With the advent of outsourcing, there is an immense possibility for various web designs to be created by designers from different cultures. Diversity is good, but without proper regulation, it can impede the growth of the business just because the website just does not work for the society where it’s supposed to be used. And one of the major elements of a design is color.

From that one element alone, so many misinterpretations can already be made, because despite the universal meaning of colors, it is still inevitable for different cultures to have different color perception. Further misinterpretations can still happen with other elements such as lines, lay-out, and font, among others. This is something that most designers neglect. Most web designs these days are put up according to trend, and according to the aesthetic sense of the designer, alone. This is usually the start of the downfall of the design, or worse, of the web page itself.  Designing is communicating, and communication is culturally-bound. With this, we have listed these basic steps on how to make culturally appropriate and sell-able designs.

Coordinate with the Client

- Web design and development is the sort of task that truly requires more constant and open communication between the designer and the client. More than the tasks requirements, more important thing that should be communicated well is the design concept and ideals of the client, so not much time is wasted on designing something that is only inappropriate in the end.

Familiarize the Target Audience

-  some designers don’t necessarily have a client to cater to. However, they would have to deal with the public’s perception. Aside from the basic rules in designing, it is also important to know the aesthetic sensibility of the prospected audience. This can be done by researching about the visual communication culture of the particular group who will ideally be the major visitors of the web pages.

Brief Visual Communication Study

– it is not enough for designer to have all the technical skills and creativity. A true creative person is flexible and sensitive enough with the visual needs for various target audience. Visual communication will allow a designer to know the various meanings each design element, when they are put in a certain context or culture.  This is what most advertisers do, and since a website is already considered an essential advertising tool, then it should also be guided by same visual communication concepts.

Visit Competitor’s Site

– this does not imply that we are encouraging you to imitate. In contrast, this should give the designer a clear idea on what has been done, so he or she can avoid redundant design concepts. This is even a good start in coming up with a better design (than that of the competitor’s).

Consult Other’s Opinions – there are so many things that we can’t see with our own perceptions, alone. This is why, in a field of web designing which happens to be a highly visual task, it would be safer if one reliable person’s opinion will be consulted first before the rest of the cyberspace community judges it.