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Innovation

Infographic: What each color means to 10 different cultures

Different colors mean very different things across the world's many cultures. A new infographic plots out 62 different meanings for 13 colors across 10 cultures.
Written by Andrew Nusca, Contributor

You probably know that black is a color of mourning in the West and red is a lucky color in China.

But did you know that green is the color of death in South America?

Or that blue is the color of love in Africa?

Most multinational corporations have come to know that colors mean very different things across the world.

In a new Information is Beautiful infographic by London-based designer David McCandlessand Portland, Ore.-based design collectiveAlways With Honor, the world's cultures -- 10 of them, from Western to Japanese to Hindu to African -- are mapped out along a ring of 62 meanings.

Each concentric ring corresponds to a culture; each slice corresponds to a meaning.

Study the image long enough and you'll realize that operating a business across continents brings all sorts of cultural challenges: different colors convey distinct meanings for cultural cues such as intelligence, danger, wisdom and authority.

See the full infographic here and explore the data behind the work here on Google Docs.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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