IFMT 2016

TEXTO I

EVEN GRAPHICS CAN SPEAK WITH A FOREIGN ACCENT

[1] Different cultures use color and other visual cues to send completely different messages.

Language is not just words. We communicate visually as well, but even our visual symbols are not a universal

language. And just as the same gesture can have different meanings from culture to culture, the way visual

information is used in graphics can have different meanings depending on the cultural context.

[5] Take the color of money, for instance. Charles Apple, an American visual journalist, was working for a

newspaper in South Africa when one consultant proposed using green for the business section. But the client

prefered blue. “Not every country has green money,” Apple says. And that's not all. “In the United States, red

usually has a connotation of losses or deficits," he says. But that's not true in all countries.”

Xan Sabaris, an Spanish infographic artist who has worked for the Beijing-based China Daily agrees: “For the

[10] Western culture, red has negative connotations. In China it's the opposite. You could see Chinese newspapers

where stock market charts use green for negative values and red for positive ones.”

Even Americans and Europeans have their differences when it comes to color. Nick Mrozoswski, an American

designer and former Creative Director of the Portuguese newspaper i, was surprised by the use of red and

green in his adopted country. “For an American audience, the combination is very deeply associated with

[15] Christmas. I don't know many American designers who would use it for anything other than a holiday card or

wrapping paper. In Portugal, however, red and green are the colors of the country's flag, so you see the

combination nearly everywhere you go. The only place you don't see it is on Christmas cards!”

For the Western culture, red has negative connotations. In China it's the opposite. In Brazil, the use of color is

also different from American tastes, but that's changing, says Felipe Memoria, Brazilian and a product design

[20] and development firm in New York City. “In Brazil, colors are typically brighter and the compositions are busier.

A lot of what you see feels a bit more visceral and emotional." At the same time, he says, global commerce has

meant that Brazilian design has gradually had increasing influence from the American culture, which is seen as

high-quality and polished.

Even shapes are influenced by culture. Antonio Farach, Honduran, and Adonis Durado, from Philippines, both

[25] work at the Times of Oman. Farach noticed how subtle details play a role: “In the Western culture, rounded

corners are more accepted than in Arabic countries. In typography, Arabs prefer blade-like typefaces instead of

beveled ones.” And sometimes the differences are not so subtle, says Durado. “The big difference is orientation.

Arabs write and read from right to left. Since we work for both English and Arabic newspapers, we do the flipping

of text flow and images in a very careful manner since not all images can just be flipped—such as maps or other

[30] images that are direction-oriented”. (...)

These journalists and designers had to adapt, but they’re also making their contributions to the cultures they've

adopted. “When I arrived in Oman, you wouldn't see any infographics in our newspaper or in our competitors,"

says Durado. "So when I set up our graphic section and started producing graphics, others follow suit.“    

(Disponível em . Acesso em: 26.06.2015. Apdaptado).