Designing With Colour-An Essay on the significance of Red to different people in different contexts

An Essay on the significance of Red to different people in different contexts

Of all colours that are visible to the human eye, red seems to bear the most significance whether with positive connotations, negative ones or mysterious ones as well. The colour of our blood is red, fire is red, a high intensity of the colour red in meat gives the appearance of freshness and many other common items in our environment bear this colour. The origins or explanation for why this colour is so profound to humans is a hotly debated and still debatable issue with scholars and other interested parties pointing to variables such as our biology, psychology, context and also culture as some of the factors that have contributed to the situation where the colour red has become so significant to us (O’ Reagan, 1992).

In primary or elementary school, children first encounter colours and regardless of the educations system in place, the colour red is named as one of the primary colours which are then used to create other colours. This on its own assigns red an element of superiority above other colours. At the same time, teachers make use of red pens to mark the work done by the children. The practical reason is that the colour of the teacher’s pen needs to stand out but to the child; this action further associates the colour with some power. It is quite possible the power to decide what is wrong or right. In the selection of clothing items and toys, children have also been found to have a preference for this colour. As a result of this, red heavily features in children’s toys such as dolls, toy-cars and also on murals in their schools and hospitals (Blumer, 1969).

Evidence from different cultures has attested to the fact that a lot of mystery surrounds the colour red. In popular culture, images of the devil or his demons have always depicted them as red creatures. This has been seen a lot in horror films, comedies and also cartoons. This is often in sharp contrast of elements that are considered godly or pure which are usually showed as white. It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul, and in line with this thought, red eyes are always used to signify some sort of evil-power phenomenon. During the early parts of the 20^th century, propaganda against the use of marijuana employed a lot of red in the prints about what they termed as ‘reefer madness.’ It is also known that red-bloodshot eyes are one of the tell-tale signs of a person who has been smoking this drug. This further contributes to applications and perceptions of the colour in popular culture. The bloods gang in the United States heavily feature this colour in their graffiti and attire (Blumer, 1969). This way, members of rival gangs as well as the general public are made aware of the presence of this gang’s members and its territory.

The behaviour of people can also be influenced by the colour red. Here is where the biology comes in to play since it is much easier for the human eye to pick out the colour red from the environment. For this reason, signs that are used to control traffic employ the use of red in the signage. In traffic lights, the one that is meant to stop motorists is red. The stop sign is a good example of how important red is in modification of human behaviour. It is used in emergency situations as well. Fire extinguishers are always red in colour so that they can be easily located and deployed. The same goes for fire engines which are almost always red in colour, his enables motorists to give way and also help witnesses to direct it to the scene of the fire or other emergency (Gerard, 1958). Cautionary messages also bear this colour whether it is on machinery or in the labelling of potentially dangerous items.

The term red-light district is a term that is used to describe parts of a city where a lot of prostitution takes place. This is because brothels tend to have a lot of red lighting. The colour red is believed to make people more excited since its presence in an environment has been found to increase blood pressure and heart rate. This is backed up by the fact that of all times of the day, the average heart rate was found to be highest during the hours of 6-7pm when the ambient light from the sky has a reddish tinge to it (Gerard, 1958). This is evidence that the application of this colour can indeed be used to manipulate the behaviour of people in their different environments. Perhaps this could explain why people are usually more excited during Christmas day and Valentines. On these days, the theme colour that is applied almost all over the world is red. This is seen in gift wrappings, decorations and also in the clothes that people put on.

References

Gerard, R. M. (1958a). Color and emotional arousal (Abstract from the program of the sixty-sixth annual convention of the American Psychological Association). American Psychologist, 13(7), 340

Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press.

O’Regan, J. K. (1992). Solving the ‘real’ mysteries of visual perception: The world as an outside memory. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 46(3), 461-488.