Eye tracking applied in the context of an intercultural design workshop 

To pave the way for self-reflection, encourage cultural awareness and promote an intercultural understanding, Professor Susanne P. Radtke led a group of design students from the German Ulm University of Applied Sciences to Indonesia to conduct an intercultural workshop.

Question

Analyzing how cultural differences and similarities affect the perception of YouTube commercials, the workshop used two different approaches; first, discussing impressions, feelings, and experiences and second, capturing eye tracking data to analyze behavior and attention span.

Professor Radtke has organized intercultural workshops for more than ten years and stated a recent realization, “While preparing the workshop and running a few tests with students I realized that some did not feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and feelings, and the usual methods such as brainstorming, mood boards and keywords were not accepted by everyone. Therefore, the pedagogical concept was expanded by a scientific approach where we included eye tracking as a research method.”

Method

During viewing of two German and two Indonesian commercials, the students used Tobii Pro Nano to track the eye movements of 18 participants with an equal amount of men and women from both countries. Tobii Pro Lab was used for analyzing the data and findings summarized by visual illustrations.

Conclusion

Prof. Radtke explains, “I use eye tracking technology as a pedagogical tool in my lectures, such as typography and corporate design, to acquaint the students with the viewing behavior of different target groups.”