A Prototype Theory Approach to International Website Analysis and Design

Nicole, Natalia, Yulia, Liuba, and Promeet

 Overview of Prototype Theory

• Humans use prototypes to classify the objects they encounter

• Prototype theory offers a method for understanding how cultural
expectations can cause communication problems related to visuals
• Exposure to different visual representations affects the way persons
categorize objects and images.
 Strategies for Creating Culturally Relevant and
Sensitive Websites

• Use as few images as possible

• Simple images should be utilized
• Text should be integrated with images
• Website evaluation must be done with target audience
Ukraine: http://www.coca-cola.kz/

Product websites for Coke

United States: http://www.coca-cola.com/index.jsp

Ukraine site vs. Corporate site
 Comparison of Websites

www.coca-cola.kz (Ukraine) www.coca-cola.com (US)

Menu The main menu is placed on the right of the site and The main menu is the top pull-down menu that
consists of information about the company, history, consists of My Coke Rewards, Shop Our Store, and
production, photo gallery, the guest-book, publications Coke in the USA. The “Coke in the USA” tab offers
and other links. The additional menu is to the right and a pull-down menu with tabs for the company,
consist of different interesting links, like “The unusual careers, and product information. There is also a
facts from Coca-Cola’s company”, scrolling list of links underneath the images that
crossword puzzles from Coca-Cola, online games and displays products, a polar bear support fund, and a
virtual cards link to become a fan on Facebook.

This site has four buttons on the left, on the top, on the
right, and at the bottom. They contain text and images of
products (Nestea and Piko), and a lid from Coca-Cola.
Buttons and
Colors: red, white, blue, green. Hyperlinks are part of a
Hyperlinks menu bar. There are 18 hyperlinks per main page. Some
hyperlinks change color from white to orange or their
background is allocated with more dark colors, some
light up more brightly, some show
This site has four buttons that function as thumbnail
pictures. Buttons and images are black and white,
and become color when the mouse rolls over them.
Hyperlinks are part of a pull-down toolbar and are
also scrolling pictures that represent websites
underneath main page. The hyperlinks do not
change in color, font, or size when the mouse scrolls
over them. The image hyperlinks at the bottom have
pop up text bubbles when the mouse rolls over
them.
 www.coca-cola.kz (Ukraine)
Color Red is the background color.
The name of company, and the hyperlinks are white and
the characteristic wavy line is in orange and grey
Body text A lot of text in all points of menu bar.
Language: Russian, some pages can be translated into
the Kazakhstan language. On some pages the
colors of text and background are changing
(“About Nestea” and “About Pico”). On some
paragraphs the initial letters are formatted by a
bold type. The name of titles are orange and
allocated by capital letters; some phrases in the
text are formatted by a white bold type
www.coca-cola.com (US)
The background and font colors are white. The
background, and the diet coke bottle are grey,
and the Coca Cola bottle and toolbar are red
There is very little text on the home page. The new
windows opened from hyperlinks vary
greatly on the amount of text and format. All
of the links are consistently small. The font
size looks to be about size 12. The script and
images with text are much larger. Text is
simple and standard – not bold, italics or
underline.
 www.coca-cola.kz (Ukraine)
Images There are a lot of photos of people – the CEO of Coca- Only a few images are displayed at a time. Most
Cola, a soccer team which is sponsored by Coca-
Cola, Russian stars, and photos from rewarding of
the best regional sales representatives of Coca-
Cola and other men and women. Pictures are
clear, but photos are small. Most of the images are
realistic. Coca-Cola’s logos are used on each page
Animation effects Only at flash site version:
Wavy rotations of color strips; the logo of the company
periodically increases in size; names of hyperlinks
appears with effect of a typewriter; a lot of flying
vials
Html and flash version:
The animated cartoon about Coca-Cola’s manufacture;
on the top of the site the phrases from a page “The
unusual facts from Coca-Cola’s company”
constantly varies
www.coca-cola.com (US)
are scrolling through and one will replace
another. Images of Coca-Cola products are
located in the center right. All product
images are the same size and when the user
clicks on one a larger image of the same
product pops up in the middle.
Animation effects include bubbles rising in the
background which is characteristic of the
bubbly products this company produces.
There is also an example of passive
animation where the products are stationary
until the user activates them by hovering
over them with a cursor.
 www.coca-cola.kz (Ukraine) www.coca-cola.com (US)

Target Audience The abstract nature of some of the images suggests that The vibrant feel of the site suggests that the target
the target audience finds visual cues more audience is a fun-loving, enthusiastic, multi-
appealing than text-based information. Similar to tasking audience, a fact that's clear from the
the US site is the fact that this site is even more number of pop-ups, graphics, and bold
focused on young, adult consumers colors.

Commonalities
 Conclusion

• Different cultural groups associate different meanings with the same image

• Marketing communicators use prototypes to design effective images for international audiences

• A satisfying user experience is a product of an effective interface that is aesthetically pleasing

within a certain context