5 levels of focus in studying cultural differences

1.Cultural Differences

A net friend said “when I was living in Italy, an Italian co-worker's mother took ill and went to hospital. I immediately started requesting donations from the team so that we could buy her mother flowers and a get well card. Shortly into the fund-raising campaign, another Italian teammate stopped me before I went to the florist. "In Italy," he said, "we never give an even number of flowers, and please do not buy Chrysanthemums as they are only given at funerals." Imagine if he had sent the poor lady a dozen Chrysanthemums! Cultural significance of color is also important to heed when communicating a message online. Here are some examples of how colors have different significance between just two cultures:

Colors obtain symbolism through cultural references in the culture you grew up in. Depending upon the culture, colors can have very different meanings and actually cause problems for your site. For example, in the East, white is the color of funerals while in the West white is the color of Weddings. If you were to design a Wedding site intended for an Asian audience and you used a lot of whites, you could be disturbing the people you're trying to reach.

Chart of Cultural Color Symbolism

Red

· China: Good luck, celebration, summoning
· Cherokees: Success, triumph
· India: Purity
· South Africa: Color of mourning
· Russia: Bolsheviks and Communism
· Eastern: Worn by brides
· Western: Excitement, danger, love, passion, stop, Christmas (with green)

Orange
· Ireland: Religious (Protestants)
· Western: Halloween (with black), creativity, autumn

Yellow
· China: Nourishing
· Egypt: Color of mourning
· Japan: Courage
· India: Merchants
· Western: Hope, hazards, coward

Green

· China: Green hats indicate a man's wife is cheating on him, exorcism
· India: Islam
· Ireland: Symbol of the entire country
· Western: Spring, new birth, go, Saint Patrick's Day, Christmas (with red)

Blue
· Cherokees: Defeat, trouble
· Iran: Color of heaven and spirituality
· Western: Depression, sadness, conservative, corporate, "something blue" bridal tradition

Purple
· Thailand: Color of mourning (widows)
· Western: Royalty

White
· Japan: White carnation symbolizes death
· Eastern: Funerals
· Western: Brides, angels, good guys, hospitals, doctors, peace (white dove)

Black
· China: Color for young boys
· Western: Funerals, death, Halloween (with orange), bad guys, rebellion

2.Age Differences

After observation in the street, i find that younger children will tend to prefer brighter, more solid colors. The colors shows more active and engaging. But adults tend to prefer more subdued colors.

3.Class Differences

Working class people tend to prefer colors that you can name: like blue, red, green, etc.

While more highly educated classes tend to prefer colors that are more obscure: like taupe, azure, mauve, etc. These dull, greyish or black and white shades appear too business-like and formal.

4.Gender Differences

I find that women were more likely than men to have a favorite color. Women prefer soft colors and men prefer soild color. Men tend to prefer cooler colors (blues and greens) while women tend to prefer warmer colors (reds and oranges).

5.Trends

Colors also tend towards seasonality, in other words, the designs reflect the season they were built in: winter blacks, whites, and greys; spring greens and bright colors; summer yellows; fall browns and golds.

And we can see that Black and white are never out-dated .