Increasing Cultural Awareness for Effective Global Communica ...

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  • Title: Increasing Cultural Awareness for Effective Global Communication via Graphic Design Practice and Instruction
  • Author(s): Nicole L. Arnell
  • Publisher: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Collection: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Series: Design Principles & Practices
  • Journal Title: The International Journal of Visual Design
  • Keywords: Design Education, Visual Communication, Global Design, International Design, Cultural Awareness, Checklist, Color Symbolism, Weight of Page, Collectivist, Individualist
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 1
  • Date: April 22, 2019
  • ISSN: 2325-1581 (Print)
  • ISSN: 2325-159X (Online)
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.18848/2325-1581/CGP/v13i01/27-40
  • Citation: Arnell, Nicole L. L.. 2019. "Increasing Cultural Awareness for Effective Global Communication via Graphic Design Practice and Instruction." The International Journal of Visual Design 13 (1): 27-40. doi:10.18848/2325-1581/CGP/v13i01/27-40.
  • Extent: 14 pages

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Abstract

Visual communicators and design educators must engage in a global dialogue of design to differentiate between universally valid aesthetic principles and assumed truths from predominant design and marketing traditions. There is an identifiable shift in global communication to a homogenous design style imposing western cultural semiotics and structure on other cultures without thought to appropriateness or effectiveness. Four points are specifically discussed that together provide an easy-to-use, preliminary checklist for any designer when creating visual communication targeting a culture or subculture other than one’s own. These points each reference the way in which the reader engages in a piece of visual communication, focusing on traditional print with reference to the needs of other mediums. These considerations include research into color symbolism, the weight of a page in relation to a language's script, and visual cues of Collectivist vs. Individualist cultures and subcultures.