National Identity
Design research project to understand how multicultural immersion influences people's national identities and leads them to co-create something new.
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH/ GENERATIVE RESEARCH
Research and Design with Culture
We are living in an open and global world. Different races, nationalities, and cultures influence what we do and how we do it. Designers have a responsibility to our community. As a maker and creator, I believe I have a unique opportunity to use my skills and methods to positively impact people’s lives.
This project contains two parts:
1. Exploratory Research (Team Project)
We did research about multicultural communities and came up with insights about their needs and behaviors. These findings informed areas of opportunity for design.
2. Generative Research (Individual)
I collected input through participatory research, generated concepts, and ultimately recommended a solution that I felt should be pursued.
Client /
CCA
Instructor /
Key Role /
Design Research
UX
Team Members/
Karen Song
Melissa Kim
Shelly lee
Year /
2016
Length/
6 weeks + 4 weeks
Exploratory Research
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study is to connect with a specific pool of multicultural people—specifically, people who have lived in more than two countries and have been immersed in and influenced by the different cultures around them.
We aim to understand how multicultural immersion influences their identity and explore key factors that influence people’s national identity.
METHODS




INTERVIEW
ONLINE SURVEY
GRAFFTI WALL
SECONDARY
RESEARCH
SECONDARY RESEARCH
From Anthony D. Smith's book National Identity, we found out that values, beliefs, customs, conventions, habits, languages and practices can influence people’s sense of national identification. It also mentioned that community, culture, language, beliefs are important for national identity.
6 PEOPLE
Female : 4
Male: 2
20 - 25 years old: 3
26 - 40 years old: 2
41 years old + : 1
Student : 3
Work : 3
8 COUNTRIES
America
Thailand
China
Taiwan
Italy
Canada
Germany
South Korea

INTERVIEW
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INSIGHTS
DIMENSION & DIAGRAM

MODES
TCK(Third Culture Kids)
International Students
Raised in one place for a long time,
but moved across different countries for certain purposes
Raised in one country as a kid
Worked in one place for 20+ years
Local



CLEAR
(NEUTRAL)
STRUGGLE
CLEAR
PAIN POINTS
Raised in a culture outside of their parents’ culture
for a significant part of their development years
Expectation
Reality
V.S.
V.S.
V.S.
Outside perspective
Inside perspective
Not home
Expectation
SUMMARY
Multicultural people love talking about their experiences with culture.
Generative Research
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
This project builds on the insights from our exploratory research to create a product or service for the “Third Culture Kids” community (people who were raised in a culture outside of their parent’s culture).
Through co-creating concepts with the TCK community, I aim to help multicultural people share their stories and connect to others like them.

OPPORTUNITY AREA
How might we help multicultural people connect to others like them?
PERSONA

CONCEPT & SCENARIO
M2 is a new subscription based service and product for multicultural people. They can voice their stories, exchange stories with someone, and subscribe to them in just one step.
CO-CREATION & PROTOTYPES
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