〝The pituitary gland really springs into action when it sees red.〞
CMTEL Blog /
Trends in Red:
Hue
/ Overview
The pituitary gland really springs into action when it sees red.
A chemical message is sent to your adrenal medulla and releases the hormone epinephrine. This alters your body chemistry, causing you to breathe more rapidly, increases your blood pressure, pulse rate, heartbeat, your flow of adrenaline and GSR–Galvanic Skin Response (a fancy term for perspiration and the basis of lie detector tests). These reactions are physiological, and we have no control over the effect. As a result, red is indelibly imprinted on the human mind to connect with excitement and high energy.
Warm tones are known as high-arousal colors and red, in particular, creates the highest arousal threshold in humans. So from negligees to sports cars to food, red stimulates all kinds of appetites–it is true that red can literally turn you on. In print or at point of purchase, red is virtually unignorable. It has an aggressive nature, commanding attention and demanding action.
Eiseman, Leatrice – Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color; Red (pp 18-20).
Red Color Schemes
Monochromatic
Use Red in a variety of values.
Analogous
Use Red’s neighboring color families.
Complementary
Use Red’s opposing color family.
Adobe’s Color Wheel (or image in Extract Theme tab) can be used to generate color palette, which can be saved into Creative Cloud, after signing in. You can then use your saved color palettes in Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator, Fresco, etc.), via CC Libraries.
Further References >
Pastoureau, Michel – Red: The history of a color.
St. Clair, Kassia – The Secret lives of color; Red (pp 134-155).
Varichon, Anne – Colors: What they mean and how to make them; Red (pp 82-129).
Pantone – Color Finder
Finishes
/ By Material Family
Ceramic
Metal carbonates/oxides are added to a glaze or clay and produce color when fired.
Fabric
Dyes are soluble colored compounds suspended in a medium. Dyeing colors textile fibers or the surface of a textile.
Glass
Glass can be colored with metal/oxide additives, fired enamels, and specialty coatings.
Metal
In addition to their natural hue, metals can be colored through coating processes.
Natural
The extensive range of natural materials can be colored with coatings, dyes, and pigments.
Polymer
Chemical compounds in the form of dyes or pigments are additives used to color plastics.
Methods
/ Overview
One might think that the rocks, plants, and animals with whom we share the earth could supply us with many coloring agents, but in fact few are suitable. The chlorophyl that gives vegetation its rich green yields, when extracted from the plant, is an unstable tinting agent that fades and disappears in a matter of hours. None of the vibrant colors of the peacock’s striking plumage can be transferred to any other material. Fortunately, nature abounds with a generous supply of other organic and inorganic substances, whose colors are transferrable to a variety of supports. Most natural earths get their color from the mineral iron, which is found abundantly in the earth’s crust in a wide variety of tones: red and yellow ochers, green earths, and hydrated iron oxides of greater or lesser purity.
Pigments are pure colors in powder form, which must be suspended in a medium in which they are insoluble (such as oil) in order to make paint. The size of individual powder particles varies from 0.01 to 1 micron. When greatly magnified in an optical or electronic microscope, individual particles of pigment may be seen suspended across the medium they color.
Cloth (or fabric) is colored with another family of materials: dyes. Dyeing is the coloring of textile fibers or the surface of a textile. Dyes are soluble colored compounds suspended in a medium.
For a long time, applied-research chemists sought to isolate and characterize the principles of dyeing. As they began to succeed, the vast possibilities offered by chemical synthesis overwhelmed the colorant market. Large-scale agricultural production of dye plants gave way to the manufacture of synthetic pigments and dyes.
Delamare & Guineau – Colors: The story of dyes and pigments (pp 14-19, 98).
/ Pigments
Experiments with Cinnabar
Joe Besch
5:07
Red Hematite
Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Wikipedia
Ancient History of the Mineral Hematite
JTV
03:44
Rose Madder
The pigment madder lake is a traditional lake pigment extracted from the common madder plant Rubia tinctorum. Wikipedia
Tutorial: Rose Madder Pigment
City Stationery Group Sal
01:55