Working across cultures changes the way you see design.
It teaches you that what feels clear, familiar, or intuitive to one person may feel completely different to someone else.
A word can carry a different meaning. A colour can create a different reaction. A process that feels efficient in one environment may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar in another. Even the way people ask for help, express frustration, or respond to authority can change from one culture to the next.
These differences are not problems to solve.
They are realities to understand.
Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work with people from many countries, backgrounds, professions, and life experiences. I have led diverse teams and helped design products used by global workforces and customers.
That experience taught me something important:
Designing for everyone does not mean creating one experience and expecting everyone to adapt to it.
It means creating an experience that makes room for difference.
There is no universal user
Design teams often speak about “the user” as though that person has one set of needs, behaviours, and expectations.
In reality, people bring their whole world into an experience.
They bring their language, education, confidence, cultural norms, access to technology, working environment, and previous experiences with similar services.
Some users expect direct and concise communication. Others respond better to more context and reassurance.
Some are comfortable exploring an unfamiliar interface. Others worry that pressing the wrong button could create a serious consequence.
Some will openly say that a process is confusing. Others may remain silent, find a workaround, or ask someone they trust for help.
If we only listen to the loudest voices, we may assume that everyone else is satisfied.
They may simply be expressing difficulty differently.
That is why cultural awareness matters in research and design. It helps us look beyond what people say and pay attention to how they behave, where they hesitate, and what they may not feel comfortable telling us directly.
Designing with humility
Working across cultures requires humility.
It requires accepting that our own experience is not the default experience.
As designers and leaders, we naturally bring personal assumptions into the work. We have preferences about what looks professional, how information should be organised, how quickly people should make decisions, and what a “simple” journey should feel like.
Those preferences are shaped by our own background.
The challenge is not to remove ourselves completely from the design process. That would be impossible.
The challenge is to recognise when our personal perspective is being treated as universal truth.
This is where research becomes essential.
Research allows us to replace confidence based on familiarity with understanding based on evidence. It helps us see the experience through the lives of the people who will actually use it.
Sometimes the findings confirm our direction.
Sometimes they challenge it completely.
Both outcomes are valuable.
The purpose of research is not to make users agree with us.
It is to help us see what we could not see on our own.
Language is part of the experience
Translation is often treated as one of the final steps in product development.
The design is completed, the content is approved, and then the words are converted into other languages.
But language is not a layer added to an experience.
It is part of the experience itself.
A phrase that sounds clear in one language may become too formal, too vague, or unnecessarily complex in another. A short label may need more space. Instructions may require a different structure. Some concepts may not have a direct equivalent at all.
Even when people use the same language, meaning can vary.
Tone matters.
A message that sounds confident to one audience may sound cold to another. A friendly expression may feel unprofessional in a different setting. A direct warning may create clarity for some people and anxiety for others.
Good content is not simply grammatically correct.
It helps people understand what is happening, what they need to do, and what will happen next.
That requires cultural understanding as much as linguistic accuracy.
Designing for different levels of confidence
Cultural differences are often connected with different levels of digital confidence.
In a global organisation, the same platform may be used by people who work with technology every day and by others who access it only when they need to complete an essential task.
They may use different devices, work under different conditions, and have very different expectations of how a digital service should behave.
One person may confidently explore.
Another may carefully read every word before continuing.
Someone else may be using the service in a second or third language while under time pressure.
A good experience should support all of them without making anyone feel incapable.
This means using clear language, predictable interactions, meaningful feedback, and enough guidance to create confidence without overwhelming the user.
Simplicity is not about removing information until a screen looks clean.
It is about giving people what they need at the moment they need it.
Diversity within the design team
Designing across cultures is not only about the people using the product.
It is also about the people creating it.
Some of the strongest teams I have worked with brought together individuals from different countries, disciplines, and professional backgrounds.
They did not always see the problem in the same way.
That was their strength.
One person might notice a language issue. Another might question an assumption about behaviour. Someone with operational experience could see a practical risk that was invisible in the meeting room. A designer from a different background might recognise that an interaction would not feel natural to part of the audience.
Diversity did not automatically produce better work.
People still needed to feel safe enough to speak.
Leaders needed to make space for different communication styles, particularly for people who were thoughtful but less likely to interrupt or challenge openly.
An inclusive team is not one where everyone is invited.
It is one where different voices genuinely influence the outcome.
Consistency without forcing sameness
Global products need consistency.
People should not have to relearn how a service works every time they move between products, countries, or business areas. Shared standards, design systems, and common patterns create familiarity and reduce unnecessary effort.
But consistency should not become rigidity.
The goal is to create a strong shared foundation while allowing the experience to respond to different contexts.
Some parts of a service should remain consistent everywhere. Others may need to adapt to language, local processes, legal requirements, cultural expectations, or the realities of how people work.
The difficult question is deciding what should remain universal and what should be flexible.
There is no single rule.
It requires research, collaboration, and thoughtful judgment.
A scalable design system should create alignment without removing the ability to respond to real human needs.
Culture appears in the smallest moments
Cultural awareness is not always visible through major features.
It often appears in small decisions.
How a person is addressed.
How much explanation is provided.
Whether the system assumes an individual or family context.
How dates, names, and addresses are entered.
How errors are communicated.
Whether imagery reflects the people using the service.
How easily someone can change language or request support.
Individually, these details may appear minor.
Together, they tell the user whether the experience was designed with people like them in mind.
When those details are ignored, the product may still function.
But it may not feel welcoming, trustworthy, or respectful.
What designing across cultures taught me
Working across cultures has made me a more careful designer and a more thoughtful leader.
It taught me to ask more questions before reaching conclusions.
To listen for what is not being said.
To recognise that confidence can look different in different people.
To understand that inclusion is not created through statements alone. It is shaped through everyday decisions about language, access, representation, and participation.
Most importantly, it taught me that empathy is not the ability to imagine how another person feels.
It is the willingness to accept that their reality may be different from anything we have experienced ourselves.
We may never fully understand every culture, background, or individual perspective.
That is not a reason to stop trying.
It is a reason to remain curious.
Great global experiences are not created by removing difference.
They are created by respecting it.