visual design
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Visual design is a global language. Cultural differences can affect the meanings of color, images, words, and symbols. Misuse of a color or icon can have disasterous effects to brands and businesses. Tristream’s experience in globalization has extended from Europe to the Pacific Rim of Asia.

The Tristream globalization checklist:

  • Be sensitive to different cultures - Cultural sensitivity is important when creating application content to avoid using words and images that might be offensive to various cultures around the world.
  • Use the appropriate color - Certain colors evoke distinct images in various cultures and countries, from political parties and countries to companies and sports teams. This can have a mixed effect globally.
  • Use appropriate graphics and icons - Pictures and symbols create powerful and different associations in each culture and context.

Globalization also refers to making a company’s applications work seamlessly regardless of the user’s language and culture. Multinational companies can now confidently extend their new web applications to an international market.

diagram of golden ratio

Plus sign for addition: since this can be interpreted as a cross, Israel and some Muslim countries sometimes use substitutes for the plus sign.