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Marco de Groen

Graphic Designer , Cultural Treasures

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An online platform for sharing manners

Dear all, I would like to share an idea about a project I am working on which is called Cultural Treasures.

Cultural Treasures is an online platform that allows users to post and share manners of their own and of other cultures with users from all over the world.
It can be useful to know about manners when you are travelling, doing
business abroad or are researching different cultures.
The platform transcends existing references on manners because it does not only describe manners generically. It gives deep insights in the contexts and practical use of manners and related manners. Therefore by using this
platform you will never act inappropriate when dealing with other cultures.

I would like to propose my bidbook to you all and would love to receive some feedback on how you all think about this idea and what I could improve on it. Please look at: http://www.slideshare.net/marcodegroen/cultural-treasures-bidbook-20

Topics: Campaign Manners culture marketing platform social media
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    Marco de Groen

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    Apr 2 2012: Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. The point you are mention about the sign up/login button is one you are right about. I just looked at some other community sites and they do have the buttons on the right. So I think it would be wise to put the buttons to the right.

    Regarding your other question about the mobile access. I was having the idea of making this platform in the shape of a responsive website. This means there is one website, one databse, only the website size will automatically size itself based on what machine signs in to the website. This will make the website available for pc, tables, mobile phones and other. In this way people can visite the site anytime, anywhere with any type of machine

    • Steve Bruno

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      Apr 4 2012: Creating a responsive website is a good route to go for flexibility. Although to be honest, I have not come across a whole lot of websites that have really created a great mobile experience using this method. It's definitely possible, but I find most designers, simply remove some columns as the site width shrinks, forcing the user to scroll through more columns. To really do it properly, you would want to change the structure and how the information is presented to the mobile user.
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        Marco de Groen

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        Apr 4 2012: On that point you are right Steve, but I think this responsive website could be the best idea to keep things central and easy. As a graphic designer I can keep an eye on the design and the usability so I hope to make the right choices then. Do you have any other idea or option???

  • Steve Bruno

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    Apr 2 2012: I agree that this is an excellent idea and definitely can see the potential in it.

    I am sure your mockups are still very preliminary, but from a usability perspective I would recommend moving the sign up/login links to the top right of the site, as that is a more standard location.

    Do you have any plans to provide mobile access to this database? Especially for the traveling business person, I think having a quick mobile site/app will play an important part to it's success.
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    Marco de Groen

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    Apr 2 2012: Thanks a lot Jedrek and Krisztian for the comments. I would like to answer your questions. In reply to Jedrek, this platform would be more a tool for businesspeople who are going to do international business, or students that would like to know more about the country they are going to study in. These are just 2 small examples. Just to give you an idea of what kind of people I would like to help. People who are from another culture living in a new country could also use this platform to learn more.

    In reply to Krisztian, I want to start as soon as possible, only the challenge is money, sponsors or investors. Setting up a platform like this takes some money and sice I am a graphic designer and not a programmer I am still looking for a team of people to help me with this. So if you know someone please let me know. Right now I am on a guest of finding someone who could help in some way.
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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Apr 2 2012: nice one. when do you start? or what's next?
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    Jedrek Stepien 10+

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    Apr 2 2012: It is a FAN-TAS-TIC idea! I have not seen a project that would promote humanity in a better way than this one!

    Still, I wonder if a cultured individual from any given culture could make do in a foreign culture without apriori knowledge about it? It is interesting if politeness is universal. I wish cultural treasures could answer this!
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    Marco de Groen

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    Apr 2 2012: Hi Bryanna O'Mara, thank you so much for the positive feedback. This really makes me feel that I am on the right way with this platform.Thank you!
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    Bryanna O'Mara

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    Apr 2 2012: I love this idea. I was raised with the idea that you should always be polite, respectful, and use another's ideal customs/manners, especially when you are the visitor. But so often this is difficult to do, as these can vary so much even within a single culture. What a wonderful way to try and bring a little bit more understanding to the world and help people get along with one another more comfortably.

    After looking at your bid book I find I like the idea even more. I like that one can browse, search, or start questions in a forum like atmosphere. I like that the comments area seems to provide an opportunity for debate and tweaking of the answers to such questions. And I particularly love that various media forms can be attached to the answers so that you have real life examples on how to act/move/speak etc. I also like the clean cut look and the colors of the mock up site.

    Also the mock posters for the campaign were great. They made me stop to figure out just what was going on, ask myself how I would feel if someone passed a bowl directly over the top of my head, then provided me with an opportunity to ask people to please not do that!
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