The digital behaviour traits of individualism and collectivism — Once upon a time, I worked on the subtropical island of Malta. I come from a cold country, so I was logically bombarded with requests from friends and family who wanted to visit. One day I walked into the office, and my colleagues asked…

An analysis of Uncertainty Avoidance and Amazon’s website in various countries — What do Switzerland, the US, Sweden, the UK, and the Netherlands have in common? They are all rich, protestant, relatively cold countries where a big part of the population consists of (former) immigrants. They also form the top 5 of the Global Innovation Index. …

The explanation behind the loudness of the style of graphics of TV shows and websites in various cultures — When I was young, I dreamt of becoming a TV visual designer. The animation and display of news tickers and sports match scorecards intrigued me. I know. I was already weird when I was a kid. This was in the early 90s, so these designs were pretty basic. That changed…

You have a serious problem if all your designers are millennials on skateboards — Most of us have worked in groups composed of outstanding designers. But let's face it, they are usually millennials with design degrees from the University of Amsterdam, Berlin, or Stanford. Masters in creating impressive Figma prototypes, with delightful aesthetics, tasteful animations, and creative colour palettes.

How cultural sincerity can lead to enormous misunderstandings — Like many senior designers, I wanted to help colleagues in the industry with their careers. I thus logically signed up on the big UX mentorship platform ADP List. Naturally, you need to write a biography, so I did. I wrote something along the lines of: Hi, I’m Bas. I have…

From pixels to principles, from code to conscience — Morality is a combination of personal and social standards. It allows us to behave acceptably in society. What morality really means is something philosophers and the like have been reflecting on for ages. Writer and scientist Jonathan Haidt is among them. I discussed his Moral Foundations Theory in my article…

A Critique of Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory — Every person has a different idea of wrong and right. This can be called morality. What we consider acceptable depends on many factors: our beliefs, our culture, our parents’ norms, our childhood traumas, etc. Therefore, we all have unique moral values. This doesn’t mean we can’t just do whatever we…

From local to global — how to serve a worldwide customer base — My mission to understand the world, its cultures, and its people has led me to French-speaking Africa. Cameroon, to be precise. I am here for two months to help an NGO that works on improving awareness and treatment of mental health in the country. Next to my volunteering, I want…

From scepticism to support: winning over your colleagues for research success — This article is a follow-up on 9 bogus reasons why some designers claim UX Research is a waste. Most of us have been in discussions where people questioned the need for research. “Our customers already understand the user inside out. The engineers simply apply the design system, that’s enough. We’ll…