1、工业设计专业英语何人可16课Lesson 16Does Culture Matter for Product DesignBy Don Norman文化是否对产品设计有重要意义唐诺曼Don Norman claims his goals in life are to make a significant difference, but to have fun while doing so. He is both a businessperson (VP at Apple, Executive at HP and a startup) and an academic (Harvard, UC S
2、an Diego, Northwestern, KAIST). As co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group he serves on company boards and helps companies make products more enjoyable, understandable, and profitable. He is an IDEO Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He gives frequent keynotes and is known fo
3、r his many books including “The Design of Everyday Things,” “Emotional Design” and in October, “Living with Complexity,” which argues against simplicity. 唐诺曼声称，他的目标在生活中是有显着的区别，但这样却很有乐趣。他既是一个商人（苹果公司的副总裁，惠普和一个创业公司的执行官），也是一名学者（哈佛大学，加州大学圣地亚哥分校，美国西北大学，韩国科学技术院）。作为尼尔森诺曼集团的联合创始人，他在公司董事会服务，帮助公司使产品更加愉快，易于理解和盈
4、利。他是一个IDEO研究员和国家工程学院的成员。他频繁的主题演讲，出过许多著名的书，包括日常生活的设计、情感设计和10月出版的反对简单生活的复杂的生活。Once upon a time, when I visited other countries, I would head to the department stores so I could experience the wide cultural variations in such things as cookware, cutlery and tools for crafts and gardening Today, I seldo
5、m do this anymore because all the stores look the same. Rice cookers and woks may have originated in Japan and China, but today they can be found in kitchen appliance stores all over the world. Italian, German and American appliances are for sale in Asia. Asian appliances are for sale in Italy, Germ
6、any and America. The country of design and manufacture no longer matters much. A television set, automobile, mobile phone, camera or refrigerator looks the same whether made in Asia, North America or Europe.曾经一段时间，当我访问其他国家，我会去百货公司，所以我可以体验到各种各样的文化变化，如炊具，餐具和工具和园艺工具今天，我很少这样做，因为所有的商店看起来一样。电饭锅和炒锅可能起源于日本和
7、中国，但今天他们可以在世界各地的厨房电器商店找到。意大利，德国和美国的电器在亚洲出售。亚洲电器在意大利，德国和美国出售。设计和制造的国家不再重要。电视机，汽车，手机，相机或冰箱看起来是相同的，无论是在亚洲，北美或欧洲。I have a collection of photos taken around the world of stores, restaurants and street scenes. I sometimes use them in my lectures, asking the audience to state where the picture was taken. P
8、eople respond with great confidence, but they are invariably wrong. Why? In what city - or country - was the photograph in Figure 16-1 taken? It could be anywhere. I can find store displays similar to that shown in Figure 16 -1 in Asia, Europe or the United States. Even the language visible in my ph
9、otographs provides surprisingly little information: Signs in Chinese, English, French, Korean or German are displayed throughout the world. One street scene from Hong Kong shows less Chinese characters than pictures I have taken in San Francisco, New York or London: Most people judge the photos to b
10、e from Western Europe. Where did Figure 16-1 come from? A department store in Daejeon, South Korea.我收集了在世界各地商店，餐馆和街道场景拍的照片。我有时在我的演讲中使用它们，要求观众说明图片的拍摄地点。人们以极大的信心回应，但他们总是错的。为什么？ 图16-1中的照片拍摄于哪个城市或国家？它可以在任何地方。我可以在亚洲，欧洲或美国找到类似于图16-1所示的商店展示。即使在我的照片中可见的语言提供了令人惊讶的很少的信息，但中文，英语，法语，韩文或德语签名显示在世界各地。香港的一个街景比旧金山，纽约
11、或伦敦拍摄的图片少了很多汉字，于是大多数人认为这些照片来自西欧。图16-1是从哪里来的？是一家在韩国大田的百货公司。The same lack of diversity extends to the training of designers. When I visit the top design schools across the world, I find that their curricula and methods are similar. I find more differences in the curricula of schools within a country t
12、han between the United States, Korea, England and the Netherlands. 同样缺乏多样性也延伸到设计师的培训。当我访问世界各地的顶级设计学校时，我发现他们的课程和方法是类似的。我发现在一个国家内的学校课程比在美国，韩国，英国和荷兰之间有更大的差异。You can see this in mobile phones. Traditional phones varied in Size and appearance across the world, so that phones for teen-age Japanese girls w
13、ere different than the ones for Japanese salarymen, which in turn were different than the Blackberry loved by Western business and financial workers. But all the phones were similar in the features they provided and the way they operated. Today, with the advent of smartphones, there are only three m
14、ajor manufacturers of the operating systems: Google (Android), Apple (iOS) and Microsoft (Windows Phone). The iPhone and iPad are unchanged to reflect culture except for language, yet they are incredibly popular all around the world. Android phones are available from handset providers in Europe, Asi
15、a and the United States. These are all independent of culture. The same story applies for phones running Microsofts Windows Phone 7.5 and 8: They are independent of culture whether the handset comes from Europe or Asia. 你可以在手机上看到这个。传统手机在世界各地的尺寸和外观各不相同，因此，青少年日本女孩的手机不同于日本上班族的手机，这反过来不同于西方商业和金融工作者喜欢的黑莓手
16、机。但所有的手机提供的功能和操作方式是相似的。今天，随着智能手机的出现，只有三个主要的操作系统制造商：谷歌（Android），苹果（iOS）和微软（Windows Phone）。 iPhone和iPad对文化的反应，除了语言，都保持不变，但他们是非常受欢迎的世界各地。 Android手机可从欧洲，亚洲和美国的手机提供商获得。这些都是独立于文化。同样的故事适用于运行微软Windows Phone 7.5和8的手机：他们独立于文化，无论手机来自欧洲还是亚洲。Does culture matter for product design? The examples I just talked abou
17、t would seem to indicate that for the world of mass-produced products - that is, for the world of industrial design - culture might be far less important than we might have expected. Is this really true, and if so, is this a positive or negative finding?文化对产品设计是否重要？我刚才谈到的例子似乎表明，对于大规模生产产品的世界，即对于工业设计世
18、界而言，文化可能远不如我们预期的那么重要。这是真的吗？如果是，这是一个积极的还是消极的发现？Implications for Design对设计的影响A few decades ago, I believed that cultural differences were fundamental. Moreover, they were exciting and interesting. Today, I believe that cultural differences are still just as fundamental and exciting but they primarily
19、exist in governing social interaction, the types of foods that are eaten and stylistic preferences. Modern products are designed to support particular activities, so that it is the activity itself that controls how they should be designed and used. Traditional activities are heavily determined by cu
20、lture, but modern office practices, manufacturing, communication, financial accounts and transportation are dominated by the technology used to accomplish them, or in the cases of financial accounts, by world-wide standards intended to make transactions and accounting uniform. As a result, many of o
21、ur activities are determined by the technologies we use, such as the automobile, computer, cellphone, train or airplane, or by the need to interact smoothly with other countries and cultures across the world. Once the technology determines the activity, the influence of culture dissipates.几十年前，我认为文化
22、差异是根本性的。 此外，他们是令人兴奋和有趣。今天，我认为文化差异仍然同样基本和令人兴奋，但他们主要存在于治理社会互动，食物的类型和风格偏好。 现代产品旨在支持特定的活动，因此活动本身控制着如何设计和使用它们。 传统活动在很大程度上由文化决定，但是现代办公室的做法，制造，通信，财务账户和运输由用于完成它们的技术支配，或者在金融账户的情况下，由世界范围内旨在进行交易和会计的标准 制服。 因此，我们的许多活动都取决于我们使用的技术，如汽车，计算机，手机，火车或飞机，或者需要与世界各地的其他国家和文化交互。 一旦技术决定了活动，文化的影响就消失了。These observations have im
23、portant implications for design. Modern products are driven by technology, which in turn dictates the activity. Designers talk a lot about Human-Centered Design where it is important to design for the needs of the person. Well, this doesnt work when the goal is millions of people all across the worl
24、d. Computers and software, phones and applications, automobiles, kitchen appliances and housewares are intended for consumption by millions. Human-Centered Design can no longer apply: what does it mean to discover the precise needs of millions of people? Instead, I have argued for Activity-Centered
25、Design, where the activity dictates the design. (See my papers on this topic referenced at the end of this essay.)这些观察对设计有重要的影响。 现代产品由技术驱动，这反过来决定了活动。 设计师们谈到很多关于以人为中心的设计，其中重要的是设计为人的需要。 嗯，当目标是世界各地的数百万人时，这不工作。 计算机和软件，手机和应用程序，汽车，厨房用具和家庭用品旨在消费数百万。 以人为中心的设计不再适用：发现数百万人的确切需求是什么意思？ 相反，我主张以活动为中心的设计，活动决定了设计。 （
26、见我在本文结尾处提到的关于这个主题的论文。）Technology dictates the activity. In turn, the activity dictates the design. When the design is appropriate for the technology, people accept it, regardless of culture. Consider musical instruments as a good example. Many are difficult to learn, such as the violin that requires
27、 an awkward, injury-prone posture and hand configuration. Consider the awkward fingering of musical instruments across the world. People learn these with incredible skill, not because they fit the body, but because the designs seem quite appropriate to the technology, and therefore to the activity.技
28、术决定了活动。 反过来，活动决定了设计。 当设计适合于该技术时，人们接受它，而不管文化。 考虑乐器是一个很好的例子。 许多是很难学习的，例如小提琴，需要一个尴尬，容易受伤的姿势和手的配置。 考虑世界各地乐器的尴尬指法。 人们以不可思议的技能学习这些，不是因为他们适合身体，而是因为设计看起来相当适合于技术，因此对活动。There are regional differences. Food and eating provide dramatic contrasts with different cultures adopting very different behavior. Some use
29、 silverware, some chopsticks, and some use fingers or bread. Some cultures prefer more ornamentation than others, so that, for example, products intended for East Asia display decorative scrolls and artwork. When the same products are sold elsewhere in the world, they are often identical except for
30、the removal of the ornamentation. Style differences? Yes. Fundamental differences? No.有区域差异。 食物和饮食提供了与采用非常不同的行为的不同文化的显着对比。 有些使用银器，有些筷子，有些使用手指或面包。 一些文化比其他文化喜欢更多的装饰，例如，旨在为东亚的产品显示装饰卷轴和艺术品。当相同的产品在世界上其它地方销售时，它们通常是完全相同的，除了去除的装饰品。 样式不同？ 是的。根本性不同？ 不是。People drive very differently in different parts of the w
31、orld, from safety-conscious, law-abiding drivers in the United States, Japan, and parts of Europe, to the free-wheeling driving style of other countries, where the death and injury rates soar. But the design and control of the cars themselves are still done the same way, whether the cars are used in
32、 Delhi or Milan, London or Saigon.在世界不同地区，人们的行动方式截然不同，从美国，日本和欧洲部分地区的安全意识，遵守法律的司机，到其他国家的自由驾驶风格，死亡和受伤率飙升 。 但汽车本身的设计和控制仍然是一样的，无论这些汽车是在德里还是米兰，伦敦或西贡使用。The ways in which people interact differs considerably around the world, so much so that the traveling businessperson is often advised to take a quick cou
33、rse on proper etiquette for the countries to be visited. Nonetheless, the technologies that support the interaction are the same: telephones, e-mail and text messages, business cards, and the importance of business meals. Behavior differs, but the products are similar.人们在世界各地进行互动的方式差别很大，以至于旅行商经常被建议为参观的国家采取一个快速适当的礼节。 然而
