Colour paradigms, layout and character sets
Introduction
Not all cultures use the Roman alphabet or read and write from left to right, for example. The use of colour in the design of websites, documents, programs and other types of media has a varying significance, depending upon the designer's background and origins. Students should consider such things when designing applications.
Colour paradigms
The significance and meaning of colour in different societies can be important when designing a program or a website. Something as simple as changing the intensity or shade of colour can invoke completely different meanings. An uplifting and happy colour in one culture may be quite depressing in another. If you are designing a product for a global market such as a program or a website, you need to understand the significance of colour in your product or you could alienate large sections of your target audience.
Red
From the perspective of someone born in the west red, for example, is a hot colour. It can be associated with all kinds of things from war, violence, fire, love, prostitution, passion, cupid and the devil, being held in high esteem (red carpets at ceremonies), danger (red warning signs) and anger - just to name a few. If you are from different parts of the world, red is associated with different things. It is linked to happiness, good luck and prosperity in Chinese societies, and of course Communism. If you are investing in the stock market, be careful! In the west, green signifies the price of a stock is up and red means the price is down. In China, it's the exact opposite! Red is worn by brides in some Eastern cultures but if you go to South Africa, red is a colour associated with mourning for a loved one as well as HIV / AIDS awareness.
If you change the intensity of red, you can change a product. Too much bright red can be overwhelming. Darken the red to the correct shade and it can become majestic and powerful. Mix a small amount of red with certain other colours and it can really stand out and emphasise something.
Yellow
Bright, happy, energising and warm, yellow can also mean cowardice and deceitfulness. In some countries, people tie yellow ribbons around trees as a symbol of hope for missing loved ones. Yellow in Egypt is a colour associated with mourning, in Japan it represents courage whilst in India, it is the colour associated with trade. In Islam, it is associated with wisdom. Like red, yellow can be used in a number of ways but care has to be taken with the shade and intensity of the colour. It can be a very neutral colour if used in light shades but it can also seem too old and a bit outdated if a strong yellow is used.
Other examples of the use of colour in different cultures
Dark shades of purple are often associated with royalty whereas lighter shades are more romantic. However, go to Thailand and purple is used as a mourning colour. Black can be associated with power but it is also associated with death, evil, the occult and mystery. In western cultures, black is the predominant colour used for mourning but in others, it is associated with rebellion. Black in Japan can symbolise experience where white symbolises naivety. White in western cultures is associated with health, cleanliness, virtue and purity and is worn by brides, although it is a mourning colour in China and some other Asian cultures. Angels are often painted in white tones. Brahman priests in India usually wear white and white is reserved for the Lama of a monastery in Tibetan Buddhism. Anything related to healthcare usually has a lot of white in it. Blue is a calm colour, being associated in many cultures with peace and tranquillity. It is also associated with religion in many cultures. The Virgin Mary, for example, is often shown wearing blue garments. Green is a colour associated with disgrace in China, respect in Islam, eternal life in Japan and corruption in North Africa!
As you can see, anyone designing products for a global audience should have an awareness of the different ways colour is perceived by different societies. There is a whole science out there to do with colour, its use and preception. If you search for e.g. 'green colour in cultures' you will find many websites that summarise how different colours are preceived by different communities.
Layout and different cultures
You often hear people in western cultures being advising to keep designs simple, or 'less is more' when designing websites or applications that give information of some description. Chinese, Korean and Japanese users, for example, tend to find these kinds of sites a little cold, simple and unappealing. Many of the most popular sites in these countries are packed full of information, banners, tables, references and so on.
Some languages like German, for example can cause problems for some designers because German uses 30% more space to say something in writing than the equivalent text in English, whilst Korean and Chinese require much less space. How much space is needed for pages, especially how they might look after a translation process, is another design consideration for designers of global digital products.
Care has to be taken with images in the layout of any digital product. Images of a woman in a bikini may not be acceptable in some conservative Arabic countries. The Swastika is a sacred symbol in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism but is also associated with Fascism and Nazi Germany and is a banned symbol in some countries. The owl is a symbol of wisdom in Western countries, although it is a symbol of pessimism in some Arabic countries. A bat is a symbol of good fortune in the East but is associated with evil and darkness in Western cultures. Even pictures of people smiling is not what you might think in all cultures! In the west, it is considered a friendly, happy act and is widely used in many images where there are people. In some countries, too much smiling for no good reason is considered insincere and someone who does this is often considered distrustful.
The use of language in different cultures
The way we look at a website depends on our culture. Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew speakers read from right to left, the opposite way westerners read whilst Japanese readers can use text either left to right or from up to down! Readers tend to scan the text and pictures on websites and applications in the same way as they read. Many organisations have to think very carefully about how they present information. Twitter, for example, had to think about how the hashtag was used in their translation feature.
Many design packages for websites include support for Unicode, a set of codes for all the characters found in over 90 different languages. UTF-8 is a form of character encoding that uses the Unicode set of codes. By stating that UTF-8 is being used in any code a website designer or programmer is writing, translation programs can better do their job of translating sites and programs from one language to another. The use of CSS sheets in web design also help during the translation process, as they keep the structure and layout of website content completely separate from the content.