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But because the color wields such erratic force, designers
be warned: Incorporate red into your work with caution. In
a retail setting, some evidence suggests that a red exterior
might attract customers, but that a red interior might repel
them. In a conference setting, red might boost bids during
an auction but dampen offers at a negotiation. In a school
of University of Durham, in the United Kingdom, analyzed
the outcomes of four 2004 Olympics sports events, in which
contestants were randomly assigned to wear either blue or
red outfits. The red side won significantly more chance would
predict across all four sports, 16 of 21 rounds of competition,
and 19 of 29 weight classes. Hill and Barton suspect that a
setting, red might help students pay attention to details but
may hurt their scores on creativity or IQ tests.
red uniform’s association with aggression and anger might
tip the competitive balance “when other factors are fairly
equal.” The only question left for Red Sox fans is why the
effect took almost a century to kick in.
IN SCHOOLS, RED MIGHT HELP
STUDENTS PAY ATTENTION TO
DETAILS BUT MAY HURT THEIR
SCORES ON CREATIVITY.
“Red can mean danger and it can easily mean passion,” says
Lauren Labrecque of Loyola University Chicago, who studies
the role of color in marketing. Labrecque’s recent research
has found that simply changing the color of a fictional logo
or package design can influence a brand’s personality. A
dark red box of condoms, for instance, was perceived by test
participants as more rugged than a light purple box of the
identical product--and that, in turn, made participants more
likely to buy the red box.
And don’t think you’re above being influenced. “Often with
these different sensory effects, people think they’re in control-oh, this doesn’t influence me,” she says. “But time and time
again we see it does.”
To help clarify the uncertain effects for designers, marketers,
creative professionals, and sports teams, we sum up seven
of the most fascinating, complex, or bizarre red research
studies from the past decade.
Athletic Advantage –- Nature (2005)
Evolutionary anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton
Test Disadvantage –- Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General
(2007)
In a series of four experiments, researchers (including Maier)
found that very subtle color prompts had a measurable
effect on testing performance. One study issued part of an
IQ test to measure participants’ responses to a cover page
that was red, green, or white. They were only briefly exposed
to the color, but participants in the red group performed
significantly worse than those in the other groups (see below).
Researchers believe that in a testing context, red may activate
negative emotions (think: alarm or mistakes) and thus could
have a negative impact on scores.