office and going to where the users are. </i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(W. Quesenbery, </span><i style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World, </i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapter 7</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;">This quote speaks to the importance of in-person interviews and observations within the local environment. You can have the best resources in the world about the culture in question, but sitting at your desk is not going to help you much answering your research questions. Theory differs from practice on a lot of levels, and working with people and families, the ways in which their interact with others and physical objects has to be researched from scratch, locally. I believe secondary research (as in books and culture guides) is great at its initial stage, but researching in the field and testing with users in their environment (or local lab) yield much more quality results than remote research and testing. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"After all, the whole point of global UX research is to understand people from cultures different than your own. You need to do more than fire questions at people. Your facilitation techniques need to create a space where you can meet them on their terms. That's a very different attitude from feeling you always have to be in control."</i> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(W. Quesenbery, </span><i style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World, </i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapter 7</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I agree that to be a good researcher you have to have good people skills. The way you sit, or ask questions, or even listen can be encouraging or disturbing, in which case your participant will not have the motivation to share his or her true feelings and/or will feel stressed and it lead to failure in quantitative tests. In my practice, I find it helpful to be prepared for sessions, when you come in with a certain plan in mind and a few ice-braking or </span>interesting<span style="font-family: inherit;"> activities for participants - that helps get them relaxed. I hear that bringing snacks helps create an easy-going, friendly atmosphere too. </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="admon-body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" valign="top"><div class="first-para" id="310-1" style="font-family: Arial, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"This is the essence of ethnography. Instead of collecting "data" about people, the ethnographer seeks to learn from people, to be taught by them<span class="unicode" style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">…</span> In order to discover the hidden principles of another way of life, the researchers must become a <span class="emphasis">student</span>." </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(W. Quesenbery, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World, </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapter 7</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">As a huge proponent of qualitative research (and ethnographies), I love this quote because it points out one important thing - talk less, listen more. You just have to be genuinely interested in what your participant is telling you, and your conversation will flow naturally, sometimes into areas you do not expect. But that's the whole point - learn about something completely new that can be outside the borders of your existing knowledge or assumptions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Explorations</b></span><br />
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I found a <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/the-biggest-challenge-when-doing-ux-research-abroad-c70e94573806">blog post</a> by a UX researcher who conducted research in the Philippines in English, since it is spoken there as a second language, although he notes that "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.84); letter-spacing: -0.063px;">the majority still prefer to speak in Filipino or </span><em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-feature-settings: "liga", "salt"; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">Taglish</em><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.84); letter-spacing: -0.063px;"> (Tagalog + English)". So even though a language barrier did not seem to exist at first, through his research he uncovered it was still an issue, so he had to adapt his materials and approach overall, which he shares in his post. The main tip he provides is that you have to learn the local language at least on the conversational level, and it's always helpful to have at least another member of the team who knows the language and who can moderate, if necessary. He also mentions the importance of creating a calm atmosphere for the participants and speaking in their terms - his strategy was "mirroring" how they spoke (which version of the language they spoke), which made his participants trust him more and open up more. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sketches</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Exercises</b></span><br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Culturally neutral icons</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is my attempt to design three icons that would not require translation and would be understood in any country.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Security</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Privacy</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trash </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">2. Ethnography on the edge (tools and methods)</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "helvetica neue";">When in Rome or Africa (tips for conducting <span style="caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69);">research</span> in a foreign country)</span></b><br />
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<li><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px;">Get out to explore the context</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px;">Get out of your comfort zone to learn</span></li>
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<b>Top 15 tips</b>:</span></h4>
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<b>1</b>. Stay in a locally-owned or run hotel (or even better, guest house).</div>
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<b>2</b>. Spend as much time as possible on foot. Draw a map.</div>
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<b>3</b>. Get out of the city.</div>
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<b>4</b>. Check out the best places to watch Premiership football.</div>
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<b>5</b>. Ignore health warnings (within reason) and eat in local cafes/markets.</div>
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<b>6</b>. Buy local papers, listen to local radio, watch local TV, visit local cinemas.</div>
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<b>7</b>. Use public transport. Avoid being ‘chauffeured’ around.</div>
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<b>8</b>. Take a camera. Take your time taking pictures.</div>
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<b>9</b>. Go for at least a month.</div>
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<b>10</b>. Visit villages on market days.</div>
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<b>11</b>. Spend time in local bookshops, libraries and antique/art shops.</div>
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<b>12</b>. Read up on the history and background of where you’re going. Buy a locally-written history <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> geography book.</div>
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<b>13</b>. Be sure to experience the city on foot, at night.</div>
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<b>14</b>. Wherever you are, get up for a sunrise stroll. It’s a different, fascinating (and cooler) time of day.</div>
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<b>15</b>. Don’t over-plan. Be open to unexpected opportunities</div>
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<h4>
<b>Challenges of Urban Fieldwork: A Scavenger Hunt Approach</b></h4>
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List of recommended questions for ethnographers who are trying to figure out what to do, where to go, and what to ask in urban settings. </div>
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<b>1) Who are the figures of fame and celebrity, prestige and notoriety in this society?</b> </div>
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<b>2) Aesthetics and beauty – what are the bodily ideals as expressed in popular culture? In music lyrics, in local advertising, in dress practices?</b></div>
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<b>3) Daily and weekly routines</b> </div>
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<b>4) Purchasing and markets</b> </div>
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<b>5) Sense of global position</b> People of what nationalities are present in this urban space? Where are they visible and involved in what kinds of work? What foreign media are consumed? </div>
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<b>6) Place names – how are they arrived at?</b> Are places referred to by official names or by the convention of practice? Are they given personal names or descriptive names? What can you find out about the people that places are named after? How do people give directions? How do they navigate to places they haven’t been to before? Are maps available, are maps used much?</div>
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<b>7) Music and the sonic landscape </b>– what are the different styles of music you hear in this place? Where are these different styles heard? How do people describe when/where different music styles are appropriate? What are the sounds heard in the streets? During the day vs. at night? At what volume? How do people feel about ambient noise levels?</div>
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<b>8) Leisure activities – where do people go and what do they do for fun?</b></div>
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<b>9) Architecture and the built environment</b> – what are buildings made out of? What is the approximate ratio of formal to informal dwellings? How is the architecture of shops different from homes or government buildings, schools, temples or churches, etc? What are the features of dwellings of affluent vs. middle-class vs. poor people?</div>
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<b>10) What insults do drivers shout at each other in traffic?</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Inspirations</b></span><br />
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This week's reading has provided me with a new lens on the process of research with a global perspective. It made me think of the challenges that come into play - the knowledge of the language, trip and logistics planning, and forming teams for participating in research. Even though I conducted research in a foreign country, I was a native speaker there, and that made it so much easier. I imagine it's a lot more complex and stressful for second-language speakers, since they have to also pay attention to the language, idioms, and jokes, which do not always translate well across cultures. It would be great to talk to somebody who had that experience and see what suggestions they have. Maybe having a native-language speaker on the team is a must? Or maybe a better option is to hire a local research agency to conduct all local research and just provide you with the data at the end? And if it is a better option, why do companies still send their own teams to foreign countries? This is the questions I'd like to explore further to find out what the common rules and determining factors are.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-66524361752078743892018-10-17T22:33:00.001-07:002018-10-24T14:07:05.811-07:0031. PROCESS BOOK // Week 4<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Favorite Quotes</span></h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">"Global work adds to the criteria for success. It's not just "can people complete the tasks or use the product effectively." Now you want to know whether it fits comfortably into all of their local contexts, whether it gives them a sense of trust, or matches the way they think about the product, across languages and cultures."</span> </i>(W. Quesenbery, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;">Global UX Design and Research in a Connected World, Chapter 9)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I agree with this statement because design is much more than usability. Depending on the product, other things can be equally important: eliciting trust, respect, comfort, motivation, etc. That can be very different for different cultures, so the work of design globalization is hard in the sense that it requires a researcher/designer to find universal truths that will work across cultures. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;"><i>"</i></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although
many graphics do work for more than one culture and can sometimes communicate
across boundaries of language, graphics are subject to cultural interpretation
(Forslund, 1996). Without careful choices and appropriate rendering, expressing
ideas graphically is no guarantee against misinterpretation when viewed by
someone from a different culture."</span> </span></i>(Horton, "Graphics: The Not Quite Universal Language")</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even designed within the same culture, graphics can be misinterpreted if proper visualizations are not created (too detailed, not clear what they depicts, or other).This means design choices should be considered even more carefully when designing for a foreign culture, since graphics and their elements are subject to local interpretation - the prism of the language, traditions, signs (good and bad), gestures, colors, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"The
strategy is simple. First, globalize to make the graphics work for as many
people as possible. Then, localize the graphics that are not truly universal to
specific cultures."</span> </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Horton, "Graphics: The Not Quite Universal Language")</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I agree that you don't have to localize every time. Some icons/design elements work equally well across languages and cultures when they are simple, neutral, and represent general concepts. I would start with a global design and then test it with foreign users (see how they interpret it) to determine if it needs to be localized, or the global design works just fine. </span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Explorations</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The readings made me curious if there are any online tools or databases for international graphics, because such a shared resource would be really helpful for designers and would lessen the amount of research they need to do. I found the </span><a href="https://thenounproject.com/" style="font-weight: 400;">Noun Project</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which is an online curation of icons, created by a "global community." Their mission statement is, "Creating, sharing, and celebrating the world's visual language". At first, it seemed like a really cool tool, but I decided to test it out. Typing in the word "OK" in the search bar revealed a collection of graphics - from checkmarks to hand gestures, some of which can be considered inappropriate for some cultures or misinterpreted. It's nice that it offers graphics from designers all over the world, but I haven't found a way to search by a designer's country. I think this feature would have been very helpful because it would mean you could filter graphics collections by country and thus find out how locals depict certain concepts that you are searching for. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /></span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sketches</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Exercise</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Analysis of </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2d3b45; font-family: LatoWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Best Global Site" (microsoft.com) using bytelevel's criteria.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d3b45; font-family: LatoWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Why was microsoft.com ranked in the Top 10 Best Global Sites for 2018? Here's what I think:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: orange;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol", sans-serif;">✓</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">GLOBAL
REACH <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">It supports a great number of languages as can be found when clicking on the globe icon at the bottom of the global (English) version of the website. The global web template is so simple (rectangular images, minimal text) that it gets easily adapted (localized) to any language, even to Arabic with its right to left reading. The languages offered by the global website are easy to understand for native speakers because they include local spellings.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: orange;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol";">✓</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;">GLOBAL
NAVIGATION <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Microsoft.com uses country and language codes in the browser fields for local websites (e.g., the Russian website gets the "/ru-ru" code at the end, as in "</span>https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru". Ru-ru in this case stands for (Russia - Russian). But even when you type in "microsoft.ru", the website recognizes you are looking for the Russian version of the site, so it redirects you to this very /ru-ru/ page. Some countries' codes are different, even when the language is the same. For example, Microsoft offers French adaptations for both, Tunisia and France, but except for the common language, the websites look slightly differently (content-wise), and due to that specific localization, the two websites use different country and language codes - /fr-fr/ vs. /fr-tn/. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">The global gateway looks like an icon of a globe (a universal sign) and is located at the very bottom of the website, no matter what language you have selected, so you can easily navigate back to the global version. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, when a foreign site is selected, a pop-up window appears that offers a translation of the website to the language of your geolocation, since your IP is taken into account. For example, when I select the Turkish website, it offers to translate the site's content to English (since I'm located in the USA) and actually does a pretty good job at translating it!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: orange;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol";">✓</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;">GLOBAL/MOBILE
ARCHITECTURE <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">The global architecture is simple and stays pretty much unchanged across various local versions. There is a simple top navigation menu with 4-6 options and scrollable images with call-to-action buttons. Towards the bottom of the page you have different rectangular images with various products and short bits of text and descriptions. This very geometric and simple model can be easily adapted for local websites. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: orange; font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol", sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">✓</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: orange;"><span style="color: white;">LOCALIZATION
& SOCIAL</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The global website and local sites do not have any icons of graphics, except for Microsoft's own applications icons and social media icons at the bottom of localized pages. There is a lack of localization in the imagery - most photos of people and products are re-used across different local sites. This means images of white people and families appear on the Chinese (Hong Kong site) and Arabic sites. The text orientation is adapted to right-to-left for the latter. The sites overall look generic and do not seem to be localized, at least from a visual perspective.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 9pt 0in 9pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Currencies and numbers are locally adapted. For example, for the local site in the Netherlands, the currency is shown in euros, and the spelling of the number is also modified from what it would look like in America (1.277,99 vs. 1,277.99). The phone numbers for support also look to be locally adapted. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Social media icons on the local sites direct you to local channels (Twitter, Facebook, Indeed, etc) of information and they seem to be localized very well - in the kind of images they include (showing people of local nationality) and the curation of local user-generated content, thus making them great local channels for user communication. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: LatoWeb, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2d3b45;">As a result of being a great global platform that allows for easy localization, but not providing enough cultural localization at its current state, microsoft.com gets a </span><span style="background-color: orange; color: white;">B</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: white;"> </span>grade </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2d3b45;">from me. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Inspirations</span></span></h3>
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The practical in-class exercises (especially the second one) were very helpful because they made me put my knowledge and theory to practice. As a researcher, I should be asking questions like these all the time, when a foreign audience is involved, so coming up with a variety of research topics for cultural dimensions is a great tool of thinking outside the [cultural] box. Next time I'm preparing my research questions, I'll try to think of the cultural dimensions and incorporate such questions into my plan, if they prove to be valuable to explore for any given project.</div>
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As far as globalization/localization of graphics goes, the readings made me realize the importance of the smallest details - such as hand gestures, elements of attire, and even colors. It's hard to miss such things when you are not aware that somebody might think differently than you do, so just like with any UX (local or international), testing is super important. I will keep that thought in my mind at all times, and hopefully, it will push me to test (and to encourage my colleagues to test) more often. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-25121178562136314162018-10-07T22:10:00.001-07:002018-10-24T12:32:25.610-07:0030. PROCESS BOOK // Week 3<h3>
Favorite Quotes</h3>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">"It helps to be able to quantify cultures. Importantly, this
is not a way to make blanket statements about people from certain countries,
but a way to clarify how groups interact with each other and the internet." </span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">- Senongo Akpem,</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"> "Cultural Factors in Web Design"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is very true because cultural variables are not just interesting facts about the difference between high context/low context cultures. They say something important about the ways in which people of these cultures transmit and receive information, which is highly important for website design (information hierarchy, visuals, content, formal vs. informal language, etc.)</span></span></div>
</h3>
<h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;">"In times when
interactive systems need
to provide support
for an ever
increasing amount of
material and make
it available for
local-language populations across
the world, or
even the emerging
multi-cultureless of many
countries, the "on-size-fits-all" approach
is no longer
applicable." </i><span style="font-size: small;">- Isabela Gasparini, "</span></span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Vive la différence! : a survey of cultural-aware issues in
HCI"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Even when the content is translated into the local language but everything else stays "one-size-fits-all", it can result in poor performance, where the user is not able to find the information he's looking for (or can, but very slowly), because his expectations are different. To increase user efficiency and effectiveness (usability), cultural differences need to be </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">considered</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and incorporated into the design of HCI. The following quote about the need for localization elaborates on this idea:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><i>"Localized
interfaces are supported
by the idea
that the existence
of different cultural
meanings impedes a
successful standardization, the
communication between a
sender and a
receiver will not
work smoothly, or
will be affected
negatively when they
belong to different
cultures, as they
rely on different
sets of values
and meanings; and
by the perception
of products, UI,
websites forms part
of and is
influenced by a
network of socio-cultural variables." </i></span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">- Isabela Gasparini,</span> "</span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Vive la différence! : a survey of cultural-aware issues in HCI"</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">"The design of
the user interface
can be a
matter of preference
that varies from
person to person,
however, we can
find common preferences
that are deeply
rooted in culture, and research
in this direction
shows that people
considered to belong
the same cultural
group also perceive
and process information
in similar ways."</span></i><span style="font-size: small;">- Isabela Gasparini, "</span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size: small;">Vive la différence! : a survey of cultural-aware issues in HCI"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">It's easy to downplay the need for UI adaptation with reference to personal preference, but it becomes critical when designing <b>for </b>a particular culture/market, especially an unfamiliar one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">"Although each culture has its own symbols and patterns of action,
not all differences are significant [for UI design]."</span></i> – Emilie Gould, “Synthesizing
the Literature on Cultural Values”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
It's true that not everything is important for UI design, and authenticity shouldn't be prioritized over usability. Only certain cultural values may be relevant and worth of UI adaptation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><i>"We contribute to the digital divide when we have unrealistic
and uncritical expectations that everyone who uses a computer must be much like
us. Unfortunately, when they’re not, their reactions can become overly negative.
In general, bad experiences diminish willingness to try new software."</i></span> <o:p></o:p>– Emilie Gould, “Synthesizing the Literature on Cultural Values”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I like this quote because it summarizes the worst assumption a UX specialist can make - believe that a product will work for any audience, based on personal belief or local testing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">"'Meeting' new software (or a new website) invokes the
same process of prediction, attribution, and uncertainty reduction that people use
when meeting a stranger." </span></i><o:p></o:p>– Emilie Gould, “Synthesizing the Literature on Cultural Values”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is very true: when you start using a new product, you want it to be "friendly" and "speak your language", so you are motivated to continue your relationship with it.<br />
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Explorations</h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">After reading “Synthesizing the Literature on Cultural Values”, which provided some culture application examples, I felt motivated to check out the Internet to find other examples of adaptation and stumbled upon this <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/ux-design-across-different-cultures-part-1-1caa12a504c0">blog</a>. The author describes different applications of cultural characteristics for different markets, highlighting her own UI design experience, covering the Dutch pragmatism, the German precision, and other cultural differences. She also provides some helpful tips that come out directly from her work.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
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Another <a href="https://www.core77.com/posts/21455/Does-Culture-Matter-for-Product-Design" style="font-weight: normal;">blog </a>I found has an opposing point of view. The author claims that culture does not matter much for industrial and mass-production design. His main example are cell phones that operate on the same platforms (iOS and Android) all across the globe, which look the same and provide the same options (just in different language). The same holds true for the design of appliances - kettles, toasters, rice cookers, etc. - which look and operate the same way in different countries. He claims that this standardization is very important for bringing the world together but at the same time it may diminish the richness of cultural diversity. </div>
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I agree that appliances and other physical objects should look and work similarly because of the design affordances that allow any user and any traveler from a foreign country to be able to use them, but I don't think UI in website design should be homogenized across countries. They ways in which people read, perceive, and accept information are very different, as we have already learnt, and that can affect usability and trust (as in the “Synthesizing the Literature on Cultural Values” reading, people using new technologies is comparable to them meeting new people - if trust and ease of communication is not established during the first "meeting", the user will not feel motivated to continue the relationship with the product). </div>
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Sketches</h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>1. </b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">The cultural comparison is based on two websites - <a href="https://www.pku.edu.cn/">Peking University</a> and the <a href="http://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a>. The analysis has revealed that some characteristics match up with what is expected for these two cultural dimensions (power distance and individualism/collectivism), with minor inconsistencies. For example, information density is supposed to be high for low Power Distance and low for high Power Distance (per Gasparini, 2011), but the websites show the opposite trend.<br />
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2. Dimensions for a health-care website for immigrant communities (a set of questions for research with proposed users)</h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">1) Power-Distance </span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients want to be provided with different prescription options or should only one be picked by the doctor?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Can patients choose their doctor? Or should they be assigned to one?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Can patients can contact their doctors outside of work hours/distantly or can that be done only in-person?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients need to have a two-way communication with their doctor?</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">How important is innovation to patients?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">How much do patients value traditional medicine?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">How important is a doctor's experience (number of years practicing) to patients?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">What do patients value more when selecting a doctor? Word of mouth or statements of achievement?</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Will patients be coming to appointments alone or with their families?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do doctors work alone or in collaboration with other doctors/nurses?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients want to know about their doctors' outside interests, not related to work?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">How important for patients is their doctor's involvement into the life of the community?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">If an online account needs to be created, should it be created as one for the whole family, or separately for every individual in the household?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">At what age does a child become legally treated as an individual?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">What does a family and family plan/treatment mean to the patient? How big is the concept of "family" (immediate, distant, how many generations, etc.)</span></li>
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<span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">4) Uncertainty Avoidance</span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients need to know how long their appointments are going to last?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients need to have their doctor's contact information?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients need to know what the doctor's/clinic's hours are?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Do patients want to know about all the side-effects of a prescription drug?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Should patients be educated/helped with web navigation? </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Should patients have an easy access to their account information and be able to change it if necessary?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #2d3b45; font-family: "latoweb" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Should patients be presented with appointment/treatment costs prior to their visits?</span></li>
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Personal/Professional Inspirations</h3>
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The readings have made me realize that besides the language and cultural dimension differences described by Hofstede and other researchers, there are more differences between nations - spatial, temporal, and contextual. The differences can't be gathered from the surface, and one really needs to dig deep, immerse oneself into the culture (or its research) to be able to put oneself into a foreigner's shoes. I love studying languages, and that's true that some aspects of a culture can be understood through the language lens (people's way of giving and getting directions, understanding and measuring time, etc.), so I'd like to start reading more about various languages. </div>
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I also really liked reading that blog post with the international UI examples, so I figured that the best way to learn how to design for different cultures may be to learn from other researchers and designers' successful experiences - how they handled their failures, conducted additional testing, or took opportunities to redesign for better understanding. In my career, I will seek out opportunities to chat with my co-workers about their multicultural experiences in research and design. I'm sure they will be able to give helpful tips and tell insightful stories. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-16641911247117421052018-10-01T09:55:00.000-07:002018-10-06T17:17:14.550-07:0029. PROCESS BOOK // Week 2<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. Favorite Quotes</b></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">"[Culture] It's something that's being created and re-created by people all the time—not just by certain people, but by everyone as they shape their own daily life."</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span>- </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">W. Quesenbery and D. Szuc, <i>Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World,</i> Chapter 3</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;">This quote says that culture is fluid, it's constantly changing, which I have personally experienced when I moved from my home country and came back just a few years later - things were different. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cultural differences that are particularly relevant in many UX projects may also be based on differences in the adoption of technology."</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">W. Quesenbery and D. Szuc, <i>Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World,</i> Chapter 3</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;">We often think about culture as it is manifested in national traditions and customs, but cultural differences do also reside between generations within the same nation. It is particularly important when designing technology and thinking about its intended demographic (and their technical background). </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><i>"One of the things I learned early in my career is be sensitive to the differences that make a difference." </i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">W. Quesenbery and D. Szuc, <i>Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World,</i> Chapter 3</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There could be many cultural differences between two countries/markets, but it's important to focus on those that would be important for your particular product or service. Other details may be interesting, but completely irrelevant. I have learnt this by working on international product adaptation. </span><br />
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<i style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Our ability to
succeed at what
we do is
powerfully bound up
with where we re from,
and being a good
pilot and coming from
a high-power distance culture
is a difficult
mix."</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - Gladwell, "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes".</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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As we already learnt, collaboration and cooperation are key to survival and success. And the power distance measurement becomes really important here, because it defines <i>how </i>collaboration and cooperation happens. This is crucial in critical situations like aircraft emergencies.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Explorations</b></span></h3>
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The previous quote made me wonder if there are any other fields where a high-power distance culture could play a deadly role, so I found this <a href="https://www.emcare.com/news-events/emcare-blog/march-2017/reducing-power-distance-and-increasing-collaborati">article</a>. It provides an example from the medical field in the US, where the relationship between the physician and the nurses, as well as the patient, still represents some degree of high-power distance, which can let errors slip through and lead to undesired consequences. There has been some progress made, as the author claims, "<span style="background-color: #fbfbfb; color: #58595b; font-family: "gotham ssm 5r" , "gotham ssm a" , "gotham ssm b" , "arial"; font-size: 12px;">Luckily, medicine has begun transitioning from a high to low power distance environment, but we still have a long way to go. We have begun to shed titles between co-workers. We are encouraging all members of the healthcare team to share ideas and strategies with their colleagues. Nurses and allied healthcare workers are encouraged and empowered to challenge physicians if they notice errors or have concerns about the prescribed treatment plan. Physicians have begun to not only accept but to appreciate suggestions from their co-workers."</span><br />
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I was very interested in digging deeper into what power distance meant and all its manifestations. I checked for videos on YouTube and found <a href="https://youtu.be/DqAJclwfyCw">this one</a> that has Geert Hofstede explaining the nuances himself. He claims that while there is a shift of the younger generations toward low-power distance, "the position of the countries relative to each other has remained the same...so the scores don't change." While I agree that culture changes very slowly, I wonder what happens in case of major migrations. Europe lately has become the cradle of the refugee movement, which has definitely impacted the politics and religious composition. This National Geographic <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/10/europe-immigration-muslim-refugees-portraits/">article</a> describes the high (although rewarding) stakes of the refugee experiment in Germany that has led to the national "cultural panic."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcEzWuabxFY/W7lQFVc_baI/AAAAAAAAFU0/9msClOFWFgArJQUYQwyOhLMe6BdjIslQwCLcBGAs/s1600/culturediagram.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="1600" height="466" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcEzWuabxFY/W7lQFVc_baI/AAAAAAAAFU0/9msClOFWFgArJQUYQwyOhLMe6BdjIslQwCLcBGAs/s640/culturediagram.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our team's version of a cultural model</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. Personal Professional Inspirations</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">These week's readings have been very insightful, especially the one that put everything in real terms in the ethnic theory of plane crashes. Coming from a high-power distance country I notice patterns in my behavior (talking to higher management and professors) that were shaped by my home country. Living here in the US and knowing the importance of cooperation for success, I will try to adjust my thinking and actions, especially in situations where error-avoidance is crucial. I'm not sure how hard or easy it is going to be, but it will definitely require effort to change my learned patterns. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I also like the idea of being immersed in a foreign culture by observation and following local customs. Luckily, you don't have to travel far to do so. I have quite a few international friends that I would like to get together with more often, to learn their culture by being a part of it - going out with them, trying their cuisines, observing their religious and national customs. </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-91678137822826799532018-09-30T17:50:00.003-07:002018-10-02T19:23:15.373-07:0028. PROCESS BOOK // Week 1 <span style="font-size: x-small;">🛈 This 10-week process book is going to include my weekly reflections to the readings and discussions in the international communication and UX class I'm taking this term. Since this blog is about culture, I figured it would serve as a great medium for this purpose. </span><br />
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1. Time Visualization</h3>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Different individuals view the concept of time differently, depending on their cultural background and personal philosophy. For this in-class exercise, I paired up with my classmate to graphically show what we imagine time is.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RR1VHiVxTfo/W7AJHJr8BRI/AAAAAAAAFTg/M56dv7xuwLEYw_faVPfmmnmU5MAGAYREQCLcBGAs/s1600/9-29-18%252C%2B3_46%2BPM%2BOffice%2BLens%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1563" data-original-width="1600" height="312" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RR1VHiVxTfo/W7AJHJr8BRI/AAAAAAAAFTg/M56dv7xuwLEYw_faVPfmmnmU5MAGAYREQCLcBGAs/s320/9-29-18%252C%2B3_46%2BPM%2BOffice%2BLens%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We both agreed to show it as a timeline. I put a human in the center, facing the future on the right. I then added a cloud above him - these are his thoughts. He can think about his past event, including his early childhood memories. But the thoughts about the future cannot jump that far as he is able to imagine/plan for only his near future.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">I read <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-different-cultures-understand-time-2014-5">this article</a> a couple years ago, and it reminded me of our discussion about time representation. Different cultures not only view time differently, but they also treat other people's time differently. </span><br />
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2. Favorite Quotes</h2>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"The gossip theory might sound like a joke, but numerous
studies support it. Even today the vast majority of human communication
-whether in the form of emails, phone calls or newspaper columns -is gossip."</span> </span><span style="font-size: small;">- </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">Y.N. Harari, <i>Sapiens. A Brief History of Humankind.</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">This quote was an insight to me, a revelation, but it totally makes sense. If you analyze all human communication - it's all about discussing what others do or what they did. People love storytelling, and it goes far beyond the media!</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">"Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, Sapiens have thus been
living in a dual reality. On the one
hand, the objective reality of rivers, trees and lions; and on the other hand,
the imagined reality of gods, nations and corporations." </span></i><o:p></o:p><i><span style="font-size: small;">- </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">Y.N. Harari, <i>Sapiens. A Brief History of Humankind.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">I like this quote because it states the fact about the duality of our world. There is something real and something intangible, imagined that we believe in -- religions, brands, traditions, politics, beauty ideals, common sense -- and that in my opinion has a much greater effect on the formation of an individual as a social being. That's where culture resides in - the imagined reality. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"To create experiences that work for many places and cultures, companies and their UX teams have to recognize underlying similarities as well as differences, whether this is similarities in the structure of a task or human truths that relate to their own product."</span> - </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">W. Quesenbery
and D. Szuc, <i>Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">I like that this statement encompasses both - the need to research user actions (how international users use a product differently) and also the need to consider their motivations, thoughts, potential taboos, etc, which definitely influence their perceptions of a product and the related needs they have.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span>
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<h2>
3. Explorations</h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the <i>Sapiens </i>book (Chapter 2), Harari compares humans to other animals, making a point that while they still have the ability to communicate with each other, the human language is superior because we can communicate in much more detail. This was key to our cooperation and survival, and that's what makes us "sapiens". </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">This reminded me about human-animal comparisons from one of the books about curiosity (I'm not sure which one it was, as I read a lot of books about curiosity). In that book, the author claimed that what makes us different from monkeys (and chimpanzees specifically, as they are our closest relatives) is our ability to ask questions due to our innate curiosity. This very ability has led us throughout the centuries to innovation. That's how major technology that has shaped our world got invented (and technology surely influences culture) and we've become the society we are today.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">I found this Medium <a href="https://medium.com/@bleistern/why-dont-apes-ask-questions-9f28b162e9fb">article</a> that discusses this phenomenon in similar terms: "Apes don’t ask questions because they can’t form assumptions about the thoughts and perspectives of others." She describes it as the <b>theory of mind </b>(the ability to think and believe in something, but also understand that others have thoughts and beliefs that may be different from our own) - the ability that only humans have. To build a strong society, one needs to know how to cooperate, just as Harari suggests, but if you aren't capable of understanding another point of view, you can't. The Medium article author states,<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> "We ask questions because we assume someone - someone outside of our own mind - could have the answers. Or at least that they'll be able to help us figure it out."</span></span><br />
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<h2>
4. Sketches</h2>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XoaIaff64fQ/W7ElSelcl2I/AAAAAAAAFTs/evqjejco5AssZ0_82ZfKMuMdNUA1Cs5kQCLcBGAs/s1600/Sketch1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1600" height="384" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XoaIaff64fQ/W7ElSelcl2I/AAAAAAAAFTs/evqjejco5AssZ0_82ZfKMuMdNUA1Cs5kQCLcBGAs/s640/Sketch1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L2uXGg-v8f0/W7Fr9k1iMgI/AAAAAAAAFT4/D3uqrOy34_Utn-5Ih8Ekgteb9bn-aD-wQCLcBGAs/s1600/Sketch2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L2uXGg-v8f0/W7Fr9k1iMgI/AAAAAAAAFT4/D3uqrOy34_Utn-5Ih8Ekgteb9bn-aD-wQCLcBGAs/s640/Sketch2.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<h2>
5. Personal/Professional Inspirations</h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The idea of thinking both globally and locally is great because it lets designers and researchers adapt a product for universal use without disregarding local cultural differences and in many cases adapting it for those very specific differences. I'm going to try and do that in my work - look for similarities and differences between cultures (the Internet offers great resources to study cultures deeply even remotely). </span></td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-49319302253543731582015-02-12T23:00:00.000-08:002015-02-12T23:00:41.475-08:0027. TypographyI've always loved typography. Reading books and magazines, I often find myself much more drawn to the design and font choices rather than to the actual content. I'm a visual person, so whenever I see something nicely designed, I will be more likely to read it, and vice versa. No matter how great a story is, poor design makes it less enjoyable. Sadly, I'm not a graphic designer. I can tell if something looks esthetically 'right', but it's always been difficult for me to design something from scratch. So this time I decided to challenge myself and take a typography workshop with Steven Asbury from <a href="http://asburydesign.net/">Asbury Design</a>. In just one weekend, I learned so much about the history of various typefaces and the basic rules of typography. Practice was the most engaging part though! Here are my two little projects I designed in the course of the worskshop:<br />
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For this first exercise, we needed to pick our favorite quote and design it using a combination of two typefaces. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K0_CdkPHnnM/VN2b4rCRDLI/AAAAAAAAEkc/n90-m9Z_Mlc/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-12%2Bat%2B10.31.55%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K0_CdkPHnnM/VN2b4rCRDLI/AAAAAAAAEkc/n90-m9Z_Mlc/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-12%2Bat%2B10.31.55%2BPM.jpg" height="369" width="400" /></a></div>
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And for the second one, each of us was given a certain typeface, and we had to research its history and then design a story about it, using just that typeface, of course. Mine was Bodoni, and considering its Italian ancestry, I went for a mafia-style poster. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lnSMf0FDwec/VN2apyYyofI/AAAAAAAAEkM/Xovy2r2HFEU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-12%2Bat%2B10.30.30%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lnSMf0FDwec/VN2apyYyofI/AAAAAAAAEkM/Xovy2r2HFEU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-12%2Bat%2B10.30.30%2BPM.jpg" height="640" width="414" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_382241729"></span><span id="goog_382241730"></span><br />
<span id="goog_382241729">Maybe these don't look super professional, but I'm excited to </span>practice more in the near future. I love the process, and that's what's most important, right?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-2428019142947888962014-10-15T20:45:00.000-07:002014-10-15T20:45:30.059-07:0026. EulogyDISCLAIMER: This fictitious eulogy for Forever 21 is based on my personal experience with the brand. No offense intended.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Eulogy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
dark time has come – Forever 21 is gone now. It just passed away, but it will
always stay in our hearts. We will always remember how great it was. Whenever
you walked into the store, it always looked so polished and organized. Just a
few rows with hangers – that’s all you needed to experience its magnitude. There
were never any lines at Forever 21. Of course, not many people could afford
such deluxe shopping, but the few that could surely enjoyed its unhampered and
personalized atmosphere. And everything was so perfectly ironed, neat, and
clean – not even a spot, not a tiny stain on its luxurious fabrics! In fact, Forever
21’s quality management was so unprecedented that they would always carefully
inspect every single item to make sure that no damaged merchandise was on
display. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Talking
about quality, even Chanel faded in comparison. No designer in the world used rarer
and more expensive materials. And with what precision and dedication all its
clothing articles were handcrafted! You could get only unique, one-of-a-kind
sweatshop-free items at Forever 21, and all of them would fit like a glove. The
highest-paid Chinese fashion designers worked on them for months, hand sewing
them using golden threads and embroidering exquisite ornaments onto their
surface. No one in the world will ever be able to recreate these articles.
Their secret died with Forever 21. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There
should be something special said about the customer service that Forever 21
provided. All customers were treated like gods – sales representatives would
always run around them, catering to their every need. And whenever anyone had a
problem or had to return something, they would always make a sincere apology
and go out of their way to return the full amount paid in cash, even for
jewelry and sale items. On top of that, they would even add a coupon to make
the customer happy. No other living brand in the world has ever treated its
customers better than Forever 21 did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
course, it will be hard for all of us to live in this world knowing that
Forever 21 is not here any longer. It was a terrible, untimely death, but we
will never forget how much value Forever 21 had brought into our lives. It will
stay in our hearts forever. Amen.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-27593741859274149042014-10-11T21:01:00.000-07:002014-10-11T21:26:14.333-07:0025. Merry Baskin<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Merry_Baskin" class="at-xid-6a00d83451688869e201156e5bbf0d970c " src="http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451688869e201156e5bbf0d970c-500wi" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 470px;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/theplanninglab/2009/03/advice-for-the-nextgeneration-planner-part-6-merry-baskin.html">via</a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.baskinshark.com/about-us/resume">Merry Baskin</a>, who can be considered one of the best account planners in the world, visited our university this week. I was lucky enough to go to both of her presentations and attend a discussion-based meeting with her. Merry has extensive experience working in the advertising industry, and her advice to us - young communications professionals and aspiring account planners - is more than valuable, especially on the threshold of graduation.<br />
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<a href="http://www.gareth53.co.uk/assets/img/content/mr-men/nosey01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img align="right" alt="Mr. Nosey, book cover" border="0" src="http://www.gareth53.co.uk/assets/img/content/mr-men/nosey01.jpg" height="194" width="200" /></a></div>
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According to Merry, the prototype of a great strategist is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Nosey-Men-Little-Miss/dp/0843174781">Mr. Nosey</a> - a fictitious character, who is always snooping around in other people's lives. As a planner, you have to be endlessly curious, maybe to the point where other people think you're weird. Going shopping? Don't forget to check out other people's shopping carts and follow them around, analyzing their shopping and buying preferences. Insights are everywhere, you just have to look for them.<br />
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Besides being curious, a good planner must have great listening skills, and empathy lies at their core. You have to be able be "put yourself in your consumer's shoes." And then walk in them. Only this way you can truly understand this person's feelings and experiences, which is the foundation for any great strategy. In fact, a good planner should know (despite what the client may say) that brands belong to consumers, not brand owners, so understanding your consumer is key here. <br />
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Most strategies can be divided into two categories: rational and emotional. It would be intuitive to say that a strategy must be rational, but it turns out that those advertising campaigns that utilize emotional strategies are more successful on average. People are highly emotional and most of the time irrational in their actions. Think about this: when shopping, you fall in love with a beautiful pair of shoes. Do you weigh all the pros and cons BEFORE you buy it or do you post-rationalize your purchase AFTER you buy it? Most people do the second, which proves that we are more emotional than rational, and as strategists, we should be aware of that. "It's all about an emotional response," as Merry puts it.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3913" src="http://bereavedandblessed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Rational-vs-Emotional.jpg" height="294" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" width="420" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://bereavedandblessed.com/2012/07/rational-vs-emotional/">via</a></td></tr>
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As the owner of <a href="http://www.baskinshark.com/">Baskin Shark,</a> a brand planning and training consultancy, Merry claims that "like a shark, brands must move forward or die." As we know, sharks need to keep moving to be able to breathe. Similarly, brands need to be constantly evolving to keep up with the changing world and people's attitudes. That's why staying on top of culture and current trends is so important for an account planner. <br />
<br />
One more interesting thing that Merry suggested everyone should do is take the Myers-Briggs personality test, like this one <a href="http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp">here</a>. Self-awareness is very important in this business (actually, in any). The better you understand yourself, the better you know how to build stronger relationships with people, the better you know how to deal with problems. According to the test, I am the <a href="http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/istj">ISTJ</a> type (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging), aka "the duty fulfiller" or "the inspector." Can't but agree with that. While I'm figuring out my strengths and weaknesses, take this test to learn more about yourself! (You can read about each personality type <a href="https://type-coach.com/types/all">here</a> and <a href="http://www.personalitypage.com/html/relationships.html">here</a>).<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-63908930403228221202014-05-16T15:45:00.000-07:002014-05-16T15:46:26.377-07:0024. NYC 2014 OverviewMay 5 - May 10 was the most exciting, adventurous, and productive time of my life. I went to New York with a group of other students from the University of Oregon to explore famous advertising agencies and learn from the most talented people in the industry. I visited seven amazing agencies and gained a lot from this experience. I will talk more about that in my future posts (hopefully starting this weekend), but here's a brief overview for now:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-74165519720612188962014-02-22T16:08:00.001-08:002014-02-22T16:11:44.212-08:0023. Communication in the 19th Century: the TelegraphI'm currently taking a communication history class, and almost every lecture of it is like a little discovery for me. I had never studied the history of American journalism in so much detail, but I think it is particularly important to do so for anyone going into the field of mass communication. How did the present condition of the industry come into being? Are the ideas we are talking about now really new? How can we assess the present using comparisons with the past? How can we think critically about contemporary media? Studying communication history may help answer these questions. <br />
<br />
During our last lecture we talked about communication in the 19th century and its highlights - the <b>telegraph</b>, <b>yellow journalism</b>, <b>stunt reporting</b>, and <b>muckracking</b>. These were very important for the development of communication, so I'd like to talk briefly about each of them. This post is going to be about a revolutionary invention:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Telegraph</b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MG_H60shNfQ/UwheIFDHAmI/AAAAAAAAD_A/SZdXBJgXSCM/s1600/60532-004-E1FF0EF5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MG_H60shNfQ/UwheIFDHAmI/AAAAAAAAD_A/SZdXBJgXSCM/s1600/60532-004-E1FF0EF5.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/39848/Morse-telegraph-register-from-the-1840s">via</a></td></tr>
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Developed by <a href="http://www.samuelmorse.net/">Samuel Morse</a> in 1837 in the United States, this invention became truly groundbreaking. It allowed people to send and receive messages nearly instantaneously - it only took a couple minutes for a message to arrive. Before that, national news were delivered via railroads, horses, and pigeons, while international news could only be delivered via ships, which took weeks to cross the ocean. The speed of mass communication was extremely slow, so the telegraph became a turning point in this sense, connecting people as nothing else could at that time.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FYQyNq4J2XM/Uwk3PfuuTHI/AAAAAAAAD_c/bRqQqfVCeE4/s1600/LOPSIDED+LINCOLN(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FYQyNq4J2XM/Uwk3PfuuTHI/AAAAAAAAD_c/bRqQqfVCeE4/s1600/LOPSIDED+LINCOLN(2).JPG" height="400" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abraham Lincoln. Image <a href="http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/08/joel-fox-writes-novel-about-li.html">via</a></td></tr>
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The first telegraph line connected Washington, D.C. and Baltimore in 1844, and the telegraph service expanded rapidly in the next couple of decades. During the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/19407/American-Civil-War">Civil War</a>, the telegraph became a tool of <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln">Lincoln</a>'s leadership, allowing him to directly and actively communicate with the front. He used the telegraph as an information gathering tool as well a medium for counseling on strategy and giving commands.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--WzAuC2QhTg/Uwk3wNRFLdI/AAAAAAAAD_k/dgoYLT45v4s/s1600/cyrus-field-photograph-by-mathew-brady1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--WzAuC2QhTg/Uwk3wNRFLdI/AAAAAAAAD_k/dgoYLT45v4s/s1600/cyrus-field-photograph-by-mathew-brady1.jpg" height="400" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyrus Field. Image <a href="http://raoulpop.com/2009/02/13/the-atlantic-cable-eighth-wonder-of-the-world/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But probably the most important achievement of the telegraph era was the transatlantic cable, laid by businessman <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/206188/Cyrus-W-Field">Cyrus Field</a>. It was supposed to connect North America and Europe; however, Field's first attempt in 1858 failed to establish stable communication between the continents. After several unsuccessful attempts, he was finally able to permanently connect the two worlds in 1866, and the contact hasn't been broken ever since. Even today, most communication between America and Europe is still carried via the transatlantic cable, while the telephone, radio, TV, and the Internet are all modern extensions of the telegraph. The famous telecommunications company <a href="http://www.att.com/#fbid=3mQuqnj_yI-">AT&T</a> still carries it in its title as it was founded as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885. <br />
<br />
The invention of the telegraph brought many changes to the life of people and journalism in particular:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It made the postal service less important, as news no longer had to rely on physical transportation.</li>
<li>It altered newspaper content and style. With the adoption of the telegraph for gathering news, newspapers introduced the <a href="https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/04/">inverted pyramid style</a> (which is still used today), where the most important information was placed at the top, in the lead paragraph, with the least important information at the bottom of an article. See its principle in the picture below. </li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zmW5j7nLJks/Uwk1no_xhWI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/kwqv4Vol16o/s1600/inverted-pyramid-journalism.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zmW5j7nLJks/Uwk1no_xhWI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/kwqv4Vol16o/s1600/inverted-pyramid-journalism.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/inverted-pyramid-design/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<ul>
<li>The telegraph mechanized and standardized news gathering, allowing newspapers to cut down their staff.</li>
<li>Newspapers shifted their emphasis from literary stories to hard news.</li>
<li>Newspapers had to cooperate to gather and distribute news. In 1856 five daily NYC newspapers formed the <a href="http://www.ap.org/">Associated Press</a>(AP) that still exists today. It was founded as a way of cooperation for gathering unbiased news and selling it to other papers. Today, it is one of the largest <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/encyclo/associated-press/">nonprofit news organizations</a> in the world. </li>
</ul>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-60966535432405644322013-12-29T00:21:00.001-08:002013-12-29T00:30:34.137-08:0022. Gendered Toy Advertising<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PoVqDV1_-jU/UrkHsCVAP5I/AAAAAAAADVw/4IMSeeFkwA4/s1600/girlsboys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PoVqDV1_-jU/UrkHsCVAP5I/AAAAAAAADVw/4IMSeeFkwA4/s640/girlsboys.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/05/kids-toys-more-gendered-than-ever/">Ms. Magazine Blog</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Nowadays, toy marketing and advertising are extremely gendered and reinforce certain gender roles and stereotypes that do not promote equality. In toy ads, girls are usually portrayed performing traditional roles, like babysitting, housekeeping, or caring for their own looks, while boys are usually presented in stereotypically masculine roles, playing with toys that require more logic, action, and sometimes aggression.<br />
<br />
These ads from a recent<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.toysrus.com/"> Toys "R" Us </a>catalog are a good illustration of the problem. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OEbUq7B48VQ/UrkGjS_7KII/AAAAAAAADVY/RlouahW2Mfc/s1600/Boys%27+and+Girls%27+Toys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="469" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OEbUq7B48VQ/UrkGjS_7KII/AAAAAAAADVY/RlouahW2Mfc/s640/Boys%27+and+Girls%27+Toys.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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first ad portrays a girl playing with dolls in a pink dollhouse, and
the other one has two boys in it playing with a complex train construction they
have assembled. The girls’ ad suggests that girls should perform traditionally
feminine roles, such as babysitting and housekeeping, whereas boys need to play with something more masculine that requires
more logic, like construction. Besides, the color scheme used in the ads (pink
for girls and primarily blue and green for boys) reinforces this idea of gender
confrontation. </span><style><!--
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--></style><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
next two pages from the catalog also arrange toys by gender - the pink page
containing dolls targets girls, while the blue page with “action-packed toys”
targets boys.</span>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L4QB5QLXhKA/UrkGkFiro0I/AAAAAAAADVk/mhC_VG1zBGM/s1600/Girls%27+Toys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L4QB5QLXhKA/UrkGkFiro0I/AAAAAAAADVk/mhC_VG1zBGM/s640/Girls%27+Toys.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFPIX-2ETho/UrkGjxhUYGI/AAAAAAAADVc/j9J9xdy3t-c/s1600/Boys%27+Toys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFPIX-2ETho/UrkGjxhUYGI/AAAAAAAADVc/j9J9xdy3t-c/s640/Boys%27+Toys.jpg" width="602" /></a></div>
<br />
Most toy advertisements convey messages about gender roles and expectations through certain kinds of toys and their color, implying what is or isn't appropriate for boys and girls. But the fact is, kids' personalities and interests differ, so it's just wrong to limit their choices by stereotyping and differentiating between boys and girls when advertising/marketing toys. This kind of stereotyping is problematic because it doesn't capture the possibility that boys and girls might want to play with other kinds of toys and prefer other colors. Check out the video below to get the idea:<br />
<br />
<div align="center">
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As
most children conform to those gender stereotypes and roles promoted in the
media, it makes them express their intolerance towards those children who
express cross-gender behaviors, which puts such children at risk of discrimination
and possible bullying. Also, toys may influence children’s future career
decisions. Girls’ toys, like dolls, usually lack complexity, which doesn’t help
girls develop the skills necessary for technical professions, like engineering.
Boys’ toys, on the other hand, usually involve more thinking, which trains their logic, thus better preparing them for <a href="http://www.iseek.org/careers/stemcareers.html">STEM</a> fields. This kind
of gendered marketing limits children’s choices, impacts their development, and fails to
create equal opportunities.</span> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Advertisers play a big role in influencing children’s beliefs about gender
roles, and that’s why it’s important that the messages they spread are reasonable
and fair. Advertisers should create gender-neutral ads that treat all children
equally and not limit their choices, imagination, or self-expression based on their gender. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There are, in fact, a few companies that are trying to step away from the strictly binary gender system and go gender-neutral in their toy advertising. The most prominent example is the Swedish toy retailer <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://twentytwowords.com/2012/11/30/swedish-toy-catalog-goes-gender-neutral-11-pictures/">Top Toy</a>, which has been promoting gender equality in the toy industry <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2012/11/29/highlights-from-the-gender-neutral-swedish-toys-r-us-catalogue/">since 2012</a>. The most recent contributor is the American company <a href="http://www.goldieblox.com/">Goldie Blox</a>. It was founded in 2012 with a <a href="http://www.goldieblox.com/pages/about">mission</a> to "</span></span>disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers." Their latest commercial portrays girls as active, creative, and ingenious little inventors, ready to break all gender stereotypes. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IIGyVa5Xftw?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
However, even though there is some progress happening in the toy industry, there is much more to be done in regard to the issue.<br />
<br />
For more information on the topic, you are welcome to check out my research paper <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/7g8tw3ksbwghwon/Toys%20and%20Gender%20Roles_Hanson.docx">here</a>. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-71787708392149624112013-12-09T18:20:00.000-08:002013-12-09T18:20:50.184-08:0021. Cultural AwarenessCultural awareness is extremely important in the field of mass communication. To be a successful idea generator and communicator, one needs to be culturally competent, which involves learning about various cultures via different channels (TV, films, music, social media, reading, etc.), being respectful of diversity and other people’s viewpoints, and paying attention to social and cultural trends happening around the world. For our final group project, we designed this book that serves as a guide for current and future advertising, as well as other journalism students, providing them with the information on the role of cultural awareness in communication and advice on what they should watch, read, listen to, and do to become familiar with more cultures, traditions, and beliefs and to successfully use this knowledge for relevant and effective communication to diverse audiences.<br />
<br />
Check it out!<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="251" src="//e.issuu.com/embed.html#9926718/5946882" width="650"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-28845235157958269432013-11-24T08:46:00.000-08:002013-11-24T15:46:08.024-08:0020. Holding CompaniesBefore a recent lecture in my <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23uocreativestrat&src=hash">Creative Strategist</a> class, I thought advertising agencies were completely independent. Then, I learned that there is, in fact, a handful of independent agencies, like <a href="http://www.wk.com/">Weiden+Kennedy </a>or <a href="http://www.droga5.com/#/">Droga5</a>, but the majority of agencies belong to huge holding companies. <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/holdingcompany.asp">A holding company</a> is a parent corporation that owns enough stock in another company to control its policies and management. Although such increased control may sound like a negative aspect, there is a number of benefits that agencies receive when they get adopted by a holding company. For example, holding companies ensure the agencies' financial stability and give them the ability to be partnered with other big agencies. </span><br />
<br />
There are six major holding companies in the advertising industry:<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>1. <a href="http://www.wpp.com/wpp/">WPP</a> (</b>owns<b> </b>Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, etc.)<br />
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<b>2.</b><b> <a href="http://www.omnicomgroup.com/home">Omnicom Group</a></b> (BBDO, DDB Worldwide, etc.)<br />
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<b> 3.<a href="http://www.publicisgroupe.com/#/site/"> Publicis Groupe</a></b> (Publicis, Leo Burnett, etc.)<br />
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<b>4. <a href="http://www.interpublic.com/">Interpublic Group</a></b> (Campbell Ewald, MRM Worldwide, Huge, etc.)<br />
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<b>5. <a href="http://project.com/">Project: Worldwide</a></b> (Partners+Napier, Juxt, etc.)<br />
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<b>6. <a href="http://www.mdc-partners.com/">MDC Partners</a></b> (72andSunny, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, etc.)<br />
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Browsing through the news about holding companies, I found that Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group have recently <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324564704578631842380606794">agreed to merge</a>, creating the world’s <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-28/publicis-to-merge-with-omnicom-to-form-biggest-advertising-firm.html">largest advertising company</a> with $23 billion in revenue and thus toppling WPP. However, the merge <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/publicis-omnicom-merger-may-not-close-till-q2-154068">may be pushed back</a> into the second quarter of 2014 due to some regulatory approvals in Russia and the EU.</span><br />
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I also found a cool infographic that gives a good sense of the current holding companies' structure and provides some historical and factual context. Besides the aforementioned companies, the infographic also includes <b><a href="http://www.havas.com/havas-dyn/en/">Havas</a></b> and <b><a href="http://www.dentsu.com/">Dentsu</a></b>, which are a little smaller, but still could be included in the list of major holding companies.<br />
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*Click on the link below the picture to expand it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCzzg1a30Xk/UpHJF043pGI/AAAAAAAADCE/VwCCD5iiX6M/s1600/The-Ad-Agency-Bloodline-Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCzzg1a30Xk/UpHJF043pGI/AAAAAAAADCE/VwCCD5iiX6M/s1600/The-Ad-Agency-Bloodline-Small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on this <a href="http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Ad-Agency-Bloodline-Large.jpg">link</a> to expand</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-56811744753592127442013-11-24T00:55:00.000-08:002013-11-24T00:55:30.290-08:0019. Give Them a ChanceHappily living in a war-free country we often don't realize that we owe our freedom and peaceful life to those who fought for it, to veterans. Many soldiers never came back from war, while many of those who returned have had troubles adjusting to normal life again. Alcoholism, criminality, suicide attempts, <a href="http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml">post-traumatic stress disorder</a>, and other disabilities are not rare among veterans and can result in homelessness. These are some serious problems that veterans often can't solve on their own, so this is the right time for us to return the favor and intervene to improve their lives. <br />
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<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.degageministries.org/index.html">Dégagé Ministries</a>, a social organization that offers help to homeless and disadvantaged individuals, recently did an interesting social makeover experiment, the goal of which was to help Jim Wolf, a homeless United States Army veteran, quit drinking and return to normal life. A group of volunteers teamed up to radically transform Jim's look, capturing the process in a time-lapse video. According to the video, the physical change has become a turning point in Jim's life, prompting him to get his own housing and start attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Working from the outside in, the volunteers were able to instill confidence in Jim and give him hope for a brighter future. </span><br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6a6VVncgHcY?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
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I love the quote by <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160">Mother Teresa</a> that Dégagé Ministries used on their <a href="http://www.degageministries.org/aboutus.html">website</a>, "We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty." We need to be more attentive to the lives of those whom we often pass by on the streets, as they may be someone who fought to protect us. They need our care, and now it's our turn to protect them. </span><br />
<div id="r1PostCPBlock" style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; left: -99999px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. <br /><span>Read more at <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere130839.html#DQsiX8ci5Tfmx5C2.99" style="color: #003399;">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere130839.html#DQsiX8ci5Tfmx5C2.99</a></span></div>
<div id="r1PostCPBlock" style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; left: -99999px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. <br /><span>Read more at <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere130839.html#DQsiX8ci5Tfmx5C2.99" style="color: #003399;">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere130839.html#DQsiX8ci5Tfmx5C2.99</a></span></div>
<div id="r1PostCPBlock" style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; left: -99999px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. <br /><span>Read more at <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere130839.html#DQsiX8ci5Tfmx5C2.99" style="color: #003399;">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere130839.html#DQsiX8ci5Tfmx5C2.99</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-71413145692089501932013-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:002013-11-24T15:50:39.912-08:0018. Thank You, MomThere is no feeling in the world stronger than a mother's love, and there is no job harder than being a mother. But no matter how hard it may be, it's extremely rewarding when you see your child succeed. Behind every athlete there is a hard-working, caring, and supportive mother. That's the core idea of <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.pg.com/en_US/index.shtml">P&G</a>'s Olympic campaign called <a href="http://www.wk.com/campaign/thank_you_mom">"Thank You, Mom."</a> Created by<a href="http://www.wk.com/"> Weiden+Kennedy</a>, it was designed to celebrate mothers' efforts and thank them for their care and hard work raising champions and just great kids. </span><br />
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This short film called <i>Best Job </i>was first presented during the 2012 Olympic Games in London as part of the campaign. It <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://news.pg.com/blog/company-strategy/pg-earns-praise-best-job-commercial-innovation-sustainability-efforts">won the best primetime commercial</a> Emmy award the same year for a good reason - it celebrates diversity, while emphasizing the universal human experience, a mother's love. I get emotional every time I watch it, but who doesn't? This means that Weiden+Kennedy did a great job.</span><br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FLeFfJ1XuEk?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
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Although it seems like it's just about Olympic athletes and their mothers, it's really about all of us. It's thanks to our moms we are who we are today. It's them who support us at anything we do and make our childhood dreams come true. We owe them a lot. Thank you, mom!<br />
This film appeals to a larger audience, which makes it even more successful.<br />
<br />
For the upcoming <span class="st">2014 Winter Olympics</span> in <span class="st">Sochi, P&G released a new film as part of the same campaign, which is also very heartwarming. Ads like these make me become more convinced that advertising is not just a means of selling something. It is</span><span class="st"> a powerful tool used to inspire and make us believe that there is nothing impossible as long as we try. </span><br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hyiLPj94BBQ?list=PL4ACRSdk0JhEG5vDIr89fHuovmyuvtTHk" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-49210840376320689592013-11-23T22:25:00.005-08:002013-12-13T19:32:41.185-08:0017. Advertising InternshipsAlthough I am still a junior, I think it's a good idea to start looking at internship opportunities offered by various advertising agencies. I believe an internship is a good way to learn about an agency's work environment, get some experience in the industry, and radically increase your chances for future employment. However, I think that the choice of the internship should not be random and spontaneous. It's important to research the agency beforehand to see whether its business philosophy matches your own worldview and to get a sense of the kinds of industries and clients it works with, to understand how you can fit in and use your skills to the maximum. <br />
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After researching multiple agencies' programs, I picked the ones I would apply for.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ETxVg2s63FA/UpFhCP036UI/AAAAAAAADAo/_56uRvfgOto/s1600/CP+B_Letters_4c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ETxVg2s63FA/UpFhCP036UI/AAAAAAAADAo/_56uRvfgOto/s400/CP+B_Letters_4c.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://eschewadvertising.wordpress.com/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>1. <a href="http://www.cpbgroup.com/"><span class="st">Crispin Porter + Bogusky</span></a></b><br />
<br />
<b><span class="st">What: </span></b><span class="st">advertising agency</span><b><span class="st"> </span></b><br />
<b><span class="st">Founded: </span></b><span class="st">Miami, Florida, in 1988 </span><b><span class="st"> </span></b><br />
<b><span class="st">Company size: </span></b><span class="st">1001-5000 employees
</span><b><span class="st"> </span></b><br />
<b><span class="st">Offices: </span></b><span class="st"></span><span class="st">London, UK; Göteborg, Sweden; Miami, FL; Boulder, CO; and Santa Monica, CA. </span><br />
<span class="st"><b>Clients: </b>Windows, Best Buy, Xbox One, Bing, Applebee's, Diesel, Old Navy, Coca-Cola Zero, Burger King, Mini, Volkswagen, Ikea, etc.</span><br />
<span class="st"><b>Internships:</b> </span><span class="st">offered three times a year - Winter (Jan-April), Summer (May-August), and Fall (Sept-Dec) </span><br />
<div class="bigleft">
<b><span class="smalllefthl">Annual interns:</span></b><span class="smalllefttext"> 60</span><span class="st"> </span></div>
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<span class="st"><b>Average intern salary:</b> </span>$7.47/hour</div>
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<b>Why I like it: </b>CP+B is one of the most awarded agencies in the world. That says a lot. A big plus is that it offers a wide range of internships - creative, production, media, design, strategy, planning, etc. Moreover, browsing through the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.cpbgroup.com/#jobs/intern-with-us">winter internship positions</a>, I found the one that sums up my dream job in four words. It's called <a href="http://www.cpbgroup.com/#jobs/intern-with-us/intern-cultural-and-business-insights">Cultural and Business Insights </a>(Strategic Planner). I can't wait to apply as soon as I can!</span></div>
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<b>Former interns' reviews:</b> <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/cpb-group-internship#">here</a></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--iGtOtCkXMQ/UpFhUmZ0P_I/AAAAAAAADAw/gR6hMNxmISM/s1600/noid-MRY_Logo_LayersOfRemarkable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--iGtOtCkXMQ/UpFhUmZ0P_I/AAAAAAAADAw/gR6hMNxmISM/s400/noid-MRY_Logo_LayersOfRemarkable.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/jobs-archive/junior-ios-front-end-developer-at-mry/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>2. <a href="http://mry.com/"> MRY</a></b></div>
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<b>What: </b>creative and technology agency</div>
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<b>Founded: </b>New York City, NY, in 2002<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Company size: </b>501-1000 employees
</div>
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<b>Offices: </b>New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Singapore.
</div>
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<b>Clients: </b>Coca Cola, Sony, Bing, Visa, Microsoft, Puma, etc.</div>
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<b>Internships: </b>mostly in the summer, but some positions are offered throughout the year as well</div>
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<b>Annual interns: </b>15<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Average intern salary: </b>$10/hour or unpaid<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Why I like it: </b>First of all, MRY is very young, modern, and creative. Secondly, the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.findspark.com/jobs/view/mry-2013-summer-internship-program">Summer Internship Program</a> includes a series of learning tasks and formal development assessments, a
summer-long team project, social events,
and more. In 2011, both Crain's New York Business and Advertising Age <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/mry">named MRY</a> as # 2 of their ''Best Places to Work.'' The next year, Business Insider <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/interns-voted-these-are-their-20-favorite-advertising-internships-in-the-us-2012-6#1-mry-1">named MRY's internship program # 1</a> on its list of the 20 best advertising internships in the United States, as voted by interns. </span></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Former interns' reviews: </b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/mr-youth-internship#">here</a></span><b><br /></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1YleT_A1L6M/UpFhvq2GvrI/AAAAAAAADA4/TDHjeAFXQ0c/s1600/mullen-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1YleT_A1L6M/UpFhvq2GvrI/AAAAAAAADA4/TDHjeAFXQ0c/s1600/mullen-logo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/mullen/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>3. <a href="http://www.mullen.com/">Mullen</a></b><br />
<div class="bigleft">
<br /></div>
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<b>What: </b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/mullen">“hyperbundled” agency</a>, offering marketing, public relations, and advertising services<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Founded: </b>Boston, Massachusetts, in 1970<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Company size: </b><span class="smalllefttext">900</span> employees
</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Offices: </b>Boston, MA, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Winston-Salem, NC. </div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Clients: </b>Acura, JetBlue, Google, U.S. Cellular, Zappos, adidas, True Religion,
VH1, American Greetings, FAGE, LivingSocial, Match.com, Timberland,
MassMutual, National Geographic Channel, Olympus, etc.</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Internships: </b>summer<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Annual interns: 30</b></div>
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<b>Average intern salary: </b>$9.96/hour</div>
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<b>Why I like it: </b>Mullen<b> </b>pays its interns, puts them on real projects, and allows them to present to higher management, hence its high internship <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/interns-voted-these-are-their-20-favorite-advertising-internships-in-the-us-2012-6#6-mullen-6">rating</a>. Besides, Mullen is a four-time Adweek's "Agency of the Year" winner, and I love the interactive mustache on their <a href="http://www.mullen.com/">website</a>.</span></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Former interns' reviews: </b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/mullen-advertising-internship">here</a></span><b><br /></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r54KZNW-LEo/UpFiGE-2YDI/AAAAAAAADBA/8z-rO4O67_c/s1600/ogilvy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r54KZNW-LEo/UpFiGE-2YDI/AAAAAAAADBA/8z-rO4O67_c/s400/ogilvy.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/posts/beyond-petroleum">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="bigleft">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>4. <a href="http://www.ogilvy.com/">Ogilvy & Mather</a></b><br />
<br />
<b>What: </b>international advertising, marketing, and public relations agency</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Founded: </b>New York City, NY, in 1948<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Company size: </b>10,001+ employees
</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Offices: </b> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/ogilvy-&-mather">450 offices in 120 countries</a></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Clients: </b>Nestle, Yahoo, Louis Vuitton, IBM, Cisco, Greenpeace, Dove, etc.<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Internships: </b>interactive, art direction,
copywriting, production, brand management, branding, planning, media, and
others. </div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Annual interns: </b>40<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Average intern salary: </b>$11.00/hour</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Why I like it: </b>It's huge. It's international. Also, Ogilvy & Mather's 12-month<a href="http://thisisogilvy.com/associates/about/"> Associates Program</a> gives its participants the opportunity
to learn from some of the most talented and experienced people in
advertising and be placed within the company at the end of the program.</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Former interns' reviews: </b><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/ogilvy-mather-internship#">here</a><b><br /></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fsi8OUrWpMg/UpFiXvBmzZI/AAAAAAAADBI/A3uKGXDtvZk/s1600/post8_BBH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fsi8OUrWpMg/UpFiXvBmzZI/AAAAAAAADBI/A3uKGXDtvZk/s1600/post8_BBH.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://advertisingmanda.com/2012/07/publicis-groupe-acquires-bbh/">via</a></td></tr>
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<b>5. <a href="http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com/">Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)</a></b><br />
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<br /></div>
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<b>What: </b>international creative advertising agency<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Founded: </b>London in 1982<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Company size: </b>1000+ employees worldwide<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Offices: </b>London, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Mumbai</div>
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<b>Clients: </b>Axe, Alpenlibe, Audi, PlayStation, Levi Straus, British Airways, Johnnie Walker, Mentos, The Guardian<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Internships: </b><a href="http://www.bbhschoolofideas.co.uk/">The BBH School of Ideas</a><b> </b>(Apprenticeship Programme), <a href="http://www.bbhhomegrown.co.uk/">BBH Homegrown </a>(3-month internship program)<b>, </b>and <a href="http://www.bbhbarn.com/">The Barn </a>(New York's bi-annual internship program)<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Annual interns: </b>varies<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Average intern salary: </b>$8.13/hour</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Why I like it:</b> BBH is a huge agency that operates worldwide. A big plus is that interns are paid $350 per week (New York).
</div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Former interns' reviews: </b><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/bartle-bogle-hegarty-bbh-internship#">here</a><b><br /></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lPY3KpYDOsw/UpFi3IqcvUI/AAAAAAAADBg/38KNHBjDnec/s1600/72.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lPY3KpYDOsw/UpFi3IqcvUI/AAAAAAAADBg/38KNHBjDnec/s1600/72.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://anastasiagarcia.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/agency-spotlight-72andsunny/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div class="bigleft">
<b>6. <a href="http://www.72andsunny.com/">72andSunny</a></b><br />
<br /></div>
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<b>What: </b>full service, modern communications company</div>
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<b>Founded: </b>Los Angeles in 2004<b> </b><br />
<b>Company size: </b>51-200 employees
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<b>Offices: </b><span class="st">Los Angeles and Amsterdam</span></div>
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<b>Clients: </b>Activision, Anheuser-Busch, Carl’s Jr., ESPN, Google, Samsung, Smirnoff, Sonos, and Target</div>
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<b>Internships: </b><a href="http://72u.org/">72U</a>, a 12-week program<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Annual interns:</b> 10+</div>
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<b>Average intern salary:</b> $8.00/hour</div>
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<b>Why I like it: </b>72andSunny is a relatively young company with big potential.<b> </b>What lures me in is its super creative and dynamic atmosphere.<b> </b>Check it out <a href="http://72u.tumblr.com/">here</a>.<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Former interns' reviews: </b><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/72-and-sunny-internship">here</a><b><br /></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4aH2Hfq0GjM/UpFjWsyXbwI/AAAAAAAADBw/VjVvdICUsBg/s1600/wieden-kennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4aH2Hfq0GjM/UpFjWsyXbwI/AAAAAAAADBw/VjVvdICUsBg/s400/wieden-kennedy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://www.topinteractiveagencies.com/digital/agency/north-america/united-states/wiedenkennedy/">via</a></td></tr>
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<b>7. <a href="http://www.wk.com/">Weiden+Kennedy</a></b><br />
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<b>What: </b><span class="st">full-service, creatively driven advertising agency</span></div>
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<b>Founded: </b>Portland, Oregon, in 1982<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Company size: </b>1001-5000 employees
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<b>Offices: </b>Portland, New York, Amsterdam, Tokyo, London, Delhi, Shanghai, and Sao Paulo.
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<b>Clients: </b>Chrysler, Coca-Cola, Converse, Facebook, Levi's, Nike, Old Spice, Sony, P&G, etc.<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Internships: </b>have to contact the <a href="http://www.wk.com/office/portland">HR team</a> or apply for <a href="http://wk12.tumblr.com/">W+K 12</a>, an internship program</div>
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<b>Annual interns: </b><span class="smalllefttext">20 (Portland)</span></div>
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<b>Average intern salary: </b>$10.36/hour</div>
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<b>Why I like it: </b>Firstly, it's based in Portland.<b> </b>Secondly, you get to work with incredibly talented people who have produced amazing award-winning campaigns, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Your_Man_Could_Smell_Like">"Just Do It," "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," </a>and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V-20Qe4M8Y">"Thank You, Mom."</a> Thirdly, you get a chance to work on huge brands. </div>
<div class="bigleft">
<b>Former interns' reviews: </b><a href="http://www.internshipking.com/wieden-kennedy-internship">here</a><b><br /></b></div>
<b><span class="st"> </span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-54793868720673148252013-11-23T22:18:00.001-08:002013-12-13T19:24:47.844-08:0016. Can We Really Multitask?Today, multitasking is one of the most common job responsibilities that one can find among various job descriptions. Everyone, from cashiers, to sales associates, to communications specialists, is expected to be able to work on multiple projects simultaneously. But is it really possible to do quality work while handling several tasks at the same time? <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://www.careerealism.com/productivity-multitasking-smarter-not-harder/">Careerealism</a></td></tr>
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We have recently touched this question in my linguistics class, when we were talking about the role of attention in language acquisition. It turns out that human attention is highly selective, meaning that we can efficiently perform just one attention demanding task at a time. In fact,<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794"> researchers say</a> that multitasking is a myth, providing real data to prove their point. "People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves," says neuroscientist <a href="https://www.earlkmiller.org/earl-miller/">Earl Miller.</a><br />
<br />
While scientists analyze complex brain scans, we can do some simple tests ourselves to see if multitasking is possible. Have you ever tried to text while walking on a busy street? I have. Some would think of it as a sort of multitasking, but it really isn't. Since there are multiple obstacles on the street, we usually stop texting for a moment to see where we are going so that we won't trip. This means that we are not actually performing two tasks continuously, so we are not really multitasking. Another example is talking to someone while writing. This is nearly impossible to do - you would either make a mistake in writing or say something that doesn't make sense.<br />
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What we really do while successfully performing multiple tasks at the same time is switching between them really quickly, which gives the illusion of multitasking. The ability to quickly shift your attention from one project to another and to accomplish each of them effectively is exactly what employers are looking for in applicants.<br />
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However, true multitasking does exist, but it requires two or more tasks to be <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.diridoncoaching.com/1/post/2013/06/show-multitasking-whos-boss.html">compatible</a>. For example, listening to a professor and taking notes are two compatible activities, which is why most students can perform them simultaneously without a problem. So if you are not very good at switching your focus really quickly, try matching compatible tasks for better efficiency.</span><br />
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Most people presume that multitasking is the performance of multiple tasks at the same time, but while it is true for computers, the human brain is simply not able to function as smoothly and quickly as a processor. I believe employers should explain what they really mean by this term in order to avoid any confusion among their employees and prevent them from <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/18/12-reasons-to-stop-multitasking-now/">making mistakes or stressing out, </a>while they are trying to handle several tasks simultaneously.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-11623919515245582882013-11-23T22:14:00.001-08:002013-11-26T19:17:53.925-08:0015. Six Tips for a Successful Career in AdvertisingLast week we had an amazing guest lecturer in our <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23UOcreativestrat&src=hash">Creative Strategist</a> class - <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tracy-wong/16/b3a/853">Tracy Wong</a>, the executive creative director and co-founder of <a href="http://www.wongdoody.com/">WONGDOODY</a>, the most awarded independent advertising agency on the West Coast with offices in Seattle and Los
Angeles. Tracy Wong is a graduate of the University of Oregon <a href="http://journalism.uoregon.edu/academics/advertising">advertising program</a> and has nearly 30 years' experience in the industry. He is currently writing a book on how to launch a successful career in advertising, which is based on his extensive experience and personal success. I am very glad that he was able to come and share some of his knowledge and advice with us because they are definitely very valuable for any young professional aspiring to start a successful career in advertising. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QwgJCRflqQk/Uo_85G1gKnI/AAAAAAAAC_8/L7okKXZnX5c/s1600/0795e98.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QwgJCRflqQk/Uo_85G1gKnI/AAAAAAAAC_8/L7okKXZnX5c/s320/0795e98.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tracy Wong of WONGDOODY. Image via <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tracy-wong/16/b3a/853">LinkedIn</a>.</td></tr>
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Here are his six insights and tips that he prepared for us. Following them will surely make you armed and ready to take on the industry.<br />
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<b>1. The greatest creative barrier is your ego. </b><br />
Egotism can hijack your career. Best tip for this? Don't be arrogant and learn to let go of your work - compromise and be open to other ideas. You are not your ideas, so never take criticism personally. <br />
Besides, ego hides opportunities. Everyone wants to work on a big account, like Nike or Starbucks, but in fact, working on something small can open a door to great new opportunities. Tracy gave us an example of <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.oldspice.com/en-US/home-page.aspx">Old Spice</a>, which used to be an average personal hygiene brand that no one really cared for nor wanted to work on until <a href="http://www.wk.com/">Weiden+Kennedy </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-successful-rebranding-campaigns-2011-2#there-was-nothing-special-about-old-spice-now-its-a-viral-sensation-8">rebranded</a> it. Now, everyone wants to work on it. Conclusion - where there is a problem, there is an opportunity. Embrace that.</span><br />
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<b>2. 99 percent of a great idea is a great strategy. </b><br />
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An idea without a strategy behind it is just pointless and thus doesn't have any chance for success. <br />
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<b>3. The greatest creative weapon is you ears. </b><br />
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Listening is key to your success in advertising. Knowledge talks, but wisdom listens. Listen to your consumer, client, and colleagues with an empty, not open mind. An open mind means the door to your mind is open (so you are ready to listen,) but there is no room for a different idea. An empty mind, on the other hand, means that your mind is completely clean and ready to adopt a new idea.<br />
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<b>4. Embrace compromise.</b><br />
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The client is paying you, so you have to recognize that they are always right and consider their opinions and advice. Talking and discussing issues with the client are extremely important for reaching a consensus. <br />
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<b>5. Engage in a creative democracy.</b><br />
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Collaboration is crucial in advertising. The ability to work with your colleagues efficiently makes you a better professional. <b>We > Me</b>. And don't forget that your client has to be part of this process. <br />
Anything is possible as long as no one cares who gets the credit for the work produced (the greatest creative barrier is you ego, remember?)<br />
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<b>6. Love your client like you love your dog. </b><br />
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It's all about a good relationship with the client. After all, it's them who you are working for.<br />
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I agree with each of Tracy's points and will try to follow them in my future career. Actually, I don't even have to wait - as an ad student, I can use some of these tips now, while working on group projects. Practice makes perfect, right?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-73552565056332753712013-11-10T14:25:00.000-08:002013-11-10T14:29:04.498-08:0014. The Night of the Ad EatersThe Night of the Ad Eaters is an international <a href="http://www.adeater.com/index.php">all night show</a> dedicated to screening the world's most creative, funny, provocative, and shocking commercials in a party atmosphere. Created in Switzerland in 1981 by Jean Marie Boursicot, the show was initially designed to raise funds for his <a href="http://www.adeater.com/cinematheque-jean-marie-boursicot.php">Cinematheque project</a>, which is intended for the preservation of advertising archives. Today, the Cinematheque is<a href="http://cinemathequejeanmarieboursicot.com/advertising_archive_commercials_database/index.htm"> the biggest and only</a> film library in the world dedicated to TV and cinema commercials - it holds more than 1 million films from all over the world.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hUtgjvJbstY/Un9nPyV-DQI/AAAAAAAAC_o/Ol0Tbq536wY/s1600/advertising-database.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hUtgjvJbstY/Un9nPyV-DQI/AAAAAAAAC_o/Ol0Tbq536wY/s1600/advertising-database.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cinematheque Jean Marie Boursicot. Image <a href="http://cinemathequejeanmarieboursicot.com/advertising_archive_commercials_database/index.htm">via </a></td></tr>
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The Night of the Ad Eaters runs yearly in more than 40 countries worldwide, creating a fun shared experience between people of various nationalities and cultures. To get a better idea of what the show looks like in reality, see the trailer below.<br />
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Jean Marie Boursicot</div>
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Jean Marie Boursicot</div>
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A mix between a movie night, a concert, and a party, this show seems like a must-see for anyone who loves advertising or just wants to have fun. Besides great entertainment, it offers a variety of amusing commercials, like these:<br />
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If you are considering attending the show in the near future, you may want to check out the U.S. <span class="font_7"><a href="http://www.adeater.us/#!tour/csxp">tour map and dates.</a> I wish the show came to Oregon though because it would be fun to go and see it! </span><br />
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<span class="font_7">Have you ever seen this show? If not, would you like to?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-44573665864016724752013-11-10T01:56:00.000-08:002013-11-27T23:13:09.954-08:0013. Born in OregonEver since I moved to the States in 2010, I've been trying to make sense of my new environment - Oregon - through traveling, university lectures, random conversations, and my own research. Born and raised in the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizhny_Novgorod">fifth largest city</a> in Russia, I could not imagine that such a</span> majorly rural region as Oregon could possibly be the homeland of such big brand names as Nike or Columbia, which are so famous and popular in Russia, as well as everywhere else in the world. Learning about the history of Oregon-based brands, their indestructible ambition, and endless creativity despite the rainy climate has been inspiring me to get better with every step I take and feel proud of being part of this state and its culture. <br />
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Here is my list of big brands that I discovered were born in Oregon and have flourished outside the state.<br />
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<b>1. <a href="http://www.nike.com/">Nike</a></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bt62sM_NmRI/Un8qbCXByxI/AAAAAAAAC-g/tN_RdtZKtVs/s1600/nike_swoosh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bt62sM_NmRI/Un8qbCXByxI/AAAAAAAAC-g/tN_RdtZKtVs/s400/nike_swoosh.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://oeilsj.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/a-little-on-nike-logo-tagline-and-advertising/">Oeil Jumratsilpa</a></td></tr>
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The company was initially founded as Blue Ribbon Sports by a <a href="http://uoregon.edu/">University of Oregon</a> track runner<a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/phil-knight/"> Phil Knight</a> and his coach <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bowerman">Bill Bowerman</a> in 1964. In 1971 the company was renamed Nike after the Greek goddess of victory. The Swoosh logo was created by <a href="http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/06/the-creator-of-the-nike-swoosh-logo-was-originally-paid-only-35-for-the-design/">Carolyn Davidson</a>, a graphic design student at Portland State University the same year. Now headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike is one of the world's largest suppliers of athletic apparel and gear. I recommend reading the<a href="http://nikeinc.com/pages/history-heritage"> entire history</a> of the brand if you're interested in the details.<br />
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Also, check out this inspirational video that demonstrates how Nike's professional atmosphere and Oregon's culture intertwine. <br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/77013544?byline=0&color=ff9933" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/77013544"></a><br /></div>
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<b>2. <a href="http://www.columbia.com/">Columbia Sportswear Company</a></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tKZvbgZuocA/Un8sOhyiByI/AAAAAAAAC-s/lQzBICvZaF4/s1600/columbia_sportwear_logo_618x426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tKZvbgZuocA/Un8sOhyiByI/AAAAAAAAC-s/lQzBICvZaF4/s400/columbia_sportwear_logo_618x426.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://aoportland.com/columbia/">Portland Athletic & Outdoor</a></td></tr>
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This sportswear company originally started as a small family business called Columbia Hat Company in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon">Portland</a>, Oregon, in 1938. As <a href="http://www.columbia.com/Gert-Boyle/Officers_Gert_Boyle,default,pg.html">Gert Boyle</a>, the daughter of the owners and present chairman of the company, designed the first fishing vest in 1960, the company was renamed Columbia Sportswear Company. Today, Gert Boyle's son <a href="http://www.columbia.com/Tim-Boyle/Officers_Tim_Boyle,default,pg.html">Tim Boyle</a> is the company's CEO.<br />
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Here is the entire history of Columbia told by Gert Boyle. I love the brand's core idea, "Success comes to those who try." And my favorite phrase from the clip is, "Try. Try harder. Try differently. Then try again." <br />
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<b>3. <a href="http://www.tacotime.com/">Taco Time</a></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L_LFkjetNnQ/Un8uSf9ZuhI/AAAAAAAAC-4/EAtzApUC9UY/s1600/TacoTime_Logo_350px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L_LFkjetNnQ/Un8uSf9ZuhI/AAAAAAAAC-4/EAtzApUC9UY/s1600/TacoTime_Logo_350px.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://martillodesalvacion.blogspot.com/2010/09/la-quesadilla-impostora.html">Martillo de Salvacion</a></td></tr>
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This Mexican fast-food restaurant chain was founded by a former University of Oregon student <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=61476129&privcapId=7058798&previousCapId=7058798&previousTitle=Taco%20Time%20International,%20Inc">Ron Fraedrick</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene,_Oregon">Eugene</a>, Oregon, in 1959. Today, the company has more than 300 franchises in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands Antilles, and Kuwait.<br />
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<b>4. <a href="http://www.tazo.com/">Tazo</a></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--lOm5y7uAxg/Un8vnv4iVZI/AAAAAAAAC_Q/KloZ94THHak/s1600/800px-Selection_of_Tazo_teas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--lOm5y7uAxg/Un8vnv4iVZI/AAAAAAAAC_Q/KloZ94THHak/s400/800px-Selection_of_Tazo_teas.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Selection_of_Tazo_teas.jpg">Wikipedia</a></td></tr>
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Tazo Tea Company was founded by Steve Smith in Portland, Oregon, in 1994. Looking for investment partners, Smith asked <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.starbucks.com/">Starbucks'</a> CEO <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/howard-schultz/">Howard Schultz</a> for cooperation in 1998, so Starbucks <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-20/starbucks-to-open-tazo-tea-store.html">bought Tazo</a> for $8.1 million in 1999. Since then, the Tazo tea brand has been been offered at most Starbucks locations.</span><br />
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<b>5. <a href="http://www.dutchbros.com/">Dutch Bros. Coffee</a></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVopeSCu0Tk/Un8wSyIbGFI/AAAAAAAAC_Y/hieJzaVZkUk/s1600/DutchBrosCoffeeGrouping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVopeSCu0Tk/Un8wSyIbGFI/AAAAAAAAC_Y/hieJzaVZkUk/s400/DutchBrosCoffeeGrouping.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2011/11/dutch_bros_celebrates_8th_ariz.php">Phoenix New Times</a></td></tr>
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Dutch Bros. Coffee is the country’s largest privately held drive-thru coffee company headquartered in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grants_Pass,_Oregon">Grants Pass</a>, Oregon. Founded by dairy farmer brothers Dane and Travis Boersma in 1992, the company now holds nearly 200 locations in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. Considering its great national success, it may soon very well become the next leader in the coffee industry.<br />
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Am I missing any other big Oregon-based brands that should be on my list?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375469709231484921.post-67752763555839882102013-11-09T19:58:00.001-08:002013-11-14T23:14:35.199-08:0012. The Bechdel TestHow many films that you've seen have at least <b>two female characters</b> in them who <b>talk to each other</b> about something <b>other than a man</b>? It may seem like you can name plenty, but in reality, there are not very many films that meet these simple criteria of <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://bechdeltest.com/">the Bechdel Test.</a> The test was named after <a href="http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/about">Alison Bechdel</a>, an</span> American cartoonist, whose comic <a href="http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof">Dykes to Watch Out For</a> first introduced this set of criteria for determining gender bias in 1985. Then, it became widely used for discussing films and other works of entertainment.<br />
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So to pass the Bechdel Test, a movie has to pass these three questions:<br />
<ol>
<li>Does it have at least two women in it who have names?</li>
<li>Do they talk to each other?</li>
<li>Do they discuss something besides a man?</li>
</ol>
You'll be surprised that <span style="color: red;"></span>most films you've seen fail this test. <br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bLF6sAAMb4s?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
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But the goal of this test is not just to determine whether a film meets these criteria. It is intended to give us a broader understanding of the film industry and its tendency to cater more to men than women and to portray women in one dimension. <br />
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Just recently, Swedish movie theaters <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10430135/Swedish-cinemas-launch-feminist-film-ratings.html">have begun using the Bechdel test</a> to rate films. If a film passes the test, it gets an "A" rating, if not, it remains unrated. The goal of the rating system is to encourage the industry to portray "more female stories and perspectives
on cinema screens". Smart move, isn't it?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05758801052478971946noreply@blogger.com0