Of all the things that are researched about and considered before designing a website, culture is the last thing. Alright, maybe not the last, but it is still a wonder how in this global age of the internet, culture is given very little attention when creating a website for the global audience.
The differences between the cultural queues among different nations can be subtle, but they have a monumental impact on the success of the site. What works for the US, might not work for Japan. And that’s why researching cultural metrics and knowing what elements of the website will be affected by cultural diversity, will pay off in the long run.
Elements That Yield To Cultural Differences
Culture happens to be one of the biggest web design influencers in the market, and it affects different elements of the website in multifaceted ways. Keeping an eye on these elements and ensuring a culturally responsive design needs to be a mainstream process at this point. So what are these elements? Let’s have a look.
1. Colors And Symbols: The Visuals Of The Culture
We all know about color psychology and what it entails. Different colors are perceived differently and associated with different types of emotions. However, color is also a cultural element that can mean different things for different cultures. Let’s look at some examples-
White is popular in Western culture as the color that represents purity, grace, and peace. However, among Eastern cultures, white is a symbol of death and mourning. This diversity in thinking changes the way people would consider a website with a design dominated by white.
The color purple is another example of the diverse opinions on colors in the world. Usually, this color is connected with royalty, greatness, and honor. However, in Brazil and Thailand, purple happens to be the color of grief and loss.
And just like these examples colors and imageries have a tendency of meaning diverse things for diverse cultures. And that is why it is so crucial for the designers to conduct thorough research on cultural influence in web design and how these influences are going to impact the process.
2. Language And Communication: High Context Vs Low Context
According to the research by Edward T. Hall, the world cultures and their communications can be divided into two parts, high context cultures, and low context cultures.
High context cultures are those cultures that rely a lot on the non-verbal elements of correspondence rather than the verbal one. Among these cultures, the non-verbal queues are given plenty of importance in order to understand the message. These queues can be the person speaking, the tone of their voice, the kind of relationship listener, and the spokesperson has, etc.
Low context societies are the exact opposite of high context. In this society, rules and messages are explicitly stated with verbal queues, making it a lot more of a verbal process to correspond with the people.
The ever-changing style of correspondence is one of the cultural factors that reflect on web design. For low context cultures, the content of the website needs to be clear, precise, and to the point. However, for high context cultures, the language as well as the image and video content of the website can afford to be a little bit vague. To ensure this subtle difference on the website, go for a well-experienced web design agency based on major cities like New York.
3. The Personalization Effect: Differences In Individualization
Personalization is an important thing for web design, everyone knows that. However, personalization is not a staple for all cultures throughout the world. The impact of culture on web design also includes how the person perceives the experience- as an individual, or as part of society.
Users belonging to the individualistic culture are more prone to operate based on their personal interests and motives, while users from a culture that values collectivism take steps according to the interest of a group or community rather than their own interests. How is this difference going to affect the website?
When designing for an individualistic culture, the site needs to be personalized. It means that the users need experience that is customized for their convenience. That’s why options such as “for you” or “Offers for your benefits” will be better suited for an individualistic website.
A website designed for collectivist society needs to be more group-oriented. Social sharing preferences for such websites is a must, as well as popular offers that are based on collective opinion. Attention to these small details will make the UX much more personal as well as successful in different markets.
Wrapping Up: Designing According To Culture
In this age of globalization, the cultural differences are less distinguishable, but they still exist. And that is why cultural influence over web design needs to be considered as a major factor, especially when designing for cultures that are diverse, such as the US and India. It is important to conduct enough research and produce the right kind of design that will convince and convert users without breaking a sweat.
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The exponentially increasing quality of applications has brought in layered complexities of web development technologies. Coupled with this are web frameworks that form the core of the advancing website development across the last decade.
For website developers, such techniques and technologies are a familiar zone. However, they need to stay updated as per the latest trends. Considering that these technologies evolve over the year, they are left with no choice but to continue jotting down the list for each year. Subsequently, they need to ensure that their web development at hand takes into account the technology stack for web development.
So, @developers out there: here is your handbook Best Web Technologies for 2020; @clients: here is all that your site needs to have, make sure to consult on this with your hired web development company! Such wise decision making will ensure that the site developed is crowned in the Tier-I of websites for the year!
Read on!
2020 Tech Trends to Sweep Web Developers Off the Floor!
I. Voice Search
Look around you! A strange sight continues! People speaking to their phones, not over them! What seemed like a mere sliver of sci-fi some decades ago, has materialized today, fetching brands millions of dollars as profit.
Think about it, wouldn’t you want your site to pop up the next time someone speaks,
“Hey Siri! Which is the best web designing company In New York near me?”
With a majority of the population leaning into voice search instead of typing, sites are left with no choice but to be optimized accordingly. This voice search era will heavily rely on the smart assistants of the time – Google, Siri, Cortana, and Alexa. Such popularity is well-reflected with the following numbers –
- The client spending over smart voice assistants will jump to a swaying 18% of the market share by 2022.
- 30% of all searches will become screenless by 2020.
II. AI and Machine Learning
Know this, Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. Lend me your ears when I say that this industry is targeting a $3.9 trillion reach by the year 2022. This and machine learning have drawn the limelight in the web and development industry with all the major platforms like Twitter, Google, Facebook being powered by the same. This technology comprises the likes of –
- Machine learning
- VR/AR, etc.
Brands who have come to use AI in their sites have certainly reaped the benefits in the form of –
- Increased visibility
- Increased profits
- Established brand reputation
The anticipation of user choices boosts the personal experience for clients. This contributes to the popularity of this technology across the platforms.
III. WebAssembly
One of the significant and primary hurdles experienced during building website applications is that of the performance issue. While JavaScript brings with it multiple pros, its limitations have an adverse impact on the calculations, affecting the end-user experience.
Aiming to meet all these shortcomings, is the WebAssembly that has at its aim in launching native-like performance among website applications. In this case, any programming language can be run into a browser post-compilation in bytecode.
IV. Chatbot Integration
Post their breakthrough made in 2019, chatbots are only here to grow in its usage and popularity. The internet ecosystem has a new introduction to this element, thanks to the rage over chatbots. This is well marked by the predictions made by experts regarding its spread out popularity –
- Chatbots are expected to generate approximately $8 billion by 2022 in terms of global savings
- The world market for the chatbot will be priced at $1.3 billion by the year 2024.
Looking up to such predictions, it is of no surprise that most of the brands have jumped into this train making it a highlighted technology for web development. Hence –
- Approximately 80% of organizations are planning to use chatbots by 2020
- By 2020, 85% of customer support will shift to chatbots.
V. Motion User UI Design
Considering that the goal is to engage the targeted audience and ensure that they convert from visitors to current clients, motion user UI design is one of the top-most preferences.
This trend is characterized by –
- User-friendly navigation
- an intuitive flow of information that is conveniently navigable
- The unique layout of a website page
- Interactive elements
This increases the stay-time of clients on the webpage, thereby boosting the SERP of the site in the discussion. Developers, based on the client demands and requirement can also integrate –
- Hover effects
- Animated and creative banners and headers
- Backdrop animations
- Animated charts, etc.
Ending Thoughts!
The aforementioned technologies only form the top 5 of the intricate list. Pair these up with the required frameworks, blockchain, RAIL, data security, and browser extension development and you have in your hand the perfect list for this decade.
All that you need to do, as clients, are to know how to choose technology for web development. The primary aspect being gauging your site, brand, and genre requirement.
So, let not this quarantine drag you down in its isolation-project. Rather utilize the time, be productive, and list down the technologies that benefit your business based on the genre of the trade you deal in!
