Glocalization and Design Aesthetics

My experience of living, working and traveling in UK, US, China and Southeast Asia remind me to always keep the need of glocalizing creative contents and products in mind. There was one economist who used the price of McDonald's meal to determine the cost of living in a particular city. I mimic this approach and captured the screens of McDonald's website around the world and showed them to my students, trying to explain the need of glocalization. Herewith the printscreens of McDonald’s homepage in different countries on 24 May 2012:

McD China 

McD India

McD Japan

McD Korea

McD Malaysia

McD Taiwan

McD Thailand

McD US

I referred to a paper I wrote in 2006, titled “Globalization, e-Learning & The Art of War” to explain what I believe globalization is:

Tight economic definition: a catchall phrase for growing world trade, the growing linkages between financial markets in different countries, and the many other ways in which the world is becoming a smaller place.

Broader social definition: a multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch, and intensify worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant.

Glocalize = Globalize + Localize

Next, I began a discussion on the nature and characteristics of creative contents, which covered:
- Dynamic versus static
- Types and variety

Students should always think about what features of a product should be glocalized.