By Maëlle Alquezar

Expressions including the colour black can be positive or negative. Each culture has its own interpretation of colours and that should be taken into consideration when launching a product or redesigning a website for a foreign audience.

What about you, what do you think of the colour black?

Freud would have probably said that it represents self-confidence, strength and power. In Western cultures, it is a sign of rebellion and it is also very often synonymous with death and mourning. However, you may have noticed that luxury brands are more likely to use black for their campaigns or websites: you can imagine that it is not because they want to associate their service or products with sadness but because the colour of ebony is also associated with sophistication. It also has connotations with authority and elegance: for instance, smart clothes are more likely to be black. In Eastern countries, it represents wealth, health and prosperity.

Meanwhile, black is the colour worn by young boys in China so make sure not to use too much black when selling clothes to their grandmothers! For Australian aborigines, black is associated with ceremony and in Africa, it represents age and wisdom. It is quite the opposite in Thailand since black represents bad luck, evil and unhappiness. The choice of a colour can definitely have a negative or positive impact on your sales.

A black website or slogan can be very classy if well designed; especially if it matches the product or the service you offer. However, it is generally recommendable to associate black with a warm or pale colour. So if you are willing to use it in your marketing campaign, you should probably think of associating it with another colour if you want to stay in the black…

Interested in other colours? We also discussed red, white, blue, green and yellow!



For more information about Wolfestone services:


The professional translation services you can trust!

by Wolfestone Admin

Mae'r sylwadau wedi cau.