Create Universal Design for Global Users
In Lazada, we are targeting at southeast asia markets. Our users are from various races and regions. It’s quite significant for us to create a universal design that doesn’t offend any user groups, and provide a pleasant shopping journey no matter where they are.
> Language options
Quite often, each country has multiple language options, so country and language are definitely not 1–1 mapping.
Use local translation as the local language option when switching languages so people don’t understand English can read it. When users switch country on Lazada, the next step is ask user to choose the language, while the local language is displayed in local language.
If you are targeting at a controversial region market, avoid using country flag in the design.
> Colors
When considering the major colors to use for your product, be careful the color you choose has a good meaning in your targeted market. Blue is the safest color in the world, that’s why many corporates use blue as their brand color.
In Chinese and kin cultures, red is perceived as a very important color as it brings happiness and luck. During Chinese New Year, almost everything is decorated in red as well as people wear red clothes to celebrate the most important time in a year. Thai also likes red as it’s a symbol of solar god.
Yellow is a symbolic color to Thai because it represents the king and thus can bring people luck. Meanwhile, in Chinese, yellow could mean pornographic so it should be used carefully.
Green takes dominant role in muslim countries as it was supposedly Mohammed’s favorite color. So it could be a good color choice while designing for Ramadan campaigns.
In general, our users living in SEA are quite open to various of color choices. This can be found in the streets and shops. Pink and purple which are normally perceived as more female-ish colors are also liked by most of the young SEA users.
> Legal & Regulations
If you are working on any privacy or lucky draw related products, checking with local legal and regulations must be a necessary step.
In Thailand, any promotion or lottery draw requires payment is considered gambling and against law. And free participatory prize promotion events must obtain a license beforehand.
And in EU, any user data acquisition needs to get user’s approval first that’s why cookies is being widely used today on websites.
> Icons and Illustrations
In Chinese apps, red pocket is often used to give away some benefits to customers. And Lucky Red Pocket Rain is a popular engagement game to win something in many Chinese apps.
When we started to build similar concept, we transformed the illustration to more universal illustration. Envelop is used to give away vouchers, and balloon game is designed to engage customers while offering them chances of winning.
Taboos should be avoided while choosing the mascot or designing illustrations. In muslim society, dogs are thought of as ritually impure. For Malays, left hand is considered to be reserved for bathroom functions.
The ‘V’ sign taken as a peaceful/victory gesture in many countries, are being seen as an insulting gesture in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and UK.
Thanks for reading.
In the next post, I will talk about some localization insights.
