Klaus,
> On Aug 17, 2015, at 1:15 PM, Klaus Krippendorff <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> don,
> if you google hku Netherlands you'd find numerous details. your problem is that you insisted on interpreting an acronyms from a language other than the language that gave rise to it. could it be that hku is looking largely for Dutch speaking applicants?
> you may have a point though but only under the assumption that English is the only language that counts.
> the larger issue is: should designers ignore if not erase cultural and linguistic differences or respect them?
> couldn't design include proposing artifacts addressed to specific users, even be incomprehensible to those who have no business understanding them?
> klaus
I think your final point is interesting but I don’t buy its application to the ad in question or Don’s larger point about making announcements comprehensible.
The best examples of design addressed to specific users also functions at least minimally for those outside the target audience. An Easter Egg left for specific users can be incomprehensible (or—better yet—invisible) for others but if the entire artifact is in code, the artifact’s makers shouldn’t be surprised if people think that they are incoherent and/or antisocial.
BTW, I cited Don when I brought the confusing, ambiguous, etc. subject up two years ago on this list. Under the subject of "Human Centered Design of announcements," I wrote:
—————
It is possible that I am abnormally stupid and/or ignorant but evidence suggests that I am, in fact, quite normally stupid and/or ignorant so I think this is a design problem rather than "user error." (See Don Norman's 'Design of Everyday Things' for a good discussion of that distinction.)
<tirade>
I would suggest that people writing announcements for seminars, conferences, meetings, etc. might be advised to provide information about physical location early in the announcement and to do so with the realization that others don't share your knowledge base about yourself. Assume, for a moment, that even though WXYZ is the acronym for the organization that is the center of your universe, others may need a hint that it is, indeed, the Western Xylophone Yelling Zealots and that it is the largest organization of vibe player/rhetoricians in West Los Angeles.
Also assume that, even though the initials of your university are clearly printed on the sweatshirts worn by 83.47% of your undergraduates--thus should be understood throughout the universe--some people are just plain ignorant. (It's true. For example, in my part of the world--North Carolina, USA--some people seem to think that USC is the University of South Carolina when anybody with a lick of sense knows that USC is the University of Southern California--a university mainly known for being the crosstown rivals of UCLA.)
Providing indication of the country where an event is located (even if you know that the ABCD seminar is always held in Barrows, Alaska) before forcing people to read seven paragraphs would be a kindness. Believe it or not, some people who live on another continent also lack the budget to fly around the world on a week's notice.
Indicating prominently on a call for papers that successful submitters will need to be at the peak of Mount Fitzroy in Patagonia on December 21, 2013 to deliver their papers might allow people who really hate long days to move on to the next announcement.
</tirade>
—————
to which Ken replied:
—————
Dear Gunnar,
Well, it looks like normal ignorance to me. You bi-coastal Americans may mistakenly think of USC as a university in South Carolina or Southern California.
We Australians know better. With one big coast surrounding our island nation, USC can only mean the University of the Sunshine Coast.
http://www.usc.edu.au
But the USC in Los Angeles has several claims to fame greater than its sports rivalry with UCLA. Steven Spielberg applied to the film school twice, rejected both times. George Lucas applied, attended, and graduated.
----------
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
[log in to unmask]
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
[log in to unmask]
+1 252 258-7006
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|