Hey explorers—let’s talk about something we rarely question but constantly replicate.
From UX patterns to color palettes, copywriting tone to visual references, modern marketing is soaked in a very specific worldview—one that overwhelmingly centers on Western, white, and often Anglo-American aesthetics, norms, and psychological assumptions.
It’s not just that the industry was built this way.
It’s that we’ve failed to evolve.
Every ‘best practice’ in design or language often assumes the user thinks, feels, and behaves like a North American or Northern European consumer.
But that’s not neutrality.
That’s cultural dominance, and it shows up in ways so normalized we stop noticing them altogether.
The Illusion of Universal Design
Let’s take color, for example. White is considered “clean,” blue is “trustworthy,” red is “urgent.” But these associations aren’t global—they’re encoded in specific cultural contexts.
In many Asian cultures, white signifies mourning, while red represents luck or celebration.
In Latin America, vibrant, saturated colors often signal richness and emotion, not danger or urgency.
So why does every fintech app look like a glacier and every wellness brand like a Scandinavian spa?
Because Western taste has been positioned as the baseline—safe, elegant, rational—when in reality, it’s just one style among many.
Even the way we write: short, direct, informal.
We assume everyone values clarity over ceremony, efficiency over nuance. But not all cultures engage with content the same way.
In high-context cultures like Japan or parts of the Middle East, communication relies heavily on what’s implied, on emotional cues, on mutual understanding built over time.
Our obsession with punchy CTAs and conversational copy may actually alienate more users than it converts. And let’s not forget the structure of the digital experience itself.
The funnel, the click-through, the dashboard—all born in environments that privilege linearity, decisiveness, and speed. Yet for many people, trust is not earned in two scrolls and a testimonial. It’s built through presence, community validation, and deeper story.
Aesthetic Homogenization Hurts Everyone
This isn’t just a matter of global relevance—it’s a creative limitation.
When we design only within the frame of Eurocentric behavior, we miss out on entire emotional registers, humor systems, symbolic worlds. We flatten humanity to fit our templates.
And the result isn’t just exclusion—it’s sameness.
Branding becomes a loop, not a leap. Global brands that all look, feel, and sound the same, parading diversity on the surface while exporting uniformity underneath.
The irony is that we’re now in a moment of unprecedented access to cross-cultural inspiration. We can see what makes Gen Z in Lagos laugh.
We can observe the design sensibilities of Southeast Asian digital creators. We can learn how South American storytelling techniques blend myth, history, and intimacy.
But to access that richness, we have to dismantle the assumption that our way of doing marketing is the way.
We need to listen before we segment. Observe before we optimize.
The Way Forward
So what’s the way forward? It starts with unlearning.
By realizing that “neutral” isn’t neutral. That “universal” is often code for “familiar to those in power.” That inclusive branding isn’t about adding flags or localizing a banner—it’s about deconstructing the idea that Western is standard and everything else is deviation.
We need to invite discomfort. Hire across cultures. Design systems that flex instead of dictate. Ask different questions: What does empathy look like in this culture? How is trust expressed? What does elegance sound like when it’s not filtered through Helvetica and white space?
When we open up the lens, we don’t lose coherence—we gain depth.
We don’t dilute the brand—we give it more places to live. We start building identities that don’t just scale across borders, but belong in more than one world.
Until next time, stay curious.
Alex
🔥 Want a brand that resonates beyond one culture?
At Kredo Marketing, we build identities that travel across languages, regions, and mindsets.
💬 Let’s rethink what “universal” really means.
