Designing Web-Based Training: How to Teach Anyone Anything Anywhere Anytime

11.5. BE CAREFUL WHEN SHOWING PEOPLE

Nothing embodies a specific culture more than an image of a person. Avoid using images of people or parts of the human body as symbols. If you must use an image of a person:

Dress people modestly. Use common conservative business attire as your model. Avoid loud patterns, bright colors, high fashion, or overly casual wear. A hemline that is chic in Paris may be "blatant sexist exploitation" in San Francisco and "pornographic" in Dhahran.

Minimize indicators of social and economic class. Again, use simple business attire and avoid accessories that imply wealth or position, such as jewelry, furs, exotic cars, etc. Avoid emblems of religious value.

Keep relationships between people simple. Show people interacting in a polite and not too casual way. Make clear that the power to make decisions stems from job assignment or recognized expertise, not merely gender, social laws, or age.

Keep hands generic. When showing an operation involving the use of a hand, make the hand as generic as possible. Minimize racial and gender differences. Even better, use a cartoon hand. Instead of a hand of a particular gender or race, prefer a cartoon hand.

The goal of the graphic is to focus attention to the task the hand is performing rather than on speculation about what kind of person it is attached to. Oh, by the way, if only one hand is to be shown, make it the ...