Graphic Design 2.1: Professional Practice, Project 7: ‘Cultural Identities’ Research points
Research Task 1: A Global Language
Working with designers and clients based around the globe should provide fresh perspectives and exposure to differing cultural viewpoints. Cross-cultural collaboration has the potential to enrich the design process, however this is not always the case. A design that appeals to one cultural perspective may be considered unacceptable from another perspective, and in an attempt to please everyone the design can become diluted and devoid of any real value.
Consider some of the international organisations you are familiar with. Is the company branding or the product packaging the same across the globe? How do they differentiate for different cultures or markets? Is there any company that is truly global – with the exact same brand image, same adverts, same product packaging – all around the globe?
Identify a range of brands that cater to an international market and compare and contrast how they customise their visual language to cater to different cultures and how they keep it the same.
Aim for at least three brands and collect a range or brand assets, adverts, packaging, website screenshots (if the company website auto-directs you to a specific domain based on your IP address consider using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access the domains for other countries), social media tags and candid photos of customers with the brand. As you compare the assets you’ve gathered consider:
Typography and language (especially across different alphabets and writing systems)
Colours (and symbolic meaning of colours in different cultures)
Imagery (specifically the diversity and representation of different cultures)
Tone (eg. conservative, formal, playful, provocative?)
Include the visuals you collect and your observations in your learning log. Reflect how crossing cultural borders can add depth and richness to design or result in solutions that belong ‘everywhere’.
I began this research task by noting key points from the brief and then my initial ideas.
When considering brands that operate globally a few of the expected large corporations came to mind such as Mcdonalds, Apple, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Nike.
I was also interested in considering other alternative brands that have different missions or brand goals. After some consideration I thought of clothing/shoe brand TOMS and Lush cosmetics. These brands are still very large businesses but each operate slightly differently than other businesses such as the ones I originally listed, being more eco-centric and environmentally aware.
Coca Cola:
I began with a few, randomly selected global Coca Cola website landing pages. Figure 2 is Great Britain, Figure 3 China, Figure 4 Germany, Figure 5 Nepal.
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Figure 6 is Coca Cola’s largest Instagram page promoting the brand globally. Their most recent promotion presents a Marvel branded Coke can. Figure 7 shows Coca Cola’s Singapore Instagram, a difference here is the branded Coke can promoted in a collaboration with a K-pop band, this could be because K-pop may be more popular in Singapore and therefore the localised marketing is more effective.
When researching Coca Cola I began with Wikipedia to see where they operated and exactly how many countries they operate within. I had initially planned to view one countries branding from every continent the brands operate in but moving forwards I selected roughly one from each continent but looked at different countries for each media style (website, social media, adverts etc).
Figure 2 presents the classic can of coke on a red background first. This is understandable as coke is very popular within the UK so the brand communicates this first. Figure 3 presents various Coca Cola branded bottles, some even with the Coca Cola name changed, this suggests that other drinks or drink presentation could be more important within this country. Figure 4 presents Sprite first on their landing page, Sprite is a popular product from Coca Cola but is potentially more popular within Germany and therefore shown first. For Nepal (figure 5) a stylised image of the Himalayas and buildings in Coca Cola red are shown first, suggesting that the countries population may value or react better when culturally significant locations are marketed towards them as opposed to just the brands products.
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Figure 8 is Coca Cola South Africa’s page which promotes a fun looking coke can that is specific to South Africa. Figure 9 presents Coca Cola Romania where they have Romanian influencers promoting their products. Overall Coca Cola’s global social media campaigns are very localised and strategic, similarly to their websites. The main core of the brand stays the same, such as the typography and logo but the imagery/tone is different and country dependant.
Overall Coca Cola’s global brand and marketing strategy is very strong, they use the same motifs and infleuncer marketing strategies globally but the area that is most effective is their localised packaging designs. Having specific localised packaging for a certain country strengthens their brand in that area through culturally specific design that makes the population of that area immediately more interested in the product due to it’s specificity to them.
TOMS:
Figure 11 shows TOMS India website landing page and presents one image of multiple pairs of vibrant coloured pairs of shoes with the next website image says ‘Wear TOMS. Wear Good’. This here exaggerates the quality of TOMS similarly in UK/France but using a more bold typeface.
Figure 15 and 16 are Toms largest Instagram page and Toms Europe. Both of the pages share similar content and language used is of a similar tone. The slogan in the bio of each is also the same.
With TOMS Europe a collaboration with designer Christian Cowan is promoted as he is from the UK but this specific collaboration is not shared via TOMS’ largest Instagram page as it may be location specific. The typography used to promote this is playful and tactile.
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Figure 18 (Phillippines) is similar to Figure 17 with their promotion but they seem to promote more causes/charities such as mental health awareness. Their slogan is also different ‘Wear TOMS. Wear Good.’ The feeling of TOMS Phillippines is more fun and family/experience orientated as opposed to just seeing the product. Perhaps this is due to cultural differences and certain marketing reacts better for different countries.
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Figure 10 presents TOMS UK website landing page and figure 12 is France. Both landing pages are the same, which is interesting as despite being geographically close both France and the UK have different cultures and climates etc which could mean different marketing. The typography and phrasing exaggerates the comfort of the shoes.
Figure 13 shows the TOMS Mexico website landing page and uses a bold type saying ‘Primavera’- Springtime. Highlighting the spring collection in Mexico could make more sense as the climate is warmer and TOMS shoes are more appropriate for warmer weather.
With Figure 14 (Switzerland) presents another image outside and in the sun, perhaps to push the Spring/Summer sales due to Switzerland being colder in the winter and less suitable for TOMS shoes. The typography within figure 14 is more bland and less interesting than figure 13, perhaps not to detract from the imagery used.
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Figure 17 shows TOMS Japan official page. With the social media here it is mainly full of photographs of the shoes being worn with a less playful energy to it. Each photo is vibrant and fun but includes more imagery of city living/urban areas.
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LUSH:
Each website layout and typography used is the same, all that is changed is the content. For example figure 20 (Kuwait) and figure 21 (Bahrain) both don’t show the use of the product in anyway, perhaps this reflects a more reserved culture and is marketed in this way specifically for these countries.
Figure 19 is the UK Lush website landing page. Figure 20 is Kuwait’s, figure 21 Bahrain’s and figure 22 is Spain’s.
The tone of all the website landing pages is consistent throughout countries, it is all relaxing and fun. Words like ‘Radiating’ and ‘Magic’ are used. On the UK and Spain’s site ‘CBD’ is mentioned on the landing page as this is a growing space within UK and generally within western culture.
Lush’s approach to marketing via social media is the same across all of it’s countries accounts (Figure 23).
Whether this is a clever/manipulative marketing scheme or done out of genuine care their use of Instagram is still effective and positive. They do not use Instagram to promote their products like other companies but instead they abstain from using it, with their only posts being the promotion of release of ‘Facebook files’ which discuss Meta’s extensive knowledge of the damage their platforms cause to young people.
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Figure 24 shows Lush’s influencer campaigns. Lush has influencers from various countries around the world who use and promote their products to their Youtube/Pinterest audiences. This culturally specific marketing works well as each influencer has a certain demographic and person they appeal to, therefore their marketing strategy is adjusted naturally by the influencer marketing it to their viewers.
Resources:
Figure 1: Wikipedia contributors (2024) Coca-Cola, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coca-Cola&oldid=1228863778. (Accessed: June 13 2024).
Figure 2: Coca-Cola great Britain - home page (no date) Coca-cola.com. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com/gb/en (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 3: 一路可口可乐:可口可乐中国 (no date) Coca-cola.com. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com/cn/zh (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 4: Erfrischungsgetränke für jeden Geschmack (no date) Coca-cola.com. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com/de/de (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 5: होम (no date) Coca-cola.com. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com/np/ne (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 6: Coca cola (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/cocacola/?hl=en (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 7: Coca Cola (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/cocacolaph/?hl=en (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 8: Coca Cola (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/cocacolaza/?hl=en (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 9: Coca Cola (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/cocacolaza/?hl=en (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 10: TOMS® official site (no date) TOMS. Available at: https://www.toms.com/uk (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 11: TOMS® India official site (no date) TOMS® India Official Site. Available at: https://tomsshoes.in/ (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 12: TOMS® Official Site (no date) TOMS. Available at: https://www.toms.com/fr?setCountryPreference=FR (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 13: TOMS® México Sitio Oficial (no date) TOMS México. Available at: https://toms.com.mx/ (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 14: TOMS� Official Site (no date) Shoptoms.ch. Available at: https://www.shoptoms.ch/ (Accessed: 13 June 2024).
Figure 15: TOMS (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/toms/?hl=en (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 16: TOMS (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/tomseurope/ (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 17: TOMS (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/toms_japan/?hl=en (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 18: TOMS (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/tomsphilippines/?hl=en (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 19: Lush (No date) Lush.com. Available at: https://www.lush.com/uk/en?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwps-zBhAiEiwALwsVYTy_IJtTpSkUyoUzky_aLwtvrCsmLRUNsezcwCrjOAF51nsKvYxYcxoC50sQAvD_BwE (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 20: Lush Kuwait (no date) Lushkw.com. Available at: https://lushkw.com/index.php?route=common/home (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 21: Lush (No date) Lush.com. Available at: https://www.lush.com/bh/en_ae (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 22: (No date) Lush.com. Available at: https://www.lush.com/es/es (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 23: Instagram (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/lush/?hl=en (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Figure 24: LUSH (no date) Digitalvoices.com. Available at: https://www.digitalvoices.com/work/lush-holiday (Accessed: 19 June 2024).
Research Task 2: The Ethics of Exploring Cultural Identities
The ethics process asks you to consider how you approach exploring other people’s cultural identities, to identify any risks in this undertaking, and plan to put measures in place to remedy them. In doing this, it is worth acknowledging your own cultural identities and values, and establishing ways to engage with gathering information that respects other viewpoints, heritages, and cultures.
Visit the ethics section of the Enterprise Hub for more details on the ethical considerations and a holistic approach to considering equality, diversity, and inclusion across your project work, research, or your practice more broadly.
Also take a look at two very different companies, Benetton and Absolut who for many years have put cultural identity at the centre of their campaigns.
Photographer Oliviero Toscani helped shape the brands position and promotion of social causes/advertising in the 80s/90s. His provocative/controversial images put light on certain subjects in a forward thinking and provocative way.
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Benetton (figure 2) is an Italian fashion brand known not only for its clothing but its strong commitment to social causes and drawing eyes to them.
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Absolut Vodka (figure 4) promotes cultural identity through their various bottle designs dedicated to each country they sell in.
They creates tailored advertisements that present and resonate with local cultures and identities.
Absolut has launched limited-edition bottles celebrating cities around the world for example; London, New York, Rio. Each bottle shows unique designs capturing the city/countries vibe.
These designs are really good and present the brand in a great way. I like the idea of each bottle being unique yet still representing the brand and being consistent, yet different.
Resources:
Figure 1: EHub (no date) Oca.ac.uk. Available at: https://learn.oca.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=245 (Accessed: 17 June 2024).
Figure 2: Duffy, E. N. (2017) Benetton’s most controversial campaigns, British Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/benettons-best-advertising-campaigns (Accessed: 17 June 2024).
Figure 3: Wikipedia contributors (2024) Oliviero Toscani, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oliviero_Toscani&oldid=1226047314. (Accessed: 17 June 2024).
Figure 4: International cities & countries (no date) Absolutpedia. Available at: https://absolutpedia.com/absolut/international/ (Accessed: 17 June 2024).
