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Cultural difference in the visual interface the development of interface design processes for multicultural audiences

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posted on 2024-07-13, 00:34 authored by Min Choy Tong
Acknowledging cultural differences in the development of visual interface design is an important factor in many multicultural settings. In this case I will be investigating the cultural and ethnic mix of Malaysia, taking official government websites as a case study. In Malaysia, Malays, Chinese and Indians live in a pluralistic society but are treated by the government as separate communities. Each ethnic group has been able to retain its cultural identity through individual languages, religion and traditions. Most of the government websites however, exclusively privilege Malay users through language and cultural elements. Despite this, Malaysia’s brand of multiculturalism endeavours to consider diversity as a positive resource, with government policy promoting tolerance between the ethnic groups to maintain a harmonious and unified society. Vision 2020 has been initiated by the Malay Government to fulfil this goal of promoting intercultural understanding within Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society. This research investigates effective strategies for the development of a truly representative visual interface design within a multicultural context in the spirit of Vision 2020. This project employs Power Distance (PD) and Collectivism-Individualism (CI) from Hoftstede’s model of cultural analysis and Aaron Marcus’s approach to multi-dimensional web-interface analysis to identify current representations of multicultural Malaysia. “Cultural Markers” and case study analysis are conducted as methodologies for investigating, theorising developing and designing visual interface design. Several Style Menus are developed to demonstrate different methods of cultural inclusion and accommodate a more accurate expression of revised government policy.

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Thesis type

  • Thesis (Professional doctorate)

Thesis note

Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Professional Doctorate in Design, Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, 2007.

Copyright statement

Copyright © 2007 Min Choy (Adrian) Tong.

Supervisors

Keith Robertson

Language

eng

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