UX: What is International User Experience Design?

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In order to truly understand the concept of user experience and what international user experience design is, first we need to understand a few other key concepts that are related and easily confused with international user experience design. Let’s start by defining what user experience or UX is, and looking at some other concepts that can help us understand it better.

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User experience:

User experience is the interaction between a person and the product, service, or company. Here, ‘product’ very often refers to a website or app. Ideally, all products and services should be designed with the end user in mind, but reality and experience have shown us that this is not always the case and that is why further research has been carried out on the topic. There is even an ISO standard that defines user experience as ‘A person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use of a product, system, or service.’ ISO 9241-210:2019(en) (Ergonomics of human-system interaction — Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems)

User Experience or UX design:

User experience design applies this principle when developing and manufacturing a product or service from scratch. As defined by Wikipedia, ‘User experience design (UX, UXD, UED, or XD design) defines the experience a user would go through when interacting with a company, its services, and its products. Research, data analysis, and test results drive design decisions in UX design rather than aesthetic preferences and opinions. Unlike user interface design, which focuses solely on the design of a computer interface, UX design encompasses all aspects of a user’s perceived experience with a product or website, such as its usability, usefulness, brand perception, and overall performance.’

Human-Centred Design (HCD):

Human-Centred Design (HCD) focuses design on the human being in general and applies knowledge in fields such as psychology, anthropology, and sociology to elaborate and design products and services, based on human interaction and behaviour.

This term does not seem to be attributed to a specific person or university, but the Stanford School of Design (Stanford Design School) has played a key role in studying and researching in this field and currently courses such as the Customer-Focused Innovation programme can be studied here.

User-Centred Design (UCD):

The terms Human-Centred Design (HCD) and User-Centred Design (UCD) are often used interchangeably but there is a subtle difference between the two. The first takes into account all humanity and the second is focused on the users of the particular service or product and on satisfying their specific needs.

Don Norman has been one of the leading thinkers on user-centred design. His consulting firm’s website (Nielsen & Norman Group) contains a lot of interesting information on the subject

What aspects should be taken into account when designing the user experience?

According to the Interactive Design Foundation, there are seven factors that directly influence user experience:

Useful > It must have a purpose for something
Usable > It must be easy to use
Credible > It must be trustworthy
Findable > It must be easy to find
Desirable > It must be desirable
Accessible > It must be accessible to everyone
Valuable > It must deliver value

What are the benefits of UX Design?

Designing and defining our products, websites and services with the person who will use them in mind will help us make them simpler and easier to use and navigate, and this will make them more popular:

Increased customer satisfaction
Reduced training and support costs (fewer calls to support)
Reduced development time and costs
Reduced maintenance costs (fewer changes and versions)
Increased sales and revenue

What is International User Experience (UX) Design?

User experiences vary considerably from one country to the next. It’s true that human beings have common traits, but if we want to reach all countries and cultures equally, we must consider these differences when designing products or services.

International user experience design means accounting for cultural, demographic and geographical diversity to develop and design documentation, products and services.

Which aspects should we consider in order to reach the maximum number of users in the world?

Cultural awareness:

Understand and respect differences between cultures. Elements such as colours, icons or symbols may have different meanings in different cultures.

Visual design:

Aesthetics and graphic design must take into account the aesthetic preferences of each country and culture.

Local regulations:

It is important to comply with local regulations and legislation for products to be accepted and adopted.

Localisation:

Content must be localised, which is a process that goes beyond translation, and implies modifying the content and functions to adapt them to the cultural and linguistic context of a specific region.

Language:

Content must be translated into the language of the country or region in order to facilitate understanding and reach all users.

Conclusion

Designing a product or service with the end user in mind will enhance the user experience and make the product or service more useful and effective. When defining an end user to determine their needs, it’s also important to account for the language in which they communicate, and the region of the world where they are located. Therefore, the international user experience design will help us to define more accurately what our product or service should be, to ensure it reaches the market we are targeting in the world.

If you need help designing a product or service to be sold globally, contact us info@localizationlab.com and we will give you a helping hand.