FUN! Culture probe in China and the UK

Cultural probe as research method is the most exciting part in the whole primary research, you can see some highlights in this video.

I designed probes in both Chinese and English in order to make sure I can gather the right information. The Chinese version probe took place in Qiqihar, China, with 30 participants in September. The English version of cultural probe took place in London, the UK, with 40 participants in October.

I designed the probe by using a simple questionnaire with emoji stickers. It is not surprising that all participants loved the emoji stickers and obsessed with using them.

The content of the probes are begin with asking if they are familiar with Emoji or not, and their attitudes of using them. Then following with the emoji-based marketing examples I picked, the examples is used here to test whether emoji can be a universal language that break through the cultural gaps. Finally, the participants write down or stick their feelings toward using Emoji.

Analysing the probes gives me a fresh idea on how emoji affect our daily communication, and how it can connect or separate us from a shared understanding. I also noticed the cultural differences with understand the single emojis maybe a myth, participants are not really understand them based on only their own culture, especially for the probes taken in London.

More research details will present in the final thesis. If you are interested in fill in a cultural probe, you can find the English Version here and the Chinese Version here.

Have Fun!

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