Cultural Effects on Manual Design: A Cross-cultural Study
文化与应用文的设计风格——中英文产品使用说明书对比研究

Cultures vary in communicative expectations and preferences. This study explores the question whether cultural differences affect the way conventional documents such as manuals are designed and written. Sample manuals from China and the United States are compared in terms of content selection, use of graphics, and techniques for highlighting. Analysis reveals that each culture is distinct in manual designing. The Chinese samples contain more information about the products while their English counterparts focus more on problem solving. The relationship between manual writing and cultural background is then discussed. The stylistic differences in the two sets of samples seem to stem from three cultural factors: a) thought patterns, the holistic approach characteristic of the Chinese vs. the analytical and sequential tradition of the American thinking pattern; b) communicative styles; and c) social norms. The study raises the question of how to increase effectiveness of document design in a time of economic globalization.