Red - The Colour I Am Most Scared Of

What are your thoughts on the colour red? A primary colour, one of the first colours children learn, one part of orange and one part of purple. Most of the time I find red too harsh, I never wear red (apart from lipstick) or buy red items for my home. To me, red looks good as one of many colours in a pattern, however I believe it is a colour that you have to treat with caution. Hang on, am I scared of red, or don't I have the confidence to use it? Yet others clearly don't feel the same way, red is everywhere, and furthermore designers embrace this colour. Red is often the chosen brand colour for a wide range of companies from retailers to food brands, banks, sports teams, to insurance companies. Not forgetting a popular colour featuring in fashion (across all seasons), interior textiles, homewares and design.

I prefer 'off' or dusky shades of red, maybe tinged with pink or brown such as raspberry, crimson, or even Oxblood when I am feeling bold. I am trying to fathom where my dislike of red stems from; is it blood? That my Father's football team wore blue and their bitter rivals wore red? Or is it because red is the colour of danger... Then there is the seasonality of red. Teamed with green it becomes a Christmas colour, and put into pattern, even if it is just a simple stripe or spot design. That is with the exception of nature; nature does seem to be the exception to many rules doesn't it? Red Roses, Geraniums, Poppies, Peonies, to name but a few, with vibrant green leaves, don't look remotely 'Christmassy', but these exact shades of red and greens paired together in other contexts would undoubtably look festive.

Red also known as the colour of love and passion. Around Valentines day suddenly the colours red and pink are everywhere in retail and in the media. I believe the pink softens the bright red and makes it more approachable. Usually red and pink together? Not generally a popular combination except for the in the context of love. A bold primary colour featured with it's secondary colour can be a great combination (blue and green for example), however depending on the shades that are selected of those said colours, the problem is that two similar colours side by side and usually need some bold contrast to break them up and let each colour (blue and green, pink and red) work as individual components, not confusing the eye into trying to distinguish and separate the two similar shades.

Anyway back to red. Finally I would like to mention that red is also the colour that has connotations of fighting and determination. Recently a great friend bought me a book about fear. You will see that the main colour of this book is ...red uncoincidentally, teamed with white and gold to 'calm' down the cover. Perhaps I should learn to embrace red more, it is after all a powerful and versatile colour. Used well it can be amazing and provocative.

#colour #red #nature