Dramatic sketches: A new interaction design resource for communicating contextual factors

Abstract

User-centred design approaches focus on understanding usage contexts and evaluating usage through primary data. Collecting primary data is more feasible for contexts that project teams can directly access. Otherwise, secondary sources may be the only practical source of contextual information (and even when it is not, secondary data can still be valuable). When designing software for localization across global markets, comprehensive collection of primary data may be infeasible, but existing secondary data could be made more accessible via an appropriate design resource. In this paper, we present Dramatic Sketches as a resource for representing cultural factors. We relate a set of Dramatic Sketches to three field research studies in Jordan and show how a few Dramatic Sketches and auxiliary Micro Sketches can compactly communicate many cultural factors.