Color Symbolism and Culture

Considerations when putting together the color pallet of your next global advertising campaign. Who is your audience? Who are you designing for? Asian, European, Latin, Indian, African, Americans, Eskimos?

According to Britannica (Britannica: "color"),

"the most important aspect of color in daily life is probably the one that is least defined and most variable. It involves aesthetic and psychological responses to color and influences art, fashion, commerce, and even physical and emotional sensations.

The first step is to note that colors are not universal to all humans in all cultures. Some languages don’t have specific words for green, blue, yellow or orange. In a related example, Eskimos use 17 words for white as applied to different snow conditions, where in the Northwest United States there are only 4 or 5.

Like color terminology, color harmony, color preferences, color symbolism, and other psychological aspects of color are culturally conditioned, and they vary considerably with both place and historical period. Another example of cultural difference could be the colors that are associated with mourning. In the United States, black is associated, but in other cultures around the world colors like white, purple, and gold are used during the mourning period."

Check out this pretty good Cultural Color Symbolism Chart here.

Take a your own color personality test developed by Max Luscher.