Applying and testing an approach to design for culturally diverse user groups

This paper intends to illustrate how user interface designers can apply the Meaning in Mediated Action (MIMA) approach (P. Bourges-Waldegg, A.R. Scrivener, Meaning; the central issue is cross-cultural HCI design, Interacting with Computers, 9 (3) (1998) 287–310, special issue on “Shared Values and Shared Interfaces”) to design for culturally diverse user groups. After outlining its theoretical foundation, we describe how the MIMA stages—observation, evaluation, analysis and design—were carried out to redesign a WWW system. Finally, we assess the efficacy of this approach by comparing the results of the evaluation of the original and the redesigned interfaces.