Elective
Intercultural Awareness & Design
Reflection
The complete reflection of this assignment has yet to be handed in for the elective. It is part of the deliverables which will be graded. I chose this assignment not because I found it interesting in the beginning, but because I knew it was my weakest point of the design process. Although I have a lot of knowledge on society on a smaller scale, I wasn’t aware of intercultural differences. It was the weak link in my strong otherwise competency User and Society.
We had to make a duo presentation about an old project we did and look again at it with the new learned theory. Our conclusion was that a project about smog masks, shouldn't be done in the first place. Using the theory we could better emphasise with the other culture (China). Also we had to interview an expat of which we made a movie. Together we filmed and looked at what could be linked to the theory. I did the final editing and we received many compliments about it. It learned to better understand how a working situations differs in other countries. In the first we had to present a chapter of the book, this gave on more knowledge into this subject, grasping actualities to further explain it.
Sitting in a class with more intercultural students than I talk to normally, has really broadened my view on different cultures. I was already aware that I have a Dutch view on certain topics, but in this assignment I received the theory to thoroughly understand the cultural differences. We learned about the theory of Hofstede and received hundreds of examples for this theory. Still the theory is not seen as “the truth” and were forced during class to also criticise it. In group discussion we talked about societal problems and how everyone personally looked towards them. The theory of the book could be used to bring the discussion more depth. With great respect for other perspective, there is not right or wrong, only a different view. The problem however is mostly, that everyone thinks they are right from their perspective. This insight helped me to be more open as a designer and less judging from the beginning. A problem can’t be truly understood without listening to all the perspectives people have about a certain issue. Using the theory, I can now also design better for non-Dutch cultures, since there is access to a grading system for certain values by Hofstede. Also it helps within teams to better understand, why someone from a different culture background, behaves differently than expected. This can help me in the future as a designer .
