The project's goal is to put into practice the principles of cross-cultural research in a UX context.
Our team chose to work on public library websites to uncover what makes French websites French, and American websites American.
From our findings, we created two websites -one representing each culture- that encapsulates the research findings.
How the project was born
ISIT is the Institute of Intercultural Studies and one of France's "Grande Écoles".
Its intercultural approach to UX is a unique blend of two disciplines. As part of course completion, our team chose to compare how public library websites are built in France and the USA. All 3 of us can speak English, one of the members is American and has even worked in a public library before.
Sometimes conflated with the terms "multicultural" and "cross-cultural", intercultural communication aims to go beyond co-existing with different groups or perceiving others through the limiting lenses of one's own culture.
To communicate on an intercultural level is to understand the target culture deeply and appreciate them as one would does one's own.
In UX Research, it means to analyse how culture affects interface design, users, designers, and to know how to create products that will fulfill any cultural group's needs even if one is not part of that culture.
Note that in English speaking countries, the term "cross-cultural" is used interchangeably. Consider these two terms synonymous in the context of this project.
A word before we dive in
First, this project is front-loaded by nature: identifying cultural differences and testing their validity with UX methods was more important than designing the interfaces. Second, we do not condone value judgement; Americans and French have different mental models for libraries, each being the product of its unique history.
Following website audits and historical research, our team identified 3 main differences between how public libraries are perceived across these cultures.
1. Defining "culture"
a. The French focus on library collections and objective national "patrimoine" (cultural heritage).
b. Americans tend to have a more definition of culture (group cultural heritage, work culture, morality, ideas and views, ...) .
2. Relationship to patrons
a. The French value professionals' « savoir-faire » ("know-how") and « métier » (line of work), librarians included.
b. Americans highlight a variety of services for patrons that do not fit into the scope of a French library.
3. A library's purpose
a. French libraries' purpose is cultural enrichment. Patrons should explore the collection as autonomously as possible, both in libraries and on their websites.
b. In the United States, libraries aim to nurture communities and provide patrons with access to information and services.
We went through a corpus of 10 websites, 5 for each country. (MAP p.8), sampling from the largest cities in both countries.
Sitemap structure on French websites are more uniform with fewer categories. American sites have more categories and are more granular.
Aside from some shared categories expected of a library, such as books, music, library membership, some categories that are culture-specific.
Content on French sites focus on promoting the library's collection. Most of these sites have a "patrimoine" (heritage) section and some even have a "digital collection" section, effectively doubling the collections' presence. French websites rarely segment their public by age, but by the layman VS professionals line (historians, school teachers, etc. vs the average library goers) so many have a "professional space" section.
American websites have more community-oriented content with a finer segmentation based on age rather than professional status. Portland and Boston's libraries go as far as having dedicated sections for teenagers, young people are seen as a distinct group with different needs.
French websites display breadcrumbs, search bars with an "advanced search" option, and sticky menu bars at the top more often than American websites. The navigation experience is more streamlined. This shows a more organized vision of culture.
American websites lets users navigate by image grids a lot more than French websites, with an abundance of possible links to click on, the menu bar takes second place. American websites offer a more browsing focused navigation based on possible patron interest and less on linear organization of information.
Netlinking: French library websites are "sociopetal", they do not often link to resources outside of the domain, to put the libraries' content front and center. American websites are more "sociofugal", with more outlinks to other web domains, the focus is the patron's informational needs and not the library itself.
American websites have more community-oriented content:
- CTAs are more visible,
- videos and social network buttons are more present,
- most have a newsletter,
- most have an "Ask a Librarian" chat option, this direct access and communication channel is non-existent on French websites
- in a similar vein, the option for patrons to leave reviews on books
- the option to donate, which is not present in the French corpus at all.
French websites lack most of these interactive elements Furthermore, when they are present, they are less visible. Social media buttons for instance are relegated to footers. However, French websites propose patrons to "ask for suggestions", here again putting the librarian in a position that values their know-how.
American websites try to create a personal connexion with users; pictures often show real human subjects facing the camera often in situations of teamwork and group activities. Picture subjects are most often than not, smiling. This is coupled with dark, neutral colors and preference for primary colors, with most libraries using blue as their main color. Most webpages do not have more than 2 colors; the main color and another to highlight CTAs.
French websites create a more distanced relationship by avoiding pictures directly showing real people's faces. Instead, drawn illustrations, pictures of books, of people from the back, or their hands in action are the norm. On the other hand French websites feature illustrations more and use larger variety of colors across the palette, brighter, more saturated, with more than one color on any webpage.
This picture trend is seen across many websites about other topics, it's a more general pattern.
French websites are more vertical, with larger left and right margins, favoring wide blocks set on one column.
Clickable images within blocks show more variety in size, creating a stronger sense of hierarchy. Content is grouped by common regions of colored backgrounds. Vertical scrolling is the main way to discover content on a page.
American websites are modular. Modular grids homogenize the size of clickable images and this is combined with the use of grouping by proximity. With more images to click, American pages are usually shorter, with less vertical scrolling. A bit of scrolling and horizontal browsing is the main way to discover content.
Because modular grids limit the size of pictures, textual content takes up more space even though there are more images total. French websites have less images in total count but they take up more space.
American websites all employ a simpler, more accessible and inclusive language that avoids the use of rarer words.
French websites have no issue with literary form of copywriting and micro-copy.
On a French website, the description for the music section says: "The major third at the library, and all year round, sounds wash over the shelves, crossing fifths and octaves.", the equivalent on the New-York website is "Search for a variety of music genres, including rock, classical, hip-hop, and others".
French websites establish a non-reciprocal relationship with the patrons where both sides are independent with the systematic use of the second plural pronoun « vous », which mark politeness in the French language: "[Vous] Borrow books", "[Vous] Don't forget to...".
Sometimes, "I" is used, but it simulates the vantage point of the user "[I] Reserve books", "[I] Go to events", again strengthening the distance.
American websites create reciprocity between library staff and patrons with the use of first (librarians) and second pronouns (patrons) : "See other ways we can help", "Support us", "Give us feedback", "The Library is your partner to explore".
Geert Hofstede's cultural analysis framework (Hofstede 2010) distinguishes 6 major cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and indulgence.
According to Hofstede, the French have a higher degree of uncertainty avoidance than Americans.
French websites prioritize clear navigation with breadcrumbs and practical information, reducing perceived user risk whereas American websites offer more choices with a modular structure.
France is a more hierarchical society, where hierarchical distance is more present in daily life. In France, people in higher positions, especially "noble" positions gained with dedication to a trade, are valued. American society is less hierarchical, this is apparent throughout the corpus: websites focus on users needs explicitly, use a less formal tone and show a "clients first" mentality.
The French are more long-term oriented compared to Americans. This suggests that the French take their time, while Americans seek immediate results. American libraries have put forth online learning on their homepages to meet the demand for immediate result. In contrast, French libraries put forward cultural exhibitions with months long timeframe, so slower more contemplative events.
According to Edward T. Hall framework (Hall 1959), the French are more "context-rich" (cultures in which background context plays a large role in communication), favoring subtler communication with more alluded content. Americans are "context-poor" (cultures where prior knowledge of context is not assumed), they prefer more direct communication. This observation is supported by the preference of French sites for more abstract images and illustration, and American sites for more direct images and text.
UX Research methods provided field insights to confirm, infirm, or nuance the three hypotheses.
We conducted one preliminary survey, an interview and 3 user workshops with 4 groups: French patrons and librarians, and American patrons and librarians. Librarians only participated in the interview. Patrons participated in the interview plus workshops.
A preliminary survey to collect quantitative data on library patrons. 31 French and 31 Americans for a total of 62 respondents.
This survey helped us refine our data collection process.
Explore
- Interview: used to establish contact with participants and
- Photo-language
Ideate
- Open card sorting
- UX cards: in this workshop, users match 7 different psychological needs with 12 UX element cards. I usually stick to only 4 UX elements when testing with participants: functionalities, visual design, content and interactions.
On the French side, two hypotheses are partially confirmed out of three:
- Culture is not as defined as we initially thought. While libraries do focus on cultural events and collections, other activities like gardening are also proposed. Their availability depend on what the local library can host.
- Professionals are experts, but they do not shy away from helping patrons. It is possible that public libraries websites give off an image that does not reflect the reality of interactions on site, and that patrons themselves are not always aware of the breadth of service libraries offer beyond their cultural offers.
- We confirmed that French libraries promote cultural enrichment, this is confirmed by both the librarians and patrons group.
On the American side, all hypotheses are confirmed:
- "Culture" has a broader meaning in the US. Not only does it include the arts, but community projects, continuous learning are also part of the equation, which is not the case in France.
- In American libraries, services are a central part of libraries. They offer a variety of services not present or not often requested in France. American patrons also use the libraries' digital amenities (computers, tablets) much more and for a broader range of purposes.
- American libraries nurture communities through activities, services, and very importantly: their accessibility. Many participants perceive libraries as safe spaces and some of the rare free third places left in the country.
French respondants:
- Patrons go to libraries to study and to learn. They are attentive to the quality of their collections and the of library amenities. They have emerging needs: increased patron involvement in library activities, they are attentive to the attitude and availability of librarians.
- Librarians value cultural enrichment, facilitate discovery, and proximity to users. In France, one needs undertake university level studies to become a librarian. Librarians feel that the public don't really understand what their work entails.
American respondants:
- Patrons go to libraries to study and to learn. Many see their local library as a "Safe space": a space where they belong to a community, are safe and included.
- Librarians value community and supporting patrons, providing access to information, service, and work to keep a positive atmosphere within the library. American librarians followed less specific career path, they perceive a lack of recognition for the work they provide.
🇫🇷 FR - "We are encyclopedic, we have specialties, we have collections that are more or less developed"
🇫🇷 FR - "Patrons are always very curious about what we offer, which is very different from what they think we do"
🇺🇸 USA - “...safe place to exist outside of school without having to pay money"
🇺🇸 USA - “We need more spaces that are intentionally designed to help people at no cost, or more funding and better pay for libraries/librarians.”
On the French side, participants chose pictures that convey tradition, literary heritage and culture. Libraries are place dedicated to learning and sharing knowledge.
American participants chose many of the same pictures but two were not chosen by the previous group: one representing graduation and the other a community garden. To Americans, libraries entail community, accessibility, personal empowerment.
On the French side we obtained 2 card sorts. Both sorts are very different from existing IA. Notably, both sorts added a community-oriented section: "Community" and "Zoom on services". This result shows that there is a gap between web design and patrons' mental models. Again, this confirms that libraries keep distance between their professional circle, thus their mental model, and their patrons'.
On the American side we managed 1 card sort. This sort is very similar to existing IA on American websites, the only difference is that participants envision a leaner IA with less categories. This shows that libraries' web design strongly align with what their patrons want, confirming a closer relationship between the two groups.
French participants thought of features to expand their knowledge, better organize their library visit timing, and to facilitate exchanges on cultural topics of interest with other patrons. They also express interest in more community-oriented features.
e.g
- Frequent updates on up and coming novice writers.
- Section with information on locally available rents, part-time jobs and other services.
- Real-time data of number of people in local libraries so that people can better plan their visits.American participants thought of features that expand existing services, more in-depth community features and productivity features.
American participants thought of features that expand existing services, more in-depth community features and productivity features.
e.g
- Set "study pods" in libraries to fill the demand for quiet work spaces.
- Display events and animations directly on homepages.
- A participant thought about a "reading passport" where young children get one digital stamp if they read at least one book every month.
The French website concept takes into account our findings in that:
- The zoning is more linear, colored backgrounds create common regions,
- A more vibrant palette,
- The logo represents France's national animal, the rooster, imitating a medieval blazon style presentation,
- Pictures emphasize books and illustrations, faces are not commonplace,
- IA focuses on cultural enrichment,
- Editorial choices create more distance between librarians and patrons in a way that mimics patrons' autonomy in a library,
- An interactive map locating the library on the homepage,
- We did add a "our service" section, since patrons did mention that they would like to see libraries highlight services more.
The American website concept takes into account our findings in that:
- The zoning is more modular, with some variation between parts of the homepage
- Color palette is made up of more neutral colors
- Pictures, aside from book covers or posters for events, focus on the patrons with shots of them being active,
- The IA is more horizontal, with more sections starting from the homepage. The menu bar is inspired from double menu bars common on American websites,
- Editorial choices create more complicity between librarians and patrons,
- Newsletters and social media buttons are more visible,
- Users of the website can get in touch with staff directly through chat.
