Color My World
By Molly E. Holzschlag
The way color is used in a worldwide context is a profound issue that's often misunderstood or overlooked by Web designers. How it's used on the screen is made more challenging by the fact that the perception of color depends not only upon our ability to see that color, but also on our ability to interpret it within the context of our emotional and cultural realities.
Color can entice, frighten, persuade, sell, and even inspire. I addressed the enormous impact of color on the human psyche in my November, 1999 column, "Satisfying Customers with Color, Shape, and Type." I've pointed out that our job as Web designers is to use color effectively to present our art, information, product, service, or organization. If we're attempting to convey our message to a global audience, we must do so with an awareness of color's cultural significance.
To demonstrate the impact of color and culture, let me remind you of a fashion trend that occurred in the '90s. Suddenly, it became popular for brides in the U.S. to use black garments in their wedding parties. Those brave souls undoubtedly shocked and disturbed members of their families!
A woman from Thailand and I had quite a laugh realizing that if we were to wear black wedding gowns or have black anywhere in our weddings, both of our mothers (mine is of the Jewish variety) would be mortified. The connotations for both of our cultures are far too charged with symbols of unhappiness, bad luck, and even evil.
Why were brides of a more contemporary generation choosing to use black in their bridal pageants? Well, along with all the negative connotations, black is also seen as very elegant and cosmopolitan. It is also antiestablishment, suggesting personal rather than community power. So, in some very unsubtle ways, U.S. brides who chose to use black rather than white were making a statement regarding their sophistication and personal strength—two concepts the final decade of 20th century American culture completely embodied.
International Colors
To get some help and insight on how complexities of color can be tamed by Web designers seeking to create strong relationships with their site visitors, I turned to Jill Morton, an author, designer, and professor at the University of Hawaii. (For the URL for her site, "Color Matters," see " Online.") Morton is considered one of few world experts on color, and has done studies regarding color in advertising design and on the Web. She affirms my oft-voiced perspective that audience is paramount. "Do your homework, know your target market," she corroborates. "Total global accessibility is a real challenge."
If you're designing for a worldwide audience, note that blue is the most globally accessible color. "Blue happens to be one of the colors that is safe in almost every culture," Morton says. As a result, you can use blue for just about any kind of site, regardless of its audience, goal, or location. But why is blue so globally attractive? Morton speculates that "there's nothing on the planet that exists in isolation except the sky—that stands alone." She notes that in most religions, "the deity is above. The nasty thing is down below, in the dark."
Some colors fall into vague categories, as do the values of color (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). Pink is one such example. "If you're designing for an East Indian audience," advises Morton, "get rid of pale pink." Many East Indian men feel that pink is a feminine color. But in other countries, such as Japan, pastels are very popular with both sexes.
One color is particularly unsafe in a global environment—purple. Purple, according to Morton, is a "polarizing color...it is potentially hazardous on a global level." In Catholic Europe, purple is a symbol of death and crucifixion. I have heard anecdotally that in some Middle Eastern cultures purple signifies prostitution, much as red is used in some Western countries, as in a "Red Light District." Purple is also symbolic of mysticism and spiritual beliefs that go against Christian, Jewish, and Muslim paradigms: Wicca, New Age spirituality, and paganism.
A case in point is the launch of Euro Disney. The first design for signs used large amounts of purple, which visitors found "morbid." This response was completely contradictory to the happy message that Disney wanted to convey. As a result, Disney had to rework its European advertising campaign, which doubtlessly wound up costing significant money and time.
Choose Your Palette
It's important to remember that colors change depending upon how we as designers apply them. Three issues that alter color are texture, the amount of color in use, and juxtaposition with other colors.
When a designer applies a texture to a color, that color changes. Smooth surfaces make a color appear lighter, and a rough surfaces make a color appear darker. So if you're using pink but adding rough texture, the color may veer more toward red in the context of global audiences (see Figure 3).
Similarly, different amounts of color create different effects. A little bit of purple in an international design might be fine, but lots of it may cause the problems mentioned earlier. Also, the balance of different colors in the same design requires a fine eye—which color dominates? That's the color you need to think about the most in terms of global cultures.
Even more important is mixing colors, which can completely change meanings. If we revisit the bride scenario, we find that white, which many Western and some Eastern cultures consider a symbol of purity and cleanliness, is considered bad luck in China and Japan, where it's the color of mourning. The same is true in India, where a bride in all white would foreshadow unhappiness. But if you mix these colors with others, such as red, the significance changes and the negative connotations are lessened or eliminated. In fact, red—especially in China—is a symbol of luck. As a result, it makes sense if you're attracting Chinese visitors to use lots of red in your design. When combined with white, the red becomes even more powerful, and the white is neutralized.
Gender and Color
Another issue often missed when determining color is gender. Men's and women's reactions to color are significantly different and, when combined with cultural issues, the challenge becomes quite complex.
"In our culture, real men don't eat quiche and they don't use color terms like 'mauve' and 'teal,'" quips Morton. "I don't think men are as sensitive as women to color."
"The Meaning of Color for Gender" by Natalia Khouw (see " Online"), points out some interesting theories derived from academic studies about color and gender, including the following:
- Blue stands out for men much more than for women.
- Men prefer blue to red, women red to blue.
- Men prefer orange to yellow, women yellow to orange.
- Women's color tastes are thought to be more diverse than men's.
One of the studies cited in the paper was done in Nepal, where men and women were asked to list all of the colors they could think of. Women were able to consistently list more colors than men could. A similar study in England had similar results, with women identifying many more colors than men could.
While it's difficult to make assumptions about research of this nature, it's interesting to look at color and gender in the context of a given culture. More importantly, that gender plays a role in the perception of color indicates that to communicate effectively Web designers must know their audience as well as possible.
Color for Web Designers
With these issues in mind, it becomes obvious that we have to spend time evaluating our approach to a given visual design. Currently, most designers don't think about color and culture.
Morton says that "90 percent of the Web uses color poorly. It's overdone. There's no sense of color harmony." Part of the problem, she feels, is that people with no design background get involved, and get really enthusiastic. Enthusiasm can lead to overuse of color in inappropriate venues. What's more, people without design backgrounds have a fatal tendency to want to design for themselves rather than for their audience. Clients of more experienced visual designers' often do the same thing. They get excited and want to design to their own tastes rather than what makes sense for their potential visitors.
Whether you're a newcomer to visual design or an experienced designer, you can benefit from thinking about some basic approaches to global visual design. "The first rule is to take that particular product and service and find a color naturally associated with it," recommends Morton. "Let's say the site is about healthy food. There are certain colors that are associated with natural food. [If it's] firecrackers—you'd choose something associated with fire, such as red."
Natural associations tend to be pretty safe. Just don't make ethnocentric assumptions about associations. In the U.S., all paper money is green. We have the most boring and ugly money around, although it's extremely easy to identify! Other countries use multiple colors in their paper money design. So, while green might be a fine color for a finance site servicing U.S.-only customers, it might be entirely incorrect for this context in another country.
Table 1 describes some cultural quirks associated with various colors. Use this as a general guide when choosing to use, or not to use, color for your audiences.
Globalization of Color
An interesting phenomenon, which may be partially due to the Web's proliferation throughout the world, is that some of the cultural connotations of color are becoming less intense for younger generations.
"As much as I hate it," expresses Morton, "there's a globalization happening with Americanization and color. The young, hip generation is embracing whatever the American culture is pumping out."
Despite this concern, if you're designing for international audiences, remember that how you use color to represent your product or information has a significant impact on how it will be received. Designers should feel good about the use of color, and be assertive in how it's used. But they should also think carefully about why they're using a given color or selection of colors, and to whom that color is being delivered. Without forethought, the results could weaken your message—or worse, make it ineffective altogether.
Molly is an author, instructor, and Web designer. Check out her colors at www.molly.com.
