Colour in Culture

Colours can be very symbolic and hold lots of different meanings in different culture. When using colour it helps to be aware of your audience and how they perceive certain colours. For example in Western countries  red symbolises ‘stop’, ‘no’, or danger and green symbolises ‘go’, ‘yes’, and nature.  Black is the colour of mourning in the Western world whilst the Eastern countries use white. Another example of how different societies view colour would be that in China receiving a red envelope would symbolise good luck and fortune, People in China give red envelopes containing money. However, in many western countries, mainly the UK, a red envelope would be bad news or a bill and is not used as it is viewed as an unlucky colour. Colour can represent feelings, moods, countries and cultures and when selecting colours to use in design it is important to be aware of all of these meanings and connotations.