Australia is a multicultural country, and home to many multinational brands. Sadly, many websites, mobile apps and other digital touch points often overlook the significance of catering for multicultural backgrounds. With different cultures come different expectations of usability, language, design, interactions and affordances. Culturally insensitive mistakes equate to exit points on the customer journey, lost sales, and a negative customer experience. Using in person as well as new qualitative video techniques we are making culturally inclusive design a reality for innovative brands like online travel booking service, HotelsCombined. blueegg used mobile video technology as well as face to face interviews for its quantitative and qualitative surveys of 40 participants in Sydney and Korea as part of its research-based approach to culturally inclusive design for HotelsCombined recently. As experience designers, it's time we recognise cultural differences as a key part of the research process and my talk aims to provide you with a framework based on direct experience into how this can be achieved.

1. culturally
inclusive
design

2. adam faulkner
experience design
director
t: @faulkner
insta: adams_things

3. join in at:
zeetings.com/faulkner

4. zeetings
blueegg blueegg
Post questions and
comments
Vote in polls

5. case study

6. client brief
to gain a deeper understanding of
primary users’ behaviour on its digital
channels, their attitudes towards
booking travel and their thoughts on
the current experience.

7. focus
HotelsCombined wanted to
learn more about users
particularly in Sydney and
South Korea

8. hypothesis
cultural awareness and
inclusivity is
important…

9. begin
it should always start
with research…

10. analysis
who is the
user?

11. analysis
industry
reports
current
interactions

12. research
qualitative:
we talked to internal
stakeholders to gain
insights…

13. identified
25-29 year old
single,
employed
30-34 year old
in a relationship,
employed

14. workshops
engagement to gain
insights, alignment
and
prioritise

15. tools
MindMeisterPost-it Plus

16. recruitment
we recruited 40 participants,
20 in Sydney and 20 in Seoul

17. hypothesis
that whilst their will be some consistent
insights across both countries, content,
engagement and priorities will differ
between cultures

18. mindful
“Problem Finding:
Identifying the problem worth solving is what
often leads to breakthrough innovations”
Sam Yen – Head of Design, SAP

19. method – sydney
interview and
current state
o facilitated 20 face to face
interviews in our lab
o asked broad questions to better
understand the travel journey
o conducted usability testing of
the current experience

20. qualitative – sydney

21. method – seoul
interview and
current state
o engaged with local language
experts
o facilitated 20 face to mobile
interviews
o gained feedback on the current
experience

22. qualitative – south korea

23. the journey - mobile
Social Aspirational
Inspiration
Validation
Reviews
Flight $
Accommodation $
Research
HC

24. the journey - desktop
Research
Security
Safety
Compare
Google,OTA’s,
Airlines, Hotels
Transaction
HC
Decision

25. insights - sydney
key themes
o Location
o Security and Transport
o Price
o Hotel Imagery
o Reviews
o Comparing hotels
o Communication

26. insights - seoul
key themes
o Privacy and
Communications
o Location and Price
o Reviews
o Inclusions and Free
Cancellations
o Language

27. design impacts
o content
o iconography
o hierarchy
o communication

28. tools
lookbackVerbate

29. here’s the thing…
nearly 30%* of the Australian
population was born
overseas…

30. its important…
if we only went by linear tools such as
google analytics we wouldn’t understand
or be aware of cultural differences…

31. know the user…
when we identify the user, not just for
users across countries, but locally in
australia, we need to be mindful to dig
deeper…

32. framework
o engage language/cultural experts
o develop research plans with
questions in multiple languages
o facilitate interviews in a face to
face or face to mobile approach
o develop hypothesis that
recognise potential differences

33. adam faulkner
experience design
director
t: @faulkner
insta: adams_things
thank you…