Colors and Nations: What to consider while selecting your brand colours

What's fine for West may be a catastrophe for East and vice versa: different cultures have a completely different attitude towards various hues, and in some situations even the classic minimalist black-and-white set may be a failure.

Of course, globalisation, especially in the digital field, is therefore pulling these boundaries down; yet certain cultural patterns are still too in our thoughts to be removed simply by this globalisation. For example, the black & white set stated above. It is a symbol of something serious, minimalist and business-like in Western countries. The balance between pureness, cleanliness, equality, simplicity and autonomy (white) and comfort, strength, formality and sophistication is excellent (black).

But White is traditionally connected with death, mourning and burial ceremonies in many eastern cultures. In fact, black has a negative significance of bad luck, rage and evil in countries such as India or Thailand. Black is a hue for young boys in China (well, Western teenagers like it, too). At the same time, traditional Arab men's garments are white, women's everyday attire are Black, and both (and green) are sacrosanct.

Gray is stable and neutral, but it can be monotonous and lost in the sea of commonness when it is employed alone. In Slavic cultures, grey is synonymous with 'functionless and boring.' It can still be great if it is correctly paired with some other colours. Western civilizations will love the mix of grey and purple (violet) — a royal combination. As in Japan, violet represents richness and success.

Red is traditionally favoured by Eastern cultures — holidays, brides, and celebrations are all colours. It may still look excessively pushy and overbearing, exhausting to the Western nations. If green, red means Weihnachts. A red rose is a sort of romantic symbol. Naturally, red is a vigorous hue, but you must be careful not to put a "stop" sign on your brand.

The colours of success, money and joy are yellow and gold. Yellow is an emperor's hue in China, even a sacred. Gold is nearly worshipped all over — thanks to the "Golden Rush" phenomena. Even in other places, such as Egypt, these two are very different: gold is for money and power, whereas yellow is for grief. Too much gold is thought to be some sort of old-fashioned, rustic, church-like and inexpensive gold (yeah, what a paradox!). So be careful! Yellow is traditionally recognised as a hue of the mentally ill when applied in modest tones and too much (in Western cultures).

There are a lot of colour variants in the world today: red might be crimson, scarlet, marsala, maroon and many more. All are yellow: lemon, cream, pantone and munsell. Gray, too, has a lot of variations. And all these thousands of variations have distinct sub-means, and so much needs to be taken into account... The Cryptoauxiliary team is certain: if you use it professionally and correctly, all colours will offer you delight and success.