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Use the psychological effects of the color red to create a vibrant, stimulating feel for your home. The psychological effects of the color red are very easy to notice – red is an extremely powerful color.
If you’re human (please contact me if you’re not! ;-), your blood will be red, regardless of your race and native country. And since spilling a lot of blood is not entirely healthy for us earthlings, the color red often signals danger.
- Fire is red (well, sort of),
- and so are fire engines.
- Stop signs are a vibrant red.
- A ‘red alert’ always signifies the highest level of threat, with the effect of galvanizing people into action.
- Angry people ‘see red’;
- bold, spirited young men are called ‘red-blooded’...
- ... they also used to go out and "paint the town red" (but I think that was in the century before last.)
Red is a very immediate color; it appears nearer than it is. Psychologically, a room with red walls will ‘close in on you’.
Along with the color orange, red is a favorite with the food-packaging industry and with restaurants: it is said to enhance our appetite. Therefore, interior design professionals sometimes suggest using it for dining room walls (if you’re on a diet, maybe you could try blue instead?).
As with other colors, the psychological effects of the color red depend very much on its intensity.
So while vibrant, saturated hues of red have been shown to raise people’s heart rate and blood pressure, you might feel quite comfortable with muted, warm, earthy shades of red around you, like red ochre, venetian red, brick red, or cotto.
For information on the psychological effects of other colors, please click any of the following links:
White, Gray, Black, Brown
Yellow, Orange, Pink
Purple, Blue, Green
Click here for some general information about Color Psychology.
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