MEANINGS OF THE COLOUR RED RELATED TO CULTURE

By Robin Coosen

Contents
Introduction
Main question
Hypothesis
Methodology
Results
Positive meanings
Negative meanings

Analysis with regard to the hypothesis

Conclusion
Discussion
Difference between cultural and personal meaning
Difference between associations with other hues of red
Difference between interpretation of males and females

Bibliography

page
page
page
page
page
page
page
page
page
page

2
3
3
3
4
4
5
6
7
8

page
page
page
page

8
8
8
9

Introduction
Red is a very important colour. Red stimulates activity in the brain and it increases
heart rate and blood pressure. It is also one of the most intense colours we know.
Often, people who suffer from temporary blindness will begin to see red long before
they are able to see any other colours. 77% of all the flags in the world contain red
and research about ancient languages says that red is the first colour to be found in
a language after white and black. Every language has a word for black and white;
the next colour a language will contain is a word for red. Even biology offers an
explanation for the importance of the colour red. Red is focused just behind the
retina, which forces the lens to thicken to pull the image forward. That is why we
perceive red areas as if they are moving towards us.

Main Question
This report will focus on the different meanings of the colour red. It will question
both the positive and the negative meanings of red and find out to which cultures
those meanings are related. Therefore, the main question is whether red has a
positive or a negative meaning and whether this meaning is related to culture.

Hypothesis
Red definitely has an impact on persons. The fact that it has an impact can be
shown in multiple fields, such as psychology, biology and even history. However, it
is uncertain if this impact is positive or negative. Whether red has a positive or
negative meaning might be influenced by religion, history or the area where a
person was born. I do not think that red either has a positive or a negative
meaning. I think red has both positive and negative meanings and I expect that the
emotional influence of the colour red on a person mainly depends upon the culture
that this person is part of.

Methodology
Before finding the actual sources, I made the main question and hypothesis and I
came up with a general idea about the content. I then found several sources which
state different meanings of the colour red. I divided these meanings into positive
and negative meanings. Positive meanings are here used to describe something
which benefits a human life, such as luck or strength, while negative meanings are
here used to describe something which disadvantages a human life, such as danger
or death. After presenting each of the meanings, I compared the actual amount of
positive and negative meanings to the hypothesis. I also analyzed whether the
meaning of red differs between cultures. In order to make this analysis I compared
Asian culture and its association with red to Western culture and its association with
red. Finally, I was able to draw several conclusions from this research.

Results
Positive meanings
There are a lot of positive meanings of the colour red. Red is seen as the colour of
luck, love, passion, heat, action, energy, courage and strength.
One of the meanings of red is luck. This meaning is mostly related to Asian
cultures. Especially in China, red is seen as a Good Luck colour. In those cultures,
red is connected to luck, happiness and prosperity in life. The consequence of this
meaning of red in Asian cultures is that the colour red is used more often in
clothing and advertisements. In addition, red is used as a traditional wedding colour
in Asia.
Red is also known as a symbol for love and passion. This is probably related to
Valentines Day, a celebration where people write letters to say that they love
someone. The colour related to this celebration is red. Valentines Day is celebrated
all over the world by expressing love. In most cultures this is done by giving cards
and presents to each other.
Red is also seen as the colour of heat, action and energy. One explanation could be
that this meaning is derived from fire. Fire is fast, incredibly hot and has a lot of
energy. Although fire does not mainly consist of the colour red, this intense colour
is often used to represent it. This meaning of red can for example be seen in
thermometers, where higher temperatures are written in red and lower
temperatures in blue, and in video games, where red is often used to indicate
objects you can interact with or highlight the area where action takes place.
One other meaning of red is courage and strength. This meaning might be related
to history, where winners of a fight were seen as heroes. Since red is the colour of
blood, it showed how strong and courageous these brave men had been to risk
their life and survive. One example is the Irish Red Hand of Ulster, a symbol used
to indicate heraldry.

Negative meanings
However, red also seems to have negative meanings. Red is also seen as danger,
mistakes, death, evil and violence.
One of the negative meanings of red is danger. Especially in the Middle East, red is
known to mean danger. Red is also a universally accepted colour to mean stop or
avoid. This can be recognised in traffic lights and red stop signs. Red symbols are
usually meant to give people a warning.
Red can also mean something is wrong or bad. Most teachers mark with a red pen
and in football, a red card is given when someone is sent off the field. Again, this
meaning of red is universally accepted and present within most modern societies.
One other negative meaning of red is death or mourning. In China, even though red
is considered a good luck colour, writing a letter in red ink means the person is
going to die. In South Africa, red is the colour of mourning. This meaning of the
colour red might be influenced by the colour of blood.
Also, red can symbolize violence. This meaning is accepted in most cultures and
probably refers to the colour of blood present in a fight or war. Even today, red is
used to indicate something which will probably cause a violent action, for example,
red buttons are used for the firing or detonation of a weapon.
Finally, the devil is often pictured as red. This is done in most cultures, but there is
no clear reason for this. Originally, the devil was not portrayed red at all. Religion
does not state that the devil is red and the devil was still portrayed in very dark
colours during the middle ages. The red colour is a modern development, probably
caused by other associated negative meanings of red, such as fire, violence and
danger.

Analysis with regard to the hypothesis

The hypothesis states that red has an equal amount of positive and negative
meanings. This seems to match the data found in the sources. Each association
with red can have both a positive and a negative meaning. For example, action
could indicate a positive action, but it could also be used to indicate a wrong or
dangerous action. Both those meanings are equally present; yet completely
opposite.
Even though most official meanings of red are negative, such as a bank account
being in the red, official stop, warning or danger signs and red cards or pens
indicating mistakes, this does not mean that most cultural meanings are negative
as well. The meaning of red related to culture is more equally distributed and has
an equal amount of positive and negative meanings.
According to the hypothesis, the emotional influence of the colour red is influenced
by the culture that one is part of. This seems to be true since most cultures have
their own association with red. In general, most Asian cultures and religions see red
as a colour of good luck. Many Asian weddings are celebrated in red traditional
clothing and a red mark is put on the forehead in Hinduism during celebrations.
Most Western cultures see red as a warning; this view is most likely connected to
the image of blood and is present in most modern danger and warning signs.
Even though red can in most cultures have both a positive and a negative meaning,
the importance and expression of each of these meanings is different in each
culture. Therefore, each culture has its own way of interpreting and expressing the
meaning of red.

Conclusion
It is impossible to provide an answer to the question whether red has a positive or
a negative meaning, it has both. The meaning of red is often derived from the
colour of blood or fire, but in both cases this meaning can be both positive and
negative. For example, the colour of blood may symbolize life and happiness, but it
may also symbolize death and danger. Furthermore, the colour of fire may
symbolize action and energy, but it may also symbolize violence or evil. This shows
that the associations with the colour red are not generally good or bad, but both.
This research did also indicate to what extent the meaning of red is the
consequence of culture. Some meanings are universally accepted, red warning
signs and red buttons have the same meaning in almost every culture. However,
there are certain meanings associated with red which are only present within one or
several cultures. Most Asian cultures have red as a good luck colour and red is
present at traditional Asian weddings, while Western cultures see red as a warning
or a sign of love.

Discussion
Even after reaching a conclusion, further research may be needed. There is still a
lot of research possible which might determine the reliability of this conclusion or
give additional factors which determine the influence of colours on an individual.
Difference between cultural and personal meaning
Of course, individual interpretations of the colour red may differ within a culture. An
aspect of culture is always a generalization; there can still be an enormous amount
of variation within the personal interpretations of individuals. In order to determine
the reliability of this theory, further research is needed to confirm that most of the
personal interpretations within a culture actually correspond to the general image
described in the sources of this article.
Difference between associations with other hues of red
This research focuses on the colour red in general, but it is certainly possible that
the meaning of red changes when discussing different hues of red. Red can be
made more light or dark and can even have a little more blue or yellow in it.
Difference between interpretation of males and females
One other factor which might influence a personal interpretation of the colour red
might be related to being male or female. According to the visual artist Shirley
Williams, women seem to be more attracted to cool reds. These reds can be found
when a lot of white is added. Men generally prefer warmer reds; these reds can be
found when more black or grey is added.

Bibliography
Main source for meanings of red:
http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/meanings-of-red.html
This website was made by Shirley Williams, a visual artist.
In order to check whether the information given on this website was reliable,
several other sources were used:
http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolismpsychology/all-about-the-color-red-4344#.U6aXFJSSxAo
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/cultural-color.html
http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm
All sources were used to give factual information, not opinions. This is because one
culture is not necessarily better than another culture. All cultures are of equal
value.
In order to make an analysis, Asian culture was compared to Western culture. This
was also done in the following scientific article:
http://www.hpu.edu/CHSS/LangLing/TESOL/ProfessionalDevelopment/201080TWPf
all10/BaiRed.pdf