June 20, 2021

Designing Across Cultures

I spoke with the Communication Arts team last year, and shared some reflections on the effects that designers’ UX and branding choices can have on users in different cultures.

June 20, 2021

Designing for a global audience: an interview on the EditorX blog

image of Senongo Akpem giving a talk. On the right is an illustration of the words 'Cross-cultural design' in a number of different languages and scripts

I spoke with Oliver Lindberg at the EditorX blog last fall, about Cross-Cultural Design, my creative practice, and how to work with global audiences.

Read the interview!

October 24, 2020

Who We Are As Designers

I was recently on Tentative, a podcast about digital product design, to talk about design in civic-tech, ways to include cross-cultural design thinking into short engagements, staying dedicated to long-term projects, and memories of Dreamweaver. Tentative is hosted by thoughtbot's Chief Design Officer Kyle Fiedler & Boston Design Director Jaclyn Perrone.

Have a listen!

https://www.tentative.fm/100

June 1, 2020

Internationalization: Practical Tips to Build for a Global Audience

I spoke with Oliver Lindberg on the Shopify Partners blog about keeping people who speak English as a second language in mind when you structure your content for localization.

“Even if you’re fluent in English, reading on screen can be disorienting, without the visual cues we get when reading in print,” Senongo explains. “One strategy is to give people a breakdown of content at the top of the page. Your readers can scan this list for context and quickly get to the section they want. For longer reports or academic content, these could be one-sentence key takeaways linked to different chapters.”

June 1, 2020

Challenging assumptions and designing across cultures

I spoke to Gene Shannon on the the Shopify UX team earlier this month about the principles of cross-cultural design, along with a few lessons and best practices I've picked up.

Have a read!

May 16, 2020

Cross-Cultural Design on The Shop Talk Show!

I spoke with Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert on the Shop Talk Show, a podcast about building websites. The conversation went all over, but focused mainly on my new book, Cross-Cultural Design, and how building websites for people all over the world and from different cultures can be done better.

Listen to the podcast here!

May 16, 2020

Cross‑Cultural Design: 4 Ways to Get Started

Art by Nick Slater

In March, I wrote about four ways to get started with cross-cultural design for the Dribbble blog. Here's the intro, and I hope you read the whole piece!

The internet is connecting more people in more places than ever before—and yet many of us still start our design and illustration projects with wealthy, Western audiences in mind. However, our audiences bring a dazzling variety of languages, perspectives, and expectations with them. If we want to effectively design for these modern, multicultural audiences, we have to be willing to challenge our usual ways of gathering inspiration and conceptualizing our projects.

To effectively design for these modern, multicultural audiences, we have to be willing to challenge our usual ways of gathering inspiration & conceptualizing our projects.

You may have just started a web or illustration project that requires cultural knowledge or sensitivity. Perhaps your search for “cross-cultural design” brought up a bunch of information, but you want something put into use immediately. You don’t always need to do deep cultural dives, but you can center the needs of your audience by using a few straightforward techniques to help you get started.

Read the whole thing on the Dribbble!

May 16, 2020

Cross-Cultural Design on the ‘This is HCD’ Podcast

Subway map at Kitayama Station in Kyoto

I talked with Andy Polaine from This is HCD about how living in constantly shifting cultural and physical spaces, and how that has given me unique insight into the influence of culture on communication and creativity. The podcast focused on my new book, Cross-Cultural Design.

"As human beings, we’ll often default to certain patterns that we’re familiar with – ways of structuring content, ways of designing user interfaces, all of those mental models that we are familiar with. Culturally responsive design asks us to take a step back essentially and say, ‘What are the ways that we can make our digital experiences’ – the ones that we create as designers, as content strategists – ‘much more malleable and allow them to fit different people’s perspectives, different people’s lived experiences?’"

Give it a listen/read here!

February 12, 2020

Who I Wrote Cross-Cultural Design For

With the release of my new book coming soon (preorders are open, go pick up a copy!), I wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on who this book is for, and why I wrote it for them.

First off, though, a quick description of what Cross-Cultural Design is all about. The modern web is inherently global—and if we want to design successfully for it, we must be ready to meet the needs, perspectives, and expectations of multifaceted, multicultural audiences.

My book offers a clear and accessible methodology for designing across cultures: from performing socially conscious research, to building culturally responsive experiences, to developing meaningful internationalization and localization approaches. It’s written for people who want to expand their craft, and their mindset—and who want to start creating a richer experience for everyone on the web, regardless of location, language, or identity.

As I was writing, I tried to focus on three different types of people who need that information. 

Designers

Sooner or later, every designer encounters a challenge that’s just a bit beyond their experience level. The first group of readers I considered for this book are creative practitioners who are starting a project or job that requires cultural sensitivity. They’ve just had the inevitable “Oh, no…” moment, where they realize the task asks for more cultural sensitivity and thinking than they may be used to. These designers see how cross-cultural design is important, but may still be early in their career and consequently feel out of their depth.

They want something authoritative, yet easy to put into use immediately, because they still have to juggle the demands of their projects and work. I imagine them getting up to speed by doing web searches for “cross-cultural design”, which brings up a variety sites, as well as links to my book.

Strategists and Researchers

The second group I have in mind is strategists and researchers who need to better understand their existing global audiences. During pitches, reviews, and meetings, they want to offer clear recommendations to their clients and teams on how best to address content and UX research for a cross-cultural audience. From experience on other client work, they are more familiar with how culture affects design and interactive experiences.

This target reader has experienced doing UX research already, and is interested in getting better at handling complex, global work. My hope is that they will see themselves reflected in the anecdotes and stories I tell, and be able to quickly use the research strategies and framework that I lay out. 

Team Leads and Managers

The last group I wrote for is experienced team leaders, managers who want to deepen their team’s skill-sets. They already have extensive experience managing teams and projects, and need additional information to use in their existing workflows.

Past experience on digital projects with a multicultural client base has given them a need for action-oriented ideas to introduce to their direct reports and company executives. Their leadership roles mean they are focused on improving the skills of their studio or office in a cohesive and structured way. 

So which one are you? First and foremost, this is a book for design professionals, but those aren’t the only types of people I want to read Cross-Cultural Design. For anyone who loves stories, and the web, this is for you too! It’s been a real joy, and a journey, writing this, and the more people who read it, the better. 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! For now, preorder a copy and keep an eye on my social feeds for more info! Cross-Cultural Design officially drops on Feb. 25!

January 20, 2020

I’ve got a book coming out!

I am so excited to announce that my first book, Cross-Cultural Design, is coming soon from A Book Apart!

The internet is connecting more people in more places than ever before—and yet many of us still design with only wealthy, Western audiences in mind. In truth, our users extend well beyond those borders, and bring a dazzling variety of languages, perspectives, and expectations about the web with them. If we want to effectively design for this modern, multicultural web, we must be eager to understand and meet the needs of global audiences. 

That’s the biggest reason I wrote this book. As designers, we need a clear and accessible methodology for designing across those cultures: from performing socially-conscious research, to building culturally responsive experiences, to developing meaningful internationalization and localization approaches, even to choosing effective colors, icons, and photography. 

If you want to expand your craft, and your mindset—and start creating a richer experience for everyone on the web, regardless of location, background, or identity, then this book is for you!  You can find out more over at A Book Apart.

Pre-orders will open later this month, and the book launches on Feb. 25th!

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