by Zima
Everyone wants to live in a colorful world. Well, apart from Frank Miller that is, but even he can’t resist strategically splashing some hue across the dreariest of his graphic novels. Luckily, SkaDate-powered dating sites exist outside of Miller’s bleak universe, thus allowing love-hungry members to enjoy the full specter of emotions represented by various palette options. Just don’t forget that your green-colored website (in honor of St. Patrick’s Day), will be seen in China as a hub for cheating wives. Or exorcism.
Don’t be surprised. The perception of colors in different cultures is as crazy as cultures themselves (in the eyes of outsiders). So if you set out to make a truly international dating site, take a moment and read the following Color Guide, which will help you avoid some critical design mistakes.
Go USA! Red, White and Blue
With the majority of SkaDate customers coming from the good old US of A, the choice seems to be rather obvious. But wait. While blue remains one of the most globally accepted colors, representing calm, tranquility, comfort and security, red and white are far from being safe choices. For instance, Russians are still likely to subconsciously associate red with Communism and Bolsheviks, while white symbolizes death and funerals in Eastern cultures.
At the same time, most of the Western world sees white as the representation of purity and innocence, while red is associated with excitement, love and passion. Perhaps the best way to find a compromise here is to follow the Aerosmith’s advise and tone down on the aggressiveness. Pick pink – the universal color of romance and affection.
The Drama of Black
In contrast to eastern countries, the color most often associated with death and funerals in the West is black. At the same time, black represents power, authority, style, and class. Henry Ford once famously said: ‘You can have it in any color as long as it’s black.’ That ought to seal it, it seems, but don’t forget that black is a very dramatic and dominant color that sometimes symbolizes submission, fear, evil and anonymity. Also, for some weird reason black is the color for young boys in China. So there’s that…
Warm up with Yellow and Orange
If you want to enter a more cunning territory, you can’t miss with orange. It’s the color of Lady Luck herself, and it also stimulates creativity, while making everything more appealing and appetizing. The color is frequently used in marketing, since it represents affordability and informality. On the other hand orange can symbolize ignorance, while in Ireland it bears religious significance.
Yellow is the color next to orange in the spectrum, but not in perception. It is the least preferred color in the Crayola box and for a good reason. While it grabs the attention with overwhelming cheerfulness, yellow is the most difficult color for the eyes, which also tends to make babies cry. In Egypt, yellow is the color of mourning, and in the West it is often used to indicate hazards.
The Royal Good Luck: Purple and Green
Remember when I told you that pink is the universal color of romance? I’ve got an even better option for you; the one that does not have the added bonus of being a Steve Buscemi reference: purple. The color is considered feminine and romantic, on top of being royal, magical, luxurious and sophisticated. The downside is that purple is quite rare in nature, thus it can be seen as too artificial. Also, it’s another color associated with mourning. This time in Thailand.
And green. As mentioned above, in China green will indicate that a man’s wife is cheating on him, especially if he wears a green hat. Although, who in the world wears green hats? Oh, right. Leprechauns! So you see – Ireland really got itself all the best colors, because in the west, green implies wealth, fertility, luck, and youth. Also, it’s the color of Islam, of course, so apart from China, everyone else loves the color of nature almost as much as blue.
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Why picking the right color mix is important is fairly obvious. In addition to creating a visually pleasing presentation, colors act as subconscious triggers for user’s perception of a product. This psychological trick is widely used in marketing and advertising, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t work in the realm of Internet matchmaking.
Just remember to be subtle and not go overboard with the color selection. Working to your advantage is SkaDate Dating Script’s ability to change colors almost on a whim.
We also have an article about tips for choosing a successful dating Site template and Dating App Design.
Be creative, and don’t make the mistake the Wachowski brothers (or sisters) did with Speed Racer. No one wants to die of a color overkill, regardless of country or culture.
