Considering Cultural Aspects in User Interface Design : A Case Study of the Effects of Culture on User Experience When Localizing a Product from Europe to Japan

In the globalized world the importance of providing a user interface that is suitable for all users from different cultures has been recognized. As the companies become more international, also the amount of offering that is available becomes larger. It is no longer enough to provide a user interface that is designed for international use, but also recognizing the customer specific needs becomes important. Here user experience and localization become the key terms.\n\nThe goal of the thesis work was to investigate if there is a need to provide a localized user interface design for the Japanese ETAS INCA users, as the product is mainly designed in Germany for the global use.\n\nThe approach taken in the thesis work was to do a three phase study. The first phase consisted of cultural studies, to recognize the similarities and differences in the two cultures and how these might affect the user interface design. In the second phase a user interface inspection was done by using Japanese cultural heuristics (created as a result of the first phase of the study). The third phase, user research, was done by using three different user research methods: user survey, user interview and user observation.\n\nAs a result of the thesis work the Japanese cultural heuristics were noticed to provide useful information about the cultural preferences of the Japanese users for the user interface design. However, these heuristics were also recognized to be useful when designing for other cultures (not just for Japan) and could be used as more of a general guideline. Although cultural issues were noticed in the design of ETAS INCA, were most of the usability issues still general, not Japan specific. Therefore, before providing a localized user interface for Japan, it would be still more beneficial to focus on the general issues.