2nd Group – Research

From the previous group work – i had been researching general information on language. Most of information that i had stubbled upon and found most interesting for myself was about sound symbolism and onomatopoeia. With the use of sound symbolism, we were also looking at what possible forms of language could be communicated and understood. The Sounds and tones of words in a way could be partially understood by others who wouldn’t understand a given spoken language, as you can normally tell when someone is speaking to you calmly or in anger. Even with onomatopoeia, the interpretation of sounds into words, when spoken in a different language, with the context of a visual or comic/illustrated word, some meaning can still remain intact when being translated into other languages.

Now i have branched off with my new group to explore the visual form of language. With my own personal research, I found interest in what forms of visuals that may be universal in the ways of emotions portrayed and messages intended.

My thought on this would be to look at “colour”. I thought that, colour is something used in every culture to give meaning to everyday things and life.

But then again, even colour has different meanings to different cultures.

Here are some examples from what I have researched on this topic so far.

 

Colour Response

Black

Black is the color of authority and power.

In the west, the colour represents death and mourning, where as in the eastern country’s, it is used as a colour for beginning, to dress boys for the signification of their maturing and manhood. White on the other hand, the meanings are swapped again between the two wide cultures.

Red

In China this colour is used in many cultural ceremonies that range from weddings to funerals. When red in Eastern culture is combined with white, it signifies joy.

Western culture uses it for events such as Christmas and Valentines day, perhaps conveying similar meanings of joy and happiness as the eastern cultures do.

Red is considered stimulating; it is the colour of joy and childhood, but also that of blood, war and fire.

Colour also fulfils a role in representing cosmic, ethical and religious symbols.

This is a table I found which holds more information about it.

 

 image referenced from: http://www.versacreative.com.au/vault/inside_design/colour_symbolism.htm

I have also found research on the effects of colour on people, and the emotional effects that is left with people once experienced.

Some preferences of colours are due to the upbringing of cultural learning, as well as sex and age. In the way of advertising, it is important to know what colours will attract your audience. A good example of this is from an article I found

 

 “The effect of an advertisement’s  colour on emotions evoked by an ad and attitude towards the ad” -Marie-Christine Lichtlé, IAE de Dijon (University of Burgundy) 

 

 Colour and Response

• Young people prefer warm / vibrant colours and visuals such as red, yellow or orange. (Guilford & Smith 1959),

• Older people prefer cool / calmer colours such as blue and green (Child et al. 1968; Benson et al. 2000).
Also included in this understanding of colours and preference comes personality traits.

For example.
• Its suggested that extroverts (are gregarious, assertive, and generally seek out excitement – wikipedia) prefer warm colours.
• On the contrary, Introverts (Introverts, in contrast, are more reserved, less outgoing, and less sociable – wikipedia) more attracted to cold colours.

(Marie-Christine Lichtlé,IAE de Dijon (University of Burgundy))