Cultural awareness in design is more important now than ever before. Because of the internet, even something personal can be seen and misinterpreted across the globe. I participated in a design exercise at Seattle Central in which groups had to represent words with colors and patterns. My word was “taxi”. I thought I had hit the jackpot because everyone knows that taxis are yellow and are associated with black and white checkerboard patterns. Once everyone had finished, we had to go around and rate our classmates based on overall success. My solution for taxi was recognize immediately by almost everyone, but one student couldn’t wrap his head around why my design stood for taxi. Shinya Iwaki was from Japan, and apparently in Japan taxis are green. There was no way that I could have known this for a simple classroom exercise, but that just goes to show that cultural awareness and research are important when designing. Especially in a country that consists of people from across the globe.
An image that immediately comes to mind is that of the “do not enter” sign that is prevalent on U.S. streets and the “underground” sign seen so commonly in England. One is an index for a mass transit system, and the other is an index warning someone to stay out. Both are composed of a circle and a bar, and could be confused by someone who did not have a firm grasp on English or a child.
The color orange is often associated with vibrance, warmth, and happiness in the U.S. It may bring up images of construction workers, or oranges, but for the most part is a pretty neutral color in our culture. In Ireland, however, the color orange is associated with members of the Protestant religion, who frequently clash with the Roman Catholics in Ireland.
I came across an ad that was run in China (and promptly banned) that was intended to warn people about the dangers of smoking. The ad reads that one person dies every eight seconds from smoking, but the first and only thing people see when they see this ad is the twin towers. It is impossible that this effect was unintentional, and the purpose was to shock the viewer. This subject is much too touchy to ever recreate in advertisements, and the ad was banned.
Sources: http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/shockvertisements-banned-morbid-ads
