The paper by Dr. Sanders hits upon the importance of design at Microsoft as a service for the everyday persons by considering ethnography. By understanding cultural differences and similarities, the end result of a product will become more universal. Being Hmong American, it’s exciting to see products incorporate an aspect of my culture into their designs, especially since the history of the Hmong people and their journey to America after the Vietnam War isn’t covered much in U.S. History classes and remains obscure to a majority of Americans today. So seeing products acknowledging my culture earns them a lot of respect. Even if it were an item I’m not interested in purchasing, I’d share what I saw with friends and family, unintentionally advertising the product. The designer placing themselves in the shoes of or spending time with the end user is a smart move and even smarter if the end user is of a different culture. In terms of game design, ethnographic research is important in communicating to a wide variety of audiences and to avoid stereotyping. Role-playing games today allow for heavy customization by the player, therefore minimizing criticism of the protagonist’s gender, race and attitude, appeasing to a wide variety of audience. In the mobile game that I’m creating on my free time, the protagonist is of Japanese decent, but has a Hmong name: Tou. In the game, he meets a Hmong girl who calls him ‘Tou’, which means ‘boy’ or ‘son’ because he has no name. It’s common to call a young man or boy whom you don’t know Tou. (‘Mai’ is the equivalent for a girl). I thought it’d be interesting to add that into the narration as cultural inputs help feed character believability, another plus for using ethnography in design.
Design Denizens 