Identification of user perceptions and design parameters of vehicle cluster instruments in different cultures

Abstract

The study of user perception of products is important in the globalised world where designers increasingly design for international and unfamiliar audiences. Although the semantic differential method (SDM) is a proven method to assess the perceptions of products, previous studies have however neglected the cultural background of users. This study explores the usefulness of SDM in cross-cultural comparisons. This explorative study further examines difference in perceptions of six vehicle cluster instruments across three cultures of the USA, Germany and India through an online survey. From the analysis, nine of the thirteen adjective pairs used were found suitable for intercultural comparison where cultural differences in the evaluation of cluster instruments were observed. Further based on the results, possible implications for design of cluster instruments for the three cultures studied is presented.