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Colors are a basic part of every aspect of our day-to-day lives. Color reaches us through advertisements, the clothes we wear, the vehicles that carry us wherever we go; we encounter it in our homes, in our gardens, on our plates, and in our dreams. Whether we note it consciously or not, our whole existence is informed by color. Clearly, since color is a universal reality, it is also an international one. And perceptions and uses of color vary widely throughout the globe. How should we best determine the most appropriate colors for each geographic region? This process can be described as color localization.
More on the topic of color localization later. For now, let’s return to our broader discussion of color. So, color affects us in ways that you probably haven’t even thought of. You surely have a favorite color (or more than one), but have you ever thought about why it’s your favorite? Colors have certain effects on our moods and emotions, and therefore, when applied to us through marketing and the media, they can affect our actions, our decisions, and our buying behaviors.
For example, what does the color gray evoke for you? It’s a sad, uncertain color, right? Rainy days are gray. Areas of uncertainty and indecision are gray. There’s a reason all those commercials about shelter animals are so loaded with gray tones, along with solemn narration, sad music, and heart-wrenching images. They’re meant to bring you down, and pressure you to adopt one of those sad-eyed pets you’re seeing. If there were blue skies and colorful fields of flowers behind them, with a bouncy pop tune playing in the background, would the commercial strike the same emotional chord with you? Probably not. Rather, definitely not.
So, for your business, website, and marketing materials, choosing the appropriate colors is just as important as your message and content for eliciting the reaction you want from your potential clients. What’s even more important to remember when you’re marketing to an international audience: the cultural significance of colors is not a global thing.
You have to understand who your audience is before you can market to them in a meaningful way. This entails familiarizing yourself with how they see the world, and as is written above, the whole world exists in living, vivid color. What does white suggest to you, for instance? Is it purity, or innocence? The potential of a clean slate? The excitement of a new beginning, be it a blank sheet of writing paper or a bride’s trousseau? If so, same here, but don’t assume this is universal – elsewhere in the world, white is a color of mourning and death.
Even if you cover your bases in other areas, such as using a professional translation service to carry your textual content into new languages, your efforts won’t amount to much if your design choices lead to mixed emotions and conflicted reactions in your clients. And what’s design without color?
So, let’s take a look at how color is perceived, and received, by the various global cultures you might soon be dealing with, and how you can make sure your color scheme doesn’t leave your message lost in translation!
When you’re mindful of what colors mean to the people you’re trying to reach with your marketing, your chances of getting through with a memorable and engaging message will improve, as will your product or service’s chances of succeeding in your new market.
Below, we’ll look at each of the major colors you’re likely to want to use in your materials, and their cultural and religious connotations in various global regions. We can divide these broadly into three areas: the West (Europe and the Americas), the East (China, Japan, Korea, the Indian subcontinent, and southeast Asia), and in between, the Middle East and Africa. Many colors are perceived in roughly the same way throughout these regions, but differences in perception may occur within them, right down to specific localities. Research is your friend!
If you want to make a statement that everyone will notice, make it in red.
It will reach your audience, and they will have a reaction to it. The thing is, it’s liable to be a strong reaction, and maybe not the one you’re after! Western eyes see red as a sign of energy, love, passion, sex, excitement… and also fire, danger, emergency, alarm, war. No one, in any culture in the world, is indifferent to red. This color gets people more riled up, in positive and negative ways, than any other color in the spectrum; its ability to evoke a passionate response may explain its presence in the flags of so many nations. We have a visceral reaction to red as the color of blood – the blood of a nation, the blood spilled in battle, and the proverbial “blood, sweat, and tears” of the hard worker. This last one makes it natural that red should also be emblematic of Communism, with its exaltation of the worker.
Red is as potent in the East as in the West, with many of the same correspondences. In fact, it’s one of only three colors that are recognized by every single global culture (the other two being black and white). But it’s also quite positive there. In China and Japan, red is the color of luck, joy, prosperity, beauty, and a long, healthy life. It is a traditional color for Chinese wedding dresses, for the Lunar New Year, and for envelopes containing gifts of money. And name seals on documents in languages like Chinese will probably be stamped in red.
If you want to use red, be advised that a little goes a long way. A drop of red, placed here and there on a less intense background, can really capture a client’s attention. If you use too much red, though, they might be confused, even irritated, and disengage. It’s certainly possible to make extensive use of red in a very effective way (go to your neighborhood Target and see this in action), but it takes care. Watch your step!
Are you hungry?
Enough orange in your surroundings might make you crave a snack!
Studies of color and its effects on people have found that this color gives people an appetite. Have you ever noticed how many fast food chains use orange in their décor, or on their menus and logos? It’s not hard to guess why this is – in the West, and particularly in North America, orange is bound up with warmth, comfort, cozy feelings, and the harvest, all of which imply a stomach full of things that taste good. Pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, cinnamon, even Halloween candy… orange is all over the things we eat when the weather starts getting cold. After all, is any other color in English named after a fruit? Away from the table, orange generally conveys vitality, creativity, enthusiasm, and warmth.
Moving East, orange becomes more imposing, but no less joyous. It’s a sacred color in Eastern religions – witness, for instance, the vibrant orange garments worn by Buddhist monks to convey their commitment to a life of enlightenment, and detachment from earthly concerns. It may also appear as a color of mourning for the deceased – the ultimate detachment from earthly concerns, really. For major religions all over the world, orange is a symbol of warmth, radiance, wisdom, and joy.
Orange is a natural color, with a pop to it that draws the eye. Just about everyone gets along with it, and used sparingly in your materials, it makes people feel comfortable, and opens them to your message. Some marketers have even reckoned that orange in an advertisement can make the product in question seem more affordable. Don’t overdo it, though.
This one can be a puzzler. Yellow’s a bit two-faced as colors go, provoking reactions that would seem to contradict each other; perhaps not coincidentally, yellow is the hardest color for the eye to perceive on its own.
Children encounter yellow as the happiest color in art class, and the yellow crayon in the box always wears down fast – all those yellow suns, moons and stars don’t draw themselves. Like orange, it’s associated with fun things to eat, like bananas and corn on the cob. Since it’s only a step away from gold, it has connotations of wealth and good fortune. And who doesn’t love the sight of yellow dandelions on the lawn (apart from the one who has to do the weeding)?
Yet it’s also a color we link with aging, sickness, and decay. Yellowed skin is a symptom of jaundice (from jaune, the French word for yellow). Leaves and paper turn yellow before they go brittle and fall apart. Cowardice and sensationalist journalism are both called yellow. Yellow suggests a state of mourning in Egypt, sacredness and knowledge in India, and royal power in Chinese history. What to make of all this?
None of the above is to say that you shouldn’t use yellow in your design work. If you do, be prepared to fiddle with it – it has a reputation among artists and designers for being difficult to work with (on top of everything else, it’s a diva). On the color wheel, yellow occupies a bridging position between the warmer colors (red and orange) and the cooler ones (green, blue, and purple), so selecting the right shade for your desired effect is essential. The differences between the shades may be hard to perceive… just like yellow itself.
Connotations of jealousy notwithstanding, green is generally accepted as a positive color. Green things are growing things: crops, trees, new leaves, prosperity, and here in the States, folding cash. That last part doesn’t apply so much outside the US – other cultures have been known to wonder why all of our bills are the same size and color. Green suggests youth, health, vitality, environmental consciousness, and potential for growth. And no one in the West can dispute the association of green with Ireland, and thereby with the fabled luck of the Irish.
Marketers moving into the Middle East must be aware of one crucial aspect of green – it is the traditional color of Islam, as it was the favorite color of the prophet Muhammad. If you use green in materials for clients in the Arab world, make sure you do so with the utmost respect. Meanwhile, over in China, green is a good, safe color to use… unless you’re making hats. Why? Historically, green hats were worn by the husbands of prostitutes, and this has survived in the modern world as a sign that a man’s wife is being unfaithful to him. Are you designing uniforms for staff on the ground in China? If they’ll be wearing hats, choose another color.
Green is cool, refreshing, an all-around solid choice. There’s also something exotic about it; among living things, you see more green the further you get from warm-blooded creatures. Plants, insects, reptiles, even little green men… did you know the popular shade of green paint used on Kia Souls is called Alien? A judicious touch of green can give your website or brochure an out-of-this-world flavor!
What’s your favorite color? According to statistics, it’s probably this one
Globally, across cultural and gender boundaries, blue is the color most people surveyed like the best (for women, second place goes to purple; for men, the runner-up is green). And no wonder, when you learn what blue represents, and the effect it can have on observers. Blue is calm, soothing, meditative, stable. It reminds us of clear skies by day or night, oceans, rivers, and for believers of many stripes, Heaven and the afterlife. Peace is the keynote for blue. Even when it refers to sadness, as in “feeling blue” about something, it’s a color that suggests stillness and quiet.
Blue has long been related to royalty, sacredness, and power, in this world and in worlds beyond. The ancient Egyptians loved it so much, they came up with their own shade, and in the process created the first synthetic pigment. It’s the traditional hue of the Virgin Mary’s robes, and the chief color associated with Hanukkah. Artistic representations of Hindu gods like Shiva and Krishna depict them with blue skin, to show that they possess the strength of nature. Dark blue in ink, official documentation and military dress suggests formality, solidity, dependability.
Could there be a downside to such a beloved color? Well, yes – frankly, too much blue can be boring. Think about how many apps, browsers, and websites use blue in their interfaces. If you work regularly with Microsoft Word, Dropbox, Skype, and so on, you’re looking at blue all the time. You can’t go wrong with blue, but make sure not to flood your materials with it. You could soothe your audience so successfully, they’ll sail right through your content without retaining it. Liberal use of blue will portray your business as stable and trustworthy; too much of it, and you won’t stand out. Partner it with other colors to draw in the eyes you need.
Royalty, nobility, wealth – that’s purple for you, and if you know a little about ancient history, you’ll understand why.
Thousands of years ago, in ancient Phoenicia, purple dye was produced from sea snails, and was so incredibly expensive that only the wealthiest could afford to wear purple garments. It still tends to represent the best, the highest, and the worthiest of respect. Also, like yellow (its complementary color), purple is associated with aging, and in such places as Brazil and Thailand, with mourning. Is purple linked to the end of life by its appearance in the twilight sky at the end of the day? Maybe.
In religion, as in secular culture, purple suggests enlightenment and an elevated position. Purple represents penitence in Catholicism’s color scheme, and also evokes the wine of the Eucharist. Buddhist monks of the highest level wear purple robes in Japan. It represents divine presence in Taoism, and the achievement of immortality. For those of a more New Age sensibility, purple embodies the wisdom and rewards of old age, particularly for women. And devotees of spiritual healing will know that purple is the color of the crown chakra, which relates to the brain, spirituality, and connection with the cosmos.
Use purple wisely and appropriately, and it can work miracles. Like orange, it reminds us of things that smell and taste nice, which can make a buyer more receptive to an offer; it scores over orange in that the things it suggests are often costlier, like beautiful flowers and a good Cabernet Sauvignon. And like orange, you don’t need to use a lot of it. Exercise caution with purple as a key color. Don’t soak your materials in it, or the air of luxury you’re striving for might become an air of “little old lady”.
Some things don’t need much explanation, and the color brown is one of those things.
Globally, and regardless of culture, brown is humble, simple, commonplace, practical… and none of these qualities is a disadvantage. Brown is the color of the earth, which connects it to hard work, solidity, the cycle of nature. It’s also the color of wood, which provides us with so much in the way of building and working materials, and enables us to make fire. And when the fire is lit? We can cook food with it… which, more often than not, turns the food brown.
Brown is aggressively down-to-earth, and that can be a big asset. It can be tailored and shaded for any client base. Do you want to portray yourself as sensible, efficient, utilitarian? Think about a company like UPS, and the way they’ve turned plain old brown into a sign of trusted efficiency in logistics. Are you aiming for more opulence, even decadence? See how purveyors of luxury goods like high-end furniture and chocolates can dial up the warmth in brown. Don’t underestimate brown – comfort and simplicity can make you approachable to clients in any market around the world.
It makes sense to consider these two colors together, and like brown, they don’t require a lot of clarification. Black and white are the extremes of the spectrum. Black is perhaps the gravest color, if you’ll excuse the pun, as in the West it’s the color of funerals, mourning, death, bad luck, and negativity. Yet it’s also the emblem of mystery, formality, and sophistication; think of black tie occasions, black limousines, black caviar, and little black dresses. We wear black to give the impression of seriousness and gravitas. As for white, as written above, it is innocence, purity, freedom, new beginnings, and light.
What’s interesting is the way that black and white can share meanings elsewhere in the world, and even swap them. As an example, in China and Korea, it’s white that’s associated with mourning. This leads to some tricky social protocols. If you’re giving someone a gift in China on a happy occasion, don’t wrap it in white paper – white-wrapped gifts are for funerals. Black also retains its grim aspect in Chinese culture, so black gift wrap, black-bordered art pieces and black-and-white portraits are out, too.
You can’t avoid using black and white in your marketing materials. Maybe one, but not both, and why should you? They’re simple and elegant, and you can use them to set off the other colors in the spectrum in beautiful ways. Organized white space in your graphic design gets rid of clutter, and leaves room for the client to engage with it. Black text gives your words a gravity they might lack in a font of another color. Don’t overthink these two – simple, obvious matters aren’t called “black and white” without reason.
Research, that’s what, and lots of it. This has been a brief overview, and hopefully an interesting one, but nothing more. There is nothing better than on-the-ground market research for ascertaining what your targeted foreign clients are likely to respond well to, including color. Don’t forget that every culture in the world, along with its religious and historical traditions, also incorporates its own popular culture, with its own local tastes and peculiarities. No one can tell you what they’re into in Prague better than someone who lives and works there. Having your ear to the ground on the local level will give you valuable insight into what your clients expect, and might also endear you to them at little more once your business launches. Clients like to feel that the businesses they support are paying attention to them, are interested in them as a community. Find out about them. Localize for them.
How do you do this? That’s where a dedicated localization provider like TrueLanguage comes in. Much of what we do is focused on translation and interpretation services, but our complete package includes so much more. Localization is a matter of words, tone, style, format, design, and more. You can’t be expected take on the full burden of cultural research while you have your business to run, so why not let the professionals help you out? Come to us with your international goals in mind, and we’ll get started on the map to your overseas success – where to take your message, which words to use… and yes, how to adapt your color palette. We’re ready to hear from you!
