Cultural Sensivity Essay

The manner in which color is employed in an international context is a significant factor which is frequently maltreated or neglected by the developers of Web sites and instructional material. What is more, its application is even more complicated due to the notion that perception of color is conditioned not merely by one’s physical competence to see it. It is even more important for a designer to understand the meaning of a color in terms of cultural preferences. Following are some recommendations in regards to the world’s attitudes toward the basic colors. So, the developer of a site oriented on an international viewer should keep in mind that blue is the best-tolerated color worldwide. Blue is one of the colors that is unobjected in the majority of ethnical traditions. Therefore, a designer can employ it for all sorts of sites, no matter what its audience, purpose, or placement are. In regards to the pleasant perception of this color specialists state that on our planet you cannot find anything that would be isolated from the surroundings – that is, excluding the sky. This may be the cause for prevailing religious beliefs place their deity somewhere above, while evil usually resides under the ground. There is a group of colors that possess somewhat indistinct characteristics and meanings. Among those one should mention pink. When developing sites for citizens of East India, it is recommended to avoid pale version of this color for the reason that male audience consider it as having a feminine attribute. In some states, on the other hand, representatives of both genders favor pastels; the perfect example is Japan. But the most important category for the designer to remember is the group of unsafe colors. The most noteworthy example is purple, which is received negatively in all around the world. Catholic-dominated countries, for example, have this color as a representation of death and crucifixion. Moreover, it symbolizes mystical teachings and practices that oppose the tenets of Christianism, Judaism and Muslimism. It is crucial for instructional designers to realize that all material is unseparatable from culture. Thus, Web site developers must take some special aspects of culture like, for example, color preferances, and integrate them into the project in order to create culturally sensitive presentation. Reference List 1. Design at Work Leaning Network. (April 2003). A brief introduction to information design. Retrieved on February 23, 2007, from http://http://www. christiania. edu/iforum/iforum/ePaper_no_4_3003. pdf.