Conference article

In our globalized environment, and particularly in the context of industrial design activities in international companies or research institutions, it is increasingly frequent to take part in diverse scenarios involving at least two different cultural contexts. Therefore, it becomes an essential point during the initiation of the design process to achieve an optimal transmission of design information in order to increase the added value of the project through the implementation of accurate cultural layers. However, issues pertaining to communication may arise throughout the process if there is an inadequacy in cultural understanding. Hence, it is crucial to address the significance of cross-cultural tools to be used in communication of the design information in its initial phase. Two case studies are referred to openly discuss the matter. Both cases correspond to research projects that were conducted at the Kansei Design division, Toyota Motor Europe (KD-TME). Both projects generated specific tools as a practical output for strategists and designers to use as a way to produce inspirational materials or define a target user, with a more grounded and sensible cultural base.

Design information, communication, cross-cultural, values, early-phase