Best paper award at HCI International 2015 This paper presents the preferences of selected UI components of Chinese users. The areas of study were chosen using from a semiotic perspective, which lead us to focus on the cultural context, as well as the linguistic structure of user interaction. This quantitative study based on 50 respondents was targeted at validating the data gathered in a qualitative pilot study. The results are presented as UI design guidelines to simplify their adoption by both HCI researchers, and UX practitioners.

1. Chinese UI design guidelines 2.0
Jan Brejcha, Ph.D.
User experience consultant
Prague, Czech Republic
Li Hui, Xu Qing, Miao Huitian, Xu Menghan, Wang Li, Zhengjie Liu
Sino-European Usability Center (SEUC), Dalian Maritime University
Dalian, 116026 P. R. China
HCII 2015, Los Angeles, August 6, 2015
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2. How we conducted the research?
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3. The semiotic/linguistic perspective
• A sign can be anything in the UI/UX that has a meaning for somebody.
• The meaning is supported by context and relationships between signs.
• Semiotics can find implicit assumptions and hidden relations in culture,
therefore is very suitable for cross-cultural analysis.
• The semiotic perspective in this study lead us to focus on specific areas,
such as the meaning of composition (UI layout), of color, of icons, and
the overall look and feel.
• The linguistic perspective focused in more detail on the composition
(grammar) of icons, wording and structure of menu items (e.g., object
+command).
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4. Status of research
• Defined research questions based on previous pilot study, updated and
improved the questions to include more context for the given task
• Updated hypotheses about the Chinese users
• Built a questionnaire of ~40 questions for user interviews using an online
reporting tool (surveygizmo.com)
• Recruited participants according to a screener (snowball: friends of friends)
• Interviewed 50 respondents
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5. Recruiting screener
The respondents would have to:
• be born and raised in China
• be evenly split between males and females
• be evenly split between bachelor's and master's students
• be evenly split between living in large cities and the countryside
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6. Research questions
• How can we validate previously gathered data from the pilot study?
• Are there any other interesting areas to consider?
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7. User interview
• Users were presented with a questionnaire of ~40 questions divided into
groups: personal info, layout, color, symbols, look&feel
• The questionnaire was supported by a moderator, who would give the
necessary background to the user, and answer any problems, when
appropriate
• The testing was carried out in the user lab, the process was followed
through screen sharing and sound from behind a glass
• As a data-collecting and reporting platform we chose SurveyGizmo.com
• One session took about 15 min
• After the interviews all the data was checked and translated, when
appropriate
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8. Research method
• The pilot study was done in September, 2011, on a qualitative basis. 20
respondents were interviewed on ~50 questions (most of them open), and each
session lasted 90 minutes.
• The current study was intended to validate some of the previous data on a
quantitative basis.
• For evaluating the data we are using a margin of error of 13,9% (7 respondents)
for the whole group of 50 respondents, and 19,6% for in-group comparison (5
people in a sample of 25 respondents, e.g. male/female, urban/rural).
• The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling
error in a survey's results. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence
one should have that the poll's reported results are close to the "true" figures; that
is, the figures for the whole population. Margin of error occurs whenever a
population is incompletely sampled. (Source: Wikipedia)
• Tests are done locally to prevent users to absorb the majority culture, and
conducted with a local moderator, sharing the language and cultural background.
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9. Results
• The complete results are available on the following webpages:
• Summary report: http://app.sgizmo.com/reportsview/?key=154782-3865494-
dc43005efe218162da214ecad4df7734
• Segmentation by gender: http://app.sgizmo.com/sharedexplore/public-view/
cid/154782/id/1919160/vid/1855?key=860e7d66f1a748d1cf3da2955f635f6a
• Segmentation by origin: http://app.sgizmo.com/sharedexplore/public-view/
cid/154782/id/1919160/vid/1857?
key=3a832e364d6486d16099a20c608a8447
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10. What we discovered?
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11. Population: who were the respondents?
• Gender: 25 males, 25 females
• Origin: 23 from country, 27 from city
• Age: 18-25
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12. Layout: Semiotics of space
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13. Hypothesis: Reading Images in the West
Source: Kress and Van Leeuwen: Reading images
Ideal
Given
Margin
Real
Given
Margin
Ideal
New
Margin
Real
New
Margin
Center
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14. Layout: ideal vs. real information
• Hypothesis: The ideal information would be on the upper part of the screen,
the real in the bottom.
• Question: On a screen, where would you place general (detailed)
information?
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15. Layout: ideal vs. real information
• Design implications: The ideal information should be placed in the upper part
of the screen, the real information in the center of the screen.
• These results also support the pilot study outcome.
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16. Color: Actions and emotions
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17. Symbols: Iconic language
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18. Implicit interaction
• Hypothesis: During Chinese language acquisition in children, verbs are
learned first, followed by nouns later
• Question: Which two go together?
• Results: Hand pointer with hyperlink (36), mouse with hand pointer (14)
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19. Implicit interaction
• Design implications: Build UIs on implicit relationships between commands
and objects
• In the Chinese context users tend to group items according to relations
(verbs), rather than categories (nouns)
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20. Icons preference
• Hypothesis: Icons with situations would be preferred, because they present
more context, and focus on actions (verbs).
• Question: Which kind of icons do you find more useful for buying a book
online?
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21. Icons preference
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• Design implications: The icons should be as clear as possible, and when
representing an action (command), they should present also the object of
the action.
• The situations depicted in the icons favored mostly female respondents,
while males preferred only a textual description of the action.
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22. Nouns and adjectives
• Hypothesis: There is a close similarity between sequential information
structure in language and in visual composition. Noun (folder) would come
after the attribute (star attribute), as is their position in sentence
(adjective+noun).
• Question: When marking an icon as important using a star symbol, where
should the star be located?
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23. Nouns and adjectives
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• Design implications: The icons presenting object attributes should be on the
left of the object, as this placement are most natural for the users.
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24. Look&feel: object affordances
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25. Unfolding a narrative
• Hypothesis: Menus starting with a verb are considered more natural than
those starting with nouns
• Question: At a gallery website, which of the following combination of menu
items do you find more natural?
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Verb: Visit Browse Learn Join Shop Search
Noun: Gallery Exhibitions Lectures Membership Gifts Site
Noun+Verb: Gallery Browse Lectures Join Gifts Search
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26. Unfolding a narrative
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• Design implications: Construct menus with noun only, as these are clear to
the users, and allow for a verb (command) submenu.
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27. Summary
• The current study validated some of the results from the pilot
• Possible reasons for not passing the validation:
• Questions asked differently
• Questions presented in a different sequence
• Different example images
• Different “generation” of students (different experience)
• “You could not step twice into the same river.” (Heraclitus)
• Some new results were obtained, and some trends worth investigating
further
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28. Future work
• Check for results/trends between males/females, urban/rural
• Repeat the above for European (Czech) users
• Compare the gathered results cross cultures
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29. Acknowledgments
• prof. Zhengjie Liu
• Li Hui, Xu Qing, Wang Li, Miao Huitian, Xu Menghan
• Respondents: Lu Miao, Peng Jinjia, He Yahe, Pan Ying, Yang Gaoxing,
Jiang Chao, Fei Xinxu, Li Yuju, Wei Qiang, Liu Lv, Liu Siqi, Zhang Jing,
Chen Sheng, Chen Qi, Liu Yunxia, Jiang Yuanjiang, Song Yalei, Zhang Tuo,
Li Danni, Zhou Liang, Wang Jun, Bai Mingqian, Yao Weilie, Hu Zhonglian,
Zeng Yuteng, Yang Xu, Zhang Wentao, Lu Hongyan, Chen Weiwei, Liu
Chang, Gao Miaomiao, Hu Zhanghao, Wang Zhen, Zhang Qi, Jiang Gexin,
Wang Yuying, Yang Yuhan, Zhang Qi, Lv Qin, Lu Xinhui, Huang Qianying,
Wu Wenqi, Lai Yancun, Li Jiakang, Zhu Huarun, Xie Shangqian, Wang
Huiling, Zhang Mingyi, Song Jiayu, Pan Juan
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30. Cross-cultural HCI/UX: A semiotic
perspective
• Published in February, 2015
• Includes a novel design and evaluation
method for HCI and UX
• Provides a detailed explanation of the
differences between current expert
evaluation methods and the presented
semiotic method
• Offers a usable set of design and
evaluation heuristics
• Explains how to conduct quantitative and
qualitative analyses to support decisions
about cross-cultural design and evaluation
• Offers results from a cross-cultural test
and presents guidelines for design of
different IT products and services for
different cultures
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31. Questions?
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32. Thank you!
http://jan.brejcha.name
e-mail: jan@brejcha.name
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