CULTURE + DESIGN
Interactions 12


#cultureUX
About Me
Erik Dahl
@eadahl

#cultureUX
About this talk
4 VIGNETTES   DEFINING    3 BUILDING BLOCKS
 & CAVEATS    CULTURE        OF CULTURE       IMPLICATIONS
Cultural Fit
“The Phone Stack” Game
CULTURAL

Orientation
    Methodology
THE REAL JOURNEY OF
DISCOVER CONSISTS NOT IN
SEEING NEW LANDSCAPES BUT
IN HAVING NEW EYES.
            - MARCEL PROUST
YES...       AND...
              CULTURE
Psychology
Physiology
Emotions
Context
Activities
Motivations
Goals
YES...   AND...
I’m NOT talking about creating

       culture
        within your organization
I’m NOT talking about

cross-cultural          design
Cultural Foil
we are all members of


MANY
CULTURES
Okay, great.

So, what is culture about?
               HOW DO WE DEFINE IT?
Culture is:

Behavior - what people do
Knowledge - what people know
Artifacts - things people make and use.
                          - James Spradley
Culture is simply what gives meaning to
actions, which it does by providing a
sense of coherence or patterning and
predictability. It provides the lens through
which one interprets events, scenes, and
actions.
                              - Robert Gordon
The concept of culture I espouse...is
essentially a semiotic one. Believing with Max
Weber, that man is an animal suspended in
webs of significance he himself has spun, I
take culture to be those webs, and analysis of
it to be therefore not an experimental science
in search of law but an interpretive one in
search of meaning.
                                 - Clifford Geertz
Culture is a system of shared meanings
that is based on a signifying order, a
complex system of different types of signs
that cohere in predictable ways into
patterns or representation which
individuals and groups can utilize to make
or exchange messages.
                               - Marcel Danesi
these definitions point to

  a   GENERATIVE             concept of culture


                   NOT
   a   TAXONOMIC             concept of culture
our designs become
             sites of
CULTURAL PRODUCTION
...it is in its transparency
Joe Ballay onfunction
 that it fulfills its  design
3 building blocks



of CULTURE
building block #1



PATTERNS
An underlying shared system of
information and knowledge that
is manifest through patterns of
norms, behaviors and signifiers.
patterns help us



                   SEE   culture
patterns are the



      SYNTAX       of culture
patterns provide the



  MATERIAL             of culture
How do we suss out?



PATTERNS
be OPEN to the WORLD.




       NOTICE
  Let go of your ASSUMPTIONS.
Sweatener, not Cleaner
Farmhouse, not Urban
3 building blocks of culture
  Patterns       ---   ---
  See            ---   ---
  Syntax         ---   ---

  Material       ---   ---

  Notice         ---   ---
  Let go of      ---   ---
   Assumptions
building block #2



STORIES
Clifford Geertz




Culture is simply the ensemble of
stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Harry Crews
Truth of the matter was, stories was everything and
everything was stories. Everybody told stories. It was
a way of saying who they were in the world. It was
their understanding of themselves. It was letting
themselves know how they believed the world worked;
the right way and the way that was not so right.
stories help us


UNDERSTAND        culture
stories are the


   SEMANTICS      of culture
stories provide an


               EMIC  perspective of culture
How do we suss out?



STORIES
be OPEN to the PEOPLE.




EMPATHIZE
      Build new ASSUMPTIONS.
Creativity
Passion
Authenticity
Community
Engaged
Personal Expression
A “Value-based Syllogism”
   define general        my expression of
     < value >              < value >



                    < brand x >
   (-)                               (+)
neg. brand                        pos. brand
expression                        expression
“It used to be that you got ahead by working
harder, but now it’s about working smarter.”
3 building blocks of culture
  Patterns       Stories        ---
  See            Understand     ---
  Syntax         Semantics      ---

  Material       Emic           ---

  Notice         Empathize      ---
  Let go of      Build new      ---
   Assumptions    Assumptions
building block #3



INTERPRETATION
Clifford Geertz




Deep knowledge is the ability to make
complex connections to central concpets.
We can’t just give people
        what they want.
Kim Philby


“I learned more at cocktail parties
than by photographing documents...”
interpretations help us


           KNOW           culture
interpretations are the


PRAGMATICS                of culture
interpretations provides an


               ETIC    perspective of culture
How do we suss out?



INTERPRETATION
be OPEN to the OURSELVES.




         MODEL
 Challenge your ASSUMPTIONS.
Enculturation
Openings               Closings




It’s not always about what
  you notice on the clock.
Cultural Function
Cultural Form
3 building blocks of culture
  Patterns       Stories        Interpretations
  See            Understand     Know
  Syntax         Semantics      Pragmatics

  Material       Emic           Etic

  Notice         Empathize      Model
  Let go of      Build new      Challenge
   Assumptions    Assumptions    Assumptions
CULTURE + DESIGN

IMPLICATIONS
MEANING
ULTIMATELY,   CULTURE   IS ALL ABOUT
ASSUMPTIONS
Acknowledge...
Let go of...
Build...
Challenge...
NEW EYES
Cultural understanding provides a lens
or orientation towards the world and
our everyday lives.
TRICKSTER
  Designer as...
Summary
4 VIGNETTES   DEFINING   3 BUILDING BLOCKS
 & CAVEATS    CULTURE       OF CULTURE       IMPLICATIONS
CULTURE + DESIGN

thanks
@eadahl   erik@goinvo.com

Culture + Design