Color guidelines: It’s not black and white article tells that there are different meanings of color in various countries. Think about who your audience is, and what context the colors are in. The challenge is that web projects are on the internet, which has an international audience. Here is a table from the article:
As you see colors are culturally influenced. For example in Chinese- and Korean-speaking countries, green is a negative color and red is a positive color. The key here is to know your audience. Think about localizing sites. And remember that targeting primarily either location or language seems to be an oversimplification.
1 Comment
james chen says:
this is a really important point that often gets overlooked in web design. i’ve definitely made assumptions about colors in the past without thinking about how they might be perceived in different parts of the world.
the example you mentioned about red and green is particularly interesting – in western cultures we tend to associate red with “stop” or danger and green with “go” or safety, but it’s completely flipped in some asian countries. that could really cause some confusing moments if you’re not careful!
i think the localization aspect is key here. it’s not just about translating text – visual elements matter just as much. for anyone working on international projects, this should definitely be part of the research phase.
thanks for sharing this – it’s a good reminder that design choices have cultural implications we might not immediately think about.