Because it’s such a vivid color, red is often used in art and design as an accent or as a means to call attention to an important part of the work. Because it’s a primary color, red is able to integrate with nearly every color of the spectrum, and its hues and shades, from pink to burgundy, can be used to temper some of pure red’s impact, or as a means to help integrate red into a color scheme without overpowering it. As the visible color with the longest wavelength, red is the color that’s visible from the greatest distance, overpowering other colors in perspective.
Anthropologists point to our simian evolutionary roots as a reason red carries such a psychological impact. Because blood, fire, and many edible fruits are red, the color has power to stimulate and excite people when they see it. Because of its evolutionary roots in pain and pleasure, that psychological impact is, by itself, neutral: red can mean a snack or mortal danger. Either way, it draws the eye. Because of this, many warning signs are crafted in red for their eye-catching powers. Around the world, stop signs in traffic are nearly universally colored red because of this.
Western society, particularly American culture, has also contextualized red and its shades to represent values other than danger or excitement. The color is universally recognized as one of passion, with everything from Valentine’s Day cards to lingerie using the color’s connotations of passion to its favor. Red is also frequently considered to be a color that commands confidence--thus the red power tie--while its hue, pink, is inexorably linked with notions of femininity. Shades of dark red can be associated with everything from confidence and leadership to rage.