Culture and Colour Research

It is important that I research into colour and culture, particularly when considering my pratical work and linking that back to my essay, as in different cultures, different colours often represent different things.

Colour carries deep meaning within every culture, so colour is an extremely important design detail to consider when creating work.

Examples:

Red: represents danger, love and passion in western culture. In India it symbolises purity. In China, a sign of good luck. But in west Africa, red is the colour of mourning and death

Purple: in Thailand it is the colour of mourning, but in the west it is associated with wealth, luxury and loyalty

https://study.com/academy/lesson/color-meanings-in-different-cultures.html :

When taking about a specific colour in my essay, use Red as a main example:

• Symbolism of colour often stems from religious, spiritual, historical or social events. e.g. valentines day is associated with the colour red to represent love. Which is similar to Indian/Pakistani culture as the bride wears red on her wedding day. However…in Nigerian and African culture it represents suffering and sacrifice

This article is good for more colour and culture examples:
https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/06/color-and-cultural-design-considerations/- 

Green

Article Research 2- Globalisation: Globalisation effects on design/Culture and Globalisation

Globalisation:

Globalisation= world trade

• It’s heavily based from technology suck as mobiles phones, airplanes and the internet, all about communication. 

• Making it easier to exchange information and goods more easily More affordable products are available for more people- however, not only does an exchange of products take place, but an exchange of services, knowledge, cultural goods and languages takes place... everything is shared.

• All of these link together So globalisation does and will have a huge impact on design and culture and the future of it... 

Impacts of globalisation on local culture: 

Good- Allows businesses in less industrialised countries to become part of international production, so it’s good for poorer cultures basically

Bad- Growing caps between the rich and poor between cultures... leads to cultural deterioration

Articles focused on:

1. https://www.designsociety.org/publication/19040/GLOBALIZATION+AND+CROSS-CULTURAL+PRODUCT+DESIGN

2. https://www.beautypackaging.com/contents/view_experts-opinion/2010-05-11/the-impact-of-globalization-on-design-and-des/

3. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN011299.pdf

1. Globalisation and cross-cultural product design:

• ‘Globalisation also confronts companies to decide between ‘global’ or ‘local’ featured design of products.’

-^ An effect of globalisation is that the design of products can lose its cultural aesthetic and authentic design as it now has to be designed to work globally instead of it just being local how it used to be (due to the growth of globalisation)

Figure 1:

• ‘It is striking that nowadays companies realize the importance of flexible and adaptive design according to local markets’ (relating to the figure 1)

• ‘A company’s failure to acknowledged cultural diversity often limits its product’s marketability’ (relating to figure 1)

The points above suggest that in today’s society in order for a company/brand to do well globally, they need to acknowledge cultural diversity so that the product is appropriate for everyone. The company’s image/the design of the needs to take this into consideration fully as this is the first thing the consumer sees.

Case study from this article:

‘Rice cooker: A medium sized domestic appliances company set out a graduation assignment because they encountered culturally different markets. The challenge was to develop a Western style rice cooker, which had to suit to the Asian market. The idea behind the design was that Asian people prefer European style appliances; for them it is a sign for high quality. ‘

2. The Impact of Globalization on Design, and Design’s Impact on Globalization (in a nutshell):

• ‘The goal is to identify the common denominators; the function and form, the desired emotional attachment to an object that link consuming humanity, despite cultural differences, around the planet.’ – This quote could be used towards the end of the essay, within the conclusion perhaps??

• ‘There has been a shift in the designer’s clientele; they are not just local.’ 

^ Clientele means ‘collective of clients’ basically, so designers now have to think of clients from other cultures due to the growth of globalisation. Maybe this suggests that designers that work for clients all over the globe do better than designers that just do work for local clients…

3. A balance of globalization with cultural diversity in civil society: Challenges to education in the new millennium

• ‘The globalization process urges men and women of the future to be more critical of, and adaptive to, economic and social transformations while maintaining national and local cultural heritage. They must be prepared for multi-cultural interaction, values changes, cosmopolitan way of life, yet struggling to maintain their own ideals and identity’

^ This quote will be useful for and relevant when discussing the loss of cultural identity and the further disadvantages/effects that globalisation will have on culture.

Ted Talks Research

It is important that I use different medias to gather research from other than reading (books and articles) so I have gathered research from Ted Talks which focus on Cultural Identity and Globalisation.

TED Talks:

1. The modern maze of cultural identity | Mashaal Hijazi 

-The alliteration of her identity after 9/11- she saw her mum change from a Muslim hijabi to a non hijabi, as the culture in America at that time became less tolerant of this (a physical/appearance design choice).

-This point links to design within appearance and how it is different in eastern and western cultures. ‘If someone would think of the ideal American, hardly anyone would think of an Indian person, a Chinese woman, heaven forbid a man of Arab descent, no one would think of these minorities unless they themselves were one of the minorities’

-During childhood in America, she had to adapt herself and her identity so that everyone else felt comfortable, so that she could fit into the norms of that culture.

-But then she noticed adaptions in her identity when she’d visit Pakistan- She’d be treated like a celebrity She even went as far as pronouncing ‘Pakistan’ wrong (by saying it the way white Americans would pronounce it) to try and hide it as much as possible- even the design of the way a word is said can be different depending on the what if more appropriate for that culture?

2. The myth of globalisation | Peter Alfandary 

-Peter is a first generation born in the UK, educated in London for 13 years, a lot of his childhood in Italy and 30 years as an international lawyer. Always been fascinated by cultural differences. 

-After his first experience in NY he came to realise that the English talk ‘in a code that no one understands’ the sentences are longer, more complicated but mostly more polite and anxious 

-Mentions that often at work he’d clock in a couple of minutes early incase the password didn’t work...but in some cultures time is more of a guideline, the world won’t end if a meeting starts 20 minutes late..