Semester of Graduation

Fall 2022

Degree

Master of Architecture (MArch)/Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Color plays a significant role in life, influencing how we perceive things, how symbols change in meaning, how brands, logos, and pictograms are communicated, as well as how our emotions are perceived and how our moods are affected. For designers, advertisers, and visual communicators, color is crucial because it has a big impact on how people perceive, relate to, and value an image or advertisement. There are many factors that play a role when people develop their personal color interpretations – one being culture. The purpose of this study is to investigate the links between culture, color, and individuals’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions when it comes to digital advertisements. Three questions guided this research: 1) Will individuals show increased behavioral intentions when shown images with culturally congruent colors compared to those who see images with culturally incongruent colors? 2) Will individuals who see images with a culturally congruent color scheme feel more positively toward the images compared to those who see images with culturally incongruent colors? And 3) Will images with a culturally congruent color scheme increase individuals’ recall? An experiment of two cultural groups (African/African Americans & Korean/Korean Americans) with two ad conditions (culturally congruent & culturally incongruent) was conducted to address these questions. Results are discussed in the relationship to the body of literature on color psychology and cultural influence on message perception.

Date

11-2-2022

Committee Chair

Sanders, Meghan S.

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.5688

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