Colors and Coordination Games
Color is something that I have always been interested in understanding; as a designer, I am constantly thinking of which colors pair best together or what color will best represent a brand. This can sometimes be tricky from just a purely aesthetic position, in terms of selecting colors that don’t clash and play well in a variety of designs. However, another challenge can be that colors can have a variety of connotations and meaning depending on different cultural backgrounds or thematic associations. For instance, the color red is often perceived as active, intense, passionate, or sometimes violent in Western cultures, whereas some Asian cultures understand it as a much more strictly positive and pleasant color. These differences prompted me to wonder how the meaning and understanding of a color can spread across the world from the perspective of design and marketing.
Consider a network where a designer is tasked with creating a color palette for a new international brand which would be sent out to people of a variety of cultural backgrounds. Suppose there are two groups: in one, the color palette the design has chosen would lead to a positive perception and high sales of the product, while in the other group the design would not be quite as positively received. In this case, it is clear that the designer should (1) use a palette that is appealing to their largest audience , or (2) use two different palettes to appeal to both audiences.
We can look at a real-world example for how this might look. Starbucks, the coffee chain in the U.S., has added many international locations in the past decade due to their growing popularity. They have, however, faced the issue of having a non-universally appealing color when they expanded to countries like Japan, where their signature green color is uncommon in food branding. Yet, Starbucks still maintained their same green logo in these international branches, and are still widely successful. This is due to the acceptance of their brand identity among Japanese consumers, who found value in the American-style cafe. Having a new, popular company could have impacts in the perception of the color green in food branding in the future, as this new idea could spread among the cluster now that a critical mass has accepted it. If Starbucks chose to use a different color for the logo, they would be facing negative impacts because of how disjointed their brand would seem.
There are, however, still some differences in the presentation of certain ads. For Starbucks, American ads typically feature very bright, pop-art styled colors, while Japanese ads seem less stylized, with lighter backgrounds and natural elements. In both of these designs, the company is advertising summer or spring beverages, yet the overall vibes of the two designs feel quite different. In our understanding of network diffusion, the decision to keep these stylistic differences is clearer- the brand does not face any negative consequences in simply changing the ad design, as their overall brand still appears cohesive. Yet, both the American and Japanese markets benefit from having a design that matches their expectations of what a promotion would look like.
Sources:
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1509/jimk.8.4.90.19795?casa_token=zpcrrtZd9ikAAAAA%3A03zX-c6M4CbOQeWoXya7aiNSsVJVFMb9ygF85CYygHjHOR9UAb3NBNPMk_BnzsM_Zfi9N7uoiwxvvQ
- https://blog.btrax.com/why-japan-chose-starbucks/
- https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/531a0cf3e4b04f773bfe0513/1528840700013-F65Z9KTBPO2Q4Z2BIR48/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kHFg3lwAxHvaI5rSscPgwO17gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmjJyaSXAwc_BJvYKv4pjNuo0xLMToagxCDIwK1c7MZEgaoDsH5H7CFhkLT6CXjMBk/frapp.jpg?format=1000w
- https://blog.btrax.com/en/files/2014/08/ss.jpg