Intercultural Design GCD61304

 Intercultural Design - Project 
(E-Portofolio)

The Module Information Booklet for this Module:

-Lectures-

• Culture & Design •

We live in a visual information culture. Visuals are powerful persuasive medium to provide most of our information bout the world. 

40% of people respond more to visuals than to text

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual

Visuals are processed 60,000x times faster in the brain than text

Visuals are:

1. Everything that can be seen

• Wide definition, all-inclusive including nature (but nature is not culture) unless there's meaning & representation attached to it.

2. Everything produced / created by humans that can be seen

• Produced / created by human for the purpose of visual representations that has functions, content, communicative purposes

Designers need to be aware of: 

1. Cultural nuances

2. Symbolism

3. Context 

To create designs that are inclusive and resonate with diverse audiences.

Design Significance

• Able to identify the social, cultural & political sphere where the design elements reside
• By understanding the significance of the graphics in its cultural studies, philosophy, sociology & origin history

Fig. 1.0 Design System Sphere

Fig. 1.1 Design System Pyramid

Cultural sensitivity in design goes beyond aesthetics, it also encompasses: 

1. Functionality

2. Usability

3. User Experience 

Design Sensitivity

1. Culture Sensitivity Awareness

(a) Symbolism and Imagery 

• Certain symbols / images may carry different meanings in different cultures
• Be mindful of potential cultural interpretations to avoid unintentional misunderstandings / offence

(b) Colour Considerations

• Colours can have cultural significance
• Meanings may vary across societies
• Understanding the cultural association of colours can help designers make appropriate choices

(c) Typography & Language

• Choosing font and text styles that are culturally appropriate is important
• Considering language variations & ensuring accurate translations is crucial for reaching diverse audiences 

2. Addressing Culture Sensitivity 

(a) Inclusive Design

• Strive to create products & experiences that are accessible and inclusive for people across various cultural backgrounds, different abilities & needs

(b) User Research

• Conduct thorough user research (ethnographic studies & diverse groups of user testing)
• Helps designers gain insights into cultural preferences & behaviours

(c) Localization

• Adapt designs to specific cultural contexts
• Can enhance the relevance & acceptance of a product / service

(d) Cultural Awareness Training

• To develop a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives & sensitivities

-Progress-

Week 1

     Today is our first class for this module, and its started with an introduction for the module with Mr Asrizal and continued with Ms Noranis explaining about Culture & Design. She explained that culture and design always connected, if there is design, there is culture and vice versa. Also, when making a design we should do RESEARCH,  not only to help creating design according to the target market, conducting RESEARCH can help us to create designs that do not offend any culture thereby reducing conflict.

    After that, they asked us to make a grup consisting of max 6 people and my group consiting of  Jordon ( the group leader), Eric, Pei Jiun, Keryn, Abigail, and myself.

Week 2

    This week my team and i finally decided that we are going to use stained traditional european window glasses as our idea to develop and applied to wind chimes, coaster and mirror frame. But after disscusing with our mentor, sir charles, we got a conclusion to change some of the everday object and also we still using the stained glass idea but combine it with european and asian motifs, and as the result our initial ideas are:

• Lamp/Lantern
• Mirror Frame
• Modern PC Case

Fig 2.1 Lamp Idea

Fig 2.2 Mirror Frame Idea

Fig 2.3 Modern PC Case Idea

Week 3

     In this week, we finally done with our idea presentation about implementing stained glass in everday design, and after submitting the online presentation on teams, we are doing an offline consultation on friday and as the result sir charles choosed the modern PC case as our final idea particullary the one that has chinese pattern. we also do presetation by online zoom meeting.

Here is our proposal presentation:

Week 4

    Since this week is "Data Collection" week, there is no class. We decided to do online survey by google form to gained information that will help guide the design process and make informed decisions about aesthetics, functionality, and user preferences. In addtion, we also doing online research, because we didn't found anya place nearby to do the offline research. For the online survey so far we already have more than 20 responds that we can use as our data for next task.

Week 5

    This week we start and finished our data collection presentation and also our research. We had a consultation to Sir Charles abour how will we execute our last task which is task 3 that told us to make a tik tok video. We were quite struggling to gathering ideas for the videos, and at first we are planning to use digitally moc up of the pc case, but after considering Sir charles idea which making a physically PC Stained Glass case, we decided to make it and use it as one of our video part.

This is Our Data Collection Presentation:

Week 6

After deciding to make the PC Case mock up, we started to make it this week by using some plastics colored sheets, infraboard which recommended by Sir Charles, coloured marker, glue, etc. This is our video timelapse of our progress making the PC Case:

Week 7

This last week, we finally finished our project and here is our Final Presentation:

-Feedbacks-

• Week 1 •

Briefing of our task.

• Week 2 •

Sketches is there doesn't mean that you have to sketch it. The sketch can be in the form of the whole point we put. It just to demonstrate to you the idea of an ideation.

• Week 3 •

Stained glass is for pretty places if we used it on coaster, it just turned cheap. The idea about Pc case is kind of interesting can keep going with that. Besides, The research statement we wrote is actually the research question so need to change it.

• Week 4 •

No class for week 4.

• Week 5 •

For the TikTok video, can make a physical mock up for the stained glass Pc case.

• Week 6 •

No class for week 6.

• Week 7 •

No class for week 7.

-Reflection-

Working on this project was a really great experience for me. It wasn’t always easy, especially with everyone’s busy schedules, but our group leader did a great job of keeping us organized and on track. One thing I realized early on was that while the stained glass PC case was beautiful, we had to rethink how to make it more functional and appealing to a wider audience. The feedback we got from the survey was really encouraging and showed that there’s potential in the idea, even if it’s a bit niche. Overall, I learned a lot about teamwork, balancing creativity with practicality, and how important good communication is in making everything come together.