COLOUR

PSYCHOLOGY

By NEHA N R
 RED
The red colour meaning is associated with excitement, passion, danger, energy, and action. You might’ve noticed that some brands
use red for ‘order now’ buttons or for their packaging as a way to stand out on the shelf. In colour psychology, red is the most
intense colour. Its ability to instantly grab people's attention is the reason why it's often used to warn people of impending
danger. Think: stop signs, sirens, fire engines, breaking news banners, and red traffic lights.

Colour Psychology of Red

Red colour is found to be the most intense colour that can attract attention and invoke strong emotions such as passion, love, or
anger. colour analysts find red as the colour of power, courage, strength, and danger as well. Red colour is found to be effective at
increasing appetite, imagine a red apple. It is also found to be effective at enhancing metabolism and regulating respiration rate,
and blood pressure. Red colour is energizing, stimulating, vibrant, exciting, and motivating. Red infills you with confidence and
makes you step out of your comfort zone.
How Red Affects Your Mood?
Wearing red colour can increase your energy levels. During sports, wearing red can also
induce the feeling of winning. Sportspersons wearing red-coloured uniforms may make
them feel dominant and perform more aggressively. Athletes in red-coloured clothing may
be seen as more dominant, more aggressive, and more likely to win a physical competition.
At work, wearing red colour can make you feel energetic and poised to achieve success. Red
colour is also associated with prestige and ‘red carpet' feeling. The colour of ‘power tie’ is
also found to be red across the world as per colour analysts.

Red is also linked to passion, love, and desire. These associations could explain why people
wearing red are consistently rated as more attractive by the opposite sex. In a study,
researchers found that a woman wearing red-coloured clothes or nail polish was found to be
more attractive to the opposite sex. Studies have also noted that men found women wearing
red more sexually desirable than compared to other colours.
The color red is a warm and positive color associated with our most physical needs and
our will to survive. It exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy.

Red is energizing. It excites the emotions and motivates us to take action.

It signifies a pioneering spirit and leadership qualities, promoting ambition and

determination.

It is also strong-willed and can give confidence to those who are shy or lacking in will
power.

Being the color of physical movement, the color red awakens our physical life force.

It is the color of sexuality and can stimulate deeper and more intimate passions in us,
such as love and sex on the positive side or revenge and anger on the negative.

It is often used to express love, as in Valentine’s Day, however it relates more to

sexuality and lust, rather than love – love is expressed with pink.
At its most positive it can create life with its sexual energy, or use its negative expression of anger and aggression to fuel
war and destruction.

The color red can stimulate the appetite, often being used in restaurants for this purpose. It also increases craving for food
and other stimuli.

Being surrounded by too much of the color red can cause us to become irritated, agitated and ultimately angry. Too little and
we become cautious, manipulative and fearful.

In Eastern cultures such as China red is the color for good luck. Although times are changing and many Chinese brides now
wear white, it is traditionally the color for weddings. In Indian culture it symbolizes purity and is often used in their wedding
gowns.

If your favorite color is red, it will reflect in your personality! Personality color red will give you more information on this.

If you are thinking of using red in a business application, read about the meanings of colors in business.
 (i) Stimulates heartbeat, breathing, metabolism, and
appetite

(ii) Makes you feel passionate and energized

THE POSITIVE EFFECT OF
(iii) Motivates us to take action.
RED ON HUMAN BRAIN
(iv) Increase confidence levels

(v) Make you feel more attractive and sensual

 (i) Increased levels of irritability

(ii) Increased levels of anger

THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF
(iii) Increased levels of dominance
RED ON HUMAN BRAIN
(iv) Increased levels of eyestrain

(v) Increased levels of impulsiveness

 Red Represents

Energy: it boosts our physical energy levels, increases our heart rate and blood pressure and prompts the release of
adrenalin.

Action: it is fast moving and promotes a need for action and movement.

Desire: it relates to physical desire in all its forms- sexual, appetite, cravings.

Passion: it means a passionate belief in an issue or undertaking, includin passionate love or passionate hate. Anger is
negative passion.
 Effects of Red

Stimulating: to the physical senses- the sexual and physical appetite. It stimulates the deeper passions within us, such as sex,
love, courage, hatred or revenge. If you have a flagging sex life and would like to introduce more passion into it, introduce some red
into the bedroom – the more red, the more passion, but don’t overdo it or it will have the opposite effect.

Exciting and Motivating: it excites our emotions and inspires us to take action.

Attention-getting: it demands you to take notice, alerting you to danger. This is why we have red traffic lights and stop signs – it
is the universal color for danger.

Assertive and Aggressive: drivers of red cars should take note! A small survey I did a few years ago showed that drivers of red
cars, including females, said they felt quite aggressive behind the wheel of their red car.
THANK YOU