Transcript
[ Cheers ]
>> You have a global audience,
the world is increasingly
interconnected, people travel
and when they do they use apps
to orient themselves in new
places and figure out what to
do, where to eat and how to get
around.
And people move for all sorts of
reasons, so in any given place
you're likely to find people
from different countries,
cultures and language groups.
And here at WWDC, we are part of
a group representing 75
different countries.
So why design for this global
audience?
First and most importantly, for
a better user experience.
Language and symbols are
grounded in cultural context so
not all of us interpret things
in the same way.
It's important of course, to
make sure that your words and
artwork aren't offensive to your
users, but don't stop there.
Carefully considering your
global audience can help make
your app as useful and appealing
to as many people as possible.
And thinking this way sets you
up to grow.
The App Store is available
around the world so people from
any country that you've enabled
in iTunes Connect can view and
download your app.
Whether your app is only in one
language right now or you're
already in multiple markets the
principles we'll discuss are
relevant to you no matter what.
So, let's get started.
First, make a plan.
Think about your strategic
goals, which countries and
languages are next on your
roadmap, if you have one
already, and don't forget to
take a look at your app
analytics in iTunes Connect
that's some useful information,
you might find something there
that's surprising.
Next, identify your user groups
and think about how best to
communicate with them.
Can you get by with some minor
changes to your app.
Is it time to think seriously
about a major localization
effort.
Use this information to
prioritize your important
localization work and think
about ways to streamline.
Make sure that you have
translations for your key terms
before you need them and if
you're going to have a second
set of artwork for example for a
different market get it all done
at the same time.
So, let's discuss some key
considerations related to
language.
When terms can be used more or
less interchangeably in your
app's primary language is there
one choice that's very similar
to other languages.
For example, picture and photo
are more or less the same in
English, but look at the
difference in these other
languages.
Photo is the clear winner for
multilingual clarity.
If you have the resources to
fully translate your app go for
it, but if not prioritize.
Help your users orient
themselves with headings and
titles.
Make sure that the important
information from your
instructions is conveyed and
that commonly used terms are
clear.
Finally, make sure that users
can read error messages just in
case something goes wrong.
Think about informal language
too.
You may choose to include slang,
very informal words or phrases
or figures of speech, words or
phrases that are not intended to
be taken literally.
Let's look at a couple of
examples.
I am a native Californian and I
might say oh sick, you crush it
or sweet, that rocked.
But here I'm not talking about
illnesses or desserts just
saying that someone did
something particularly well.
I may also say it's raining cats
and dogs.
I love the last one.
Or I'm hungry enough to eat a
horse.
This kind of language adds
character to an app, so I'm
certainly not saying never to
use it.
But if you do, do a quick check
to make sure that it's not
offensive and be sure to offer
contextual clues so that even if
a user isn't totally sure what
you mean they can still figure
it out.
Let's talk now about symbology
and do a quick exercise.
Put your hand up and count one,
two, three.
Okay now hold that and take a
look around.
How many people have their
thumb, index finger and third
finger extended?
How about index, third and ring
or maybe something else
entirely?
This is a great example of the
wide variation in gestures for
something as simple as counting
to three.
If you choose to include
gestures in your app make sure
that it means what you intend
and plan ahead to localize when
appropriate.
Now let's talk about localized
and globalized iconography with
an example from our Maps app.
We're about to look at the set
of icons that we use to
represent an important feature
in different countries.
So, who knows what this
represents?
Okay a couple hands.
How about this?
Getting warmer all right, many
more hands.
And about this?
All right, just about everybody.
So, this is the logo of Japan
Post which we use to represent
post offices, but only in Japan.
This is the postal horn which we
use in Sweden, Turkey,
Luxembourg and 28 other
countries.
And finally, in every other
country we use this simple
recognizable letter outline to
symbolize the post office.
I like this example because I
think it represents a nice
spectrum of local to global
iconography.
And there's really no right
answer here, but it's an
important question for you to
consider, exactly how specific
do you want to be with your
symbols.
When depicting people keep in
mind that more detailed icons
may exclude some of your users,
but that simpler glyphs like
this silhouette are much more
general and maybe a better
choice.
And as a bonus, we include this
glyph in UIKit so that artwork
is already available to you.
Let's talk about our final
consideration now, associations.
What does this owl make you
think of?
If you grew up in an
English-speaking context you may
associate owls with wisdom, but
in much of the Arabic speaking
world owls can be associated
with bad luck or even death.
So, make sure that your
associations are what you
expect.
I hope I have helped you to
think further or start thinking
about designing for your global
audience.
Now let's look at some
resources.
First, if you can travel to the
places where your customers live
I hope you will, but not
everyone can travel.
Never fear there are other
resources much closer to home.
Could you conduct focus groups
either formal focus groups with
participants selected based on
their primary language, cultural
background or other
characteristics or possibly more
informal focus groups where you
offer snacks to friends or
family in exchange for their
feedback on your designs?
You may be able to draw on
personal or professional
contacts for this kind of
feedback as well.
And now moving to the web,
language learning, translation
and travel funds offer a wealth
of knowledge about language and
symbol use and expectations
around the world.
And web and image searches can
give you a lot of this
information too.
Books and articles can be
helpful as well, look for
keywords like global design,
user experience, intercultural
or cross-cultural communication,
visual design and tips for
travelers, businesspeople and
interpreters.
Finally, don't forget about
libraries where you can find
some of these publications, as
well as map and document
collections with rich
information.
So, to wrap it all up, this is
not an all or nothing design
problem, smart changes can go a
long way toward making your app
more useful for more people.
Use the resources that are
available to you to create a
great user experience and lay
the groundwork for expansion.
You can do this.
Thank you.