Indonesian design practitioners have shown interest in adapting the established cute visual culture, commonly used in Japan, to improve public service communication. This assimilation effort may enhance communication effectiveness; however, previous research has shown that cultural factors can harm communication effectiveness. We conducted this study to determine if and which public service poster impressions are affected by cultural factors. We compare impressions of Japanese and Indonesian subjects when looking at selected manner awareness posters. We measure the intensity of impressions with an online survey method. Participants had to score the poster images based on ten impressions previously selected through a preliminary experiment and translation check process.

Fifty-nine Japanese (n = 29) and Indonesian (n = 30) adults participated in the survey. Impressions with major effect were realness and casualness, while Impressions with a slight effect were reassurance, playfulness, imaginativeness, importance, preference, and sharing intention. Finally, we found that the impression of cuteness and picture-text orientation were least affected by cultural factors. We conclude that cognitively evaluated impressions, such as reassurance, realness, and casualness, appear more affected by cultural factors than cuteness. We confirm the universality of cuteness impression, which we may adapt for visual communication across different cultures.