Crossing Cultures

Few design managers can avoid the headache of the international diversity of tastes. Since the 1980s, brand owners have dreamt of the economies of scale that global products promise, but managers on the frontline know that the reality of designing products for world markets is much more complex and ambiguous. The rogues’ gallery of product faux pas that made disastrous translations to local culture is a testament to the number of bear traps out there.

Early humans left the East African plains about 80,000 years ago. For the next 79,000 years, people moved and grew apart from their shared beginnings. The multitude of cultures that bloomed over this period largely lived in ignorance of each other until pioneers such as Marco Polo  and Columbus began an era of rediscovery and reconnection. This process, which we now call globalisation, has accelerated rapidly over the past 50 years. Through developments in trade, travel, off-shoring, the Internet and concerns over climate change, global humanity has never felt so interconnected and interdependent.

At one level the Olympics, football, Hollywood, YouTube and Beyoncé are all agents of a global culture. And global markets do exist, particularly in premium categories aimed at the educated and well-traveled, upper-middle classes. This explains why brands like BMW, Apple, B&O and B&B Italia have less trouble customising their portfolios to local markets. However, outside this global elite real cultural differences persist.

There are many concrete drivers of diversity, from the geographic to matters of infrastructure. Some factors, like Japan’s dearth of habitable land, are not likely to change anytime soon. Japan’s high-density living puts a premium on space and an emphasis on communal harmony, which in turn helps explain the cultural importance of miniaturization.

It will also be some time before Muscovites change their attitude about the seasons. Moscow’s fashionistas have two very different winter and summer wardrobes. Winter outfits reflect their extreme thermal requirements, while summer gear expresses their joy that it’s no longer winter. During a project about premium fashion mobile phones, a number of wealthy Russian women, who buy phones like handbags, liked a white prototype so much that they wanted to buy it as their winter phone – or maybe for weddings.

Other material factors, like India’s chronically deficient infrastructure, will hopefully not prove so eternal. Nokia hit a home run in the sub-continent with the design and marketing of its 1100 model. Under the slogan ‘Made for India,’ Nokia emphasised the phone’s dirt-resistant keypad, which is a boon in the cloud of dust that is India; its integrated flashlight, a godsend in the often electricity-free evenings; and its general robustness, which is deemed essential by most Indians. It is always wise to ground any cultural study on notable and relevant hard facts, whether they be climate, diet or gross domestic product. On this last point, although socio-demographic data is considered distinctly non-groovy, few factors are a more influential determinant of buying behavior than the income of the target group.

Other influences on cultural variety are equally entrenched, but for more historical or belief-based reasons. The concept of face is a classic case in point. When dealing with people from a Confucian Asian culture, particularly China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan, it is unacceptable to publicly criticize them or expose an error. Mistakes are noted, but in public the proper behavior is to nod in agreement and hold your tongue to save face on both sides. The importance of respecting a person’s reputation and integrity has been culturally embedded for thousands of years and is unlikely to change much in the 21st century.

Britain’s global outlook and openness to other cultures can be explained by an accumulation of historical factors that occurred over hundreds, rather than thousands, of years. Being an early trading nation and later temporarily the center of an empire encouraged an outward-facing perspective. More recently, a global mentality has been reinforced as British jobs have become increasingly dependent on foreign firms. Mass immigration over the last half-century has also made cities like London truly global. Since the 1980s Brits have learned to enjoy the best of global culture, whether it’s a German car, Indian curry or a Japanese beer.

Some historical factors are much more recent. For example, one of the key forces behind mobile usage seems to depend on which took off first in a culture, mobile phones or the Internet. By the time most Americans owned a cell phone, they were accustomed to PC email and were therefore unenthusiastic about SMS text messaging on a phone; whereas, most Japanese first experienced the Internet on their mobile phone and were happy to accept its slower connection speed. Whatever the market or budget, cultural questions are always best situated in a historical context. Ideally, before going out into the field, the team receives a top-level cultural overview.

The differences among countries rarely correspond with national identities, which tend to be based on wishful thinking and self-serving myths propagated by ruling elites. Take the self-image of two seemingly very different countries, the US and France. Despite the widespread belief in the American dream, a child born into poverty is less likely to climb to wealth in the US than in France. French politicians and the cultural elite love to define Frenchness in opposition to American values. However, despite the celebration of slow food, subsidies for French films and anti-American rhetoric, the French lap up Hollywood blockbusters, France is McDonald’s most profitable European market, and the French recently voted Nike and Coca-Cola into its A-list of the top-10 most ethical brands.

India is another case in point. For many in the West, Mahatma Gandhi represented the embodiment of Indian values, including anti-materialism. Gandhi may have rejected material wealth, but few Indians see any contradiction between their religion and the pursuit of wealth and good fortune. Indians are acutely aware of status and the symbols that project social rank. The psychoanalyst Alan Roland has remarked that Indians possess a radar-like sensitivity to the relative importance of a person. And a recent survey of Asian consumers found Indians the group that most identified with the statement, ‘I measure success by the things I own.’ Bling rules on the streets of Mumbai.

Other differences may not shatter myths, but they certainly run counter to accepted wisdom. For instance, in spite of its notoriously wet weather, Britain is Europe’s largest market for convertible cars. And while Italy is widely held to be the home of style, taste and design, electrical stores in Milan are plagued by small, awkwardly designed, yellow and green appliances. There is a grain of truth behind every national stereotype, but they should always be the first assumptions to be challenged – the truth is often counter-intuitive.

Probably the most troubling element of intercultural work is that preferences are in a constant state of flux. One of the clichés of cross-cultural design is that white products should be avoided in East Asia since white is a taboo colour associated with death. While in the abstract this precept remains true, in the context of high-tech products, particularly brilliant gloss white gadgets aimed at younger consumers, it is no longer absolute – just look at the iPod.

One of the most fluid influences designers need to understand is social status. As Abraham Maslow  pointed out in the 1950s, as people rise up the affluence curve and fulfill more basic needs, such as safety and security, their priorities shift to higher-level needs, such as those associated with self-esteem and social status. As many social groups throughout the world are surpassing these needs, they are now striving to fulfill even higher goals, such as the pursuit of knowledge, and expressing their creativity and aesthetic connoisseurship. A Chinese market researcher recently assured me that sections of Shanghaiese middle class are turning away from material status symbols and spending more on education and experiences. Whereas status anxiety remains at fever pitch in Moscow, even for the super-rich. As Russian society struggles to stabilize itself around a new post-Communist hierarchy, many feel compelled to restate their social standing at every opportunity.

Cultural mores are not set in stone; they wax and wane. As received wisdom tends to be out of date, it’s vital to act on authentic and contemporary insights.