Effective image use is central to successful international communication. It facilitates usability, decreases translation costs, and reduces the time needed to get products into overseas markets. Yet, culture and image design (CID) is often one of the more problematic factors related to intercultural communication due to the different expectations and associations cultures have for particular images. This essay overviews how the cognitive psychology concept of PROTOTYPES can help technical communicators develop more effective images for international consumers.

The spread of online communication technologies has brought with it new perspectives on international communication. Now, with the Internet, email, and application service providers, interacting with coworkers an entire hemisphere away can be almost as easy as interacting with coworkers in the same building. As a result of the "leveling of distance" created by online communication technologies, new kinds of international business models have been proposed; models that attempt to reduce production costs while maintaining product quality. However, some of these models fail to account for cultural differences that could cause communication problems in international online exchanges. The article examines how one particular international online production model, production facilities that never close, could encounter cultural communication problems if participants involved were not aware of certain cultural communication expectations, specifically those related to the cultural concept of "face".