Listen to nature. She knows.
She gave us red and made it seductive. It demands attention. (Is it seductive because it demands attention or the other way around?) It's erotic, it's cocksure, and it's a warning.
On the effects of red there is no doubt: What better laboratory for market testing is there than evolution?
Two more proofs:
Q: What's sexier than a cream-covered load of sweet empty calories?
A: A red load.
(Ever hear the joke about the mouse that drives a Ferrari to the pit to help save the lion?)
So, there you have it: Total id tweaking through seductive engineering; All debts to Mother Nature.
Now, let's see red used to more subtle effect:
An accent with a flower...
... or a warm field overwhelming a white room...
... and then the whelming turned up even more as it goes brighter and shinier. (With a pink and gray sofa offering a cool buffer on the interstice.)
And then, buildings that crescendo in the eyes.
A crescendo version as delivered to the suburbs.
Color favors the bold: Above, classic Hermes blood red.
The sleek of this kitchen roughed up slightly with rustic touches and red accents: A material carnival of tile, unfinished and finished wood, glass, plastic, stainless, and colored silicon implements.
A washer and dryer in red: Not quite sexy but pretty close. (Certainly, it wouldn't be sexier in any other color.)