Cultural Discourse in User Interface Design: Investigating Characteristics of Communicators in Microsoft Word

Abstract

This paper addressed cultural factors in user interface design. Specifically, it took the words and symbols in the user interface as a discourse, and analyzed the characteristics of the communicator who created such discourse under the frame of cultural discourse studies created by Shi-xu (2015). The characteristics of communicators were revealed diachronically in a series of Microsoft Word versions through the content, forms of communication, and historical relations of the user interface discourse. The influence of Microsoft Word user interface design on other word processors such as Jinshan WPS was also investigated. Results showed that the typical words and/or symbols in the Microsoft user interface were the most frequently elements of English documents and were listed according to western thinking method. It seems that the word processors in other cultures tended to copy the form and content of the design of Microsoft Word without taking their cultural differences into consideration. How to use cultural discourse studies to design a user-centered interface was discussed.