What Color is Vermilion? An Exploration of the World's Most Passionate Color (2024)

Ah, vermilion! Has there ever been a color to incite more passion and desire throughout the centuries? We think not! Join us as we explore the fascinating history of vermilion and delve into its meaning and symbolism.

What Is Vermilion?

Vermilion is a vibrant orange-red pigment that is sometimes called vermilion red. Vermilion red differentiates itself from other brightly saturated reds like scarlet and crimson because of the addition of orange, which creates a red coral color.

Vermilion is a naturally occurring pigment derived from the powdered form of the mineral cinnabar. Cinnabar contains mercury and is thus toxic to humans. In fact, in the early days of the mining of cinnabar, before its level of toxicity was known, many miners lost their lives.

The word vermilion is derived from the French vermeil, which in turn is derived from the Latin word vermiculus. Vermiculus is the diminutive form of the word vermis, meaning ‘worm’, which was the name given to the red dye that was made from an insect called ‘kermes vermilio’.

Vermilion: The History, Meaning & Symbolism

Vermilion Color History

The first documented use of vermilion pigment dates back to a Neolithic village in the area that is now known as Turkey around 8000–7000 BC. Since then, this vibrant pigment has been used widely used throughout Asia and Europe.

It was used throughout all aspects of ancient Chinese royal life; by the Romans who valued it for painting the faces of triumphant generals; in illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages in Europe; and as the primary red pigment in the paintings of the European Renaissance.

In fact, between the 12th and 19th centuries, vermilion became so popular in Europe that supply couldn’t keep up with demand, and suppliers began to mix their vermillion with cheaper materials like brick dust, iron oxide, and red lead. Unfortunately, these techniques degraded the pigment and led to unreliable results.

It was not until the 20th century that interest in vermilion declined, mostly due to its cost and toxicity and the availability of a safer and cheaper alternative pigment, cadmium red, which offers a similar opacity and color. Today, vermilion pigment from cinnabar is mainly produced in China.

Vermilion Color Meaning

As a member of the red hue, vermilion shares certain meanings with all other reds. It can mean life, vitality, love, passion, romance, energy, anger, danger, or aggression, depending on the context and area of the world in which it is used.

Vermilion Color Symbolism

According to one’s location and culture, vermilion symbolizes different things. Here are a few examples:

Quick Reference: Vermilion Hex, RGB, and CMYK Color Codes

To use vermilion in different environments, it’s helpful to know the vermilion color code values.

Use these vermilion color code values to select the perfect red-orange background color or build your own vermilion color palette.Read this helpful article to find out how toconvert CMYK to Pantonecolors, if you prefer.

Shades and Tints of Vermilion

Now let’s take a look at some of the shades and tints you can create using vermilion. If you don’t know what shades and tints are, here’s a great color theory guide you can use to get up to speed.

Shades

By adding various percentages of black to the pure vermilion hue, you can obtain darker shades of vermilion. In the image below, we start out with pure vermilion and then add 10% black incrementally to get darker and darker shades of vermilion until we end up at black.

Tints

Alternatively, by adding various percentages of white to the pure vermilion hue, you can obtain lighter tints of vermilion. In the image below, we start out with pure vermilion and then add 10% white incrementally to get lighter and lighter tints of vermilion until we end up at pure white.

Vermilion Color Combinations

Are you looking for vermilion color palette inspiration? Find the best colors that go with vermilion in the following examples.

1. Analogous Colors

Let’s start with a beautiful, harmonious color palette based on colors that are similar to vermilion. This palette is bright, bold, and cheerful. Use this on your website or marketing if you want to convey a positive attitude.

2. Complementary Colors

This combination, on the other hand, is darker and more serious. The earthy green and brown tones are very grounded, allowing the bright vermilion to pop off the page or screen by contrast. Use this one if you want vermilion to be the star and use the other colors to increase contrast.

3. Split Complementary Colors

Here’s one that mixes the best of the first two color palettes. It contains complementary greens and browns, but that bright purple is much closer to vermilion and helps to brighten up the whole palette.

4. Triad Colors

Inspired by the triad color combination, this elegant combo would be great for corporate branding materials. You can just picture a classy logo made from the first three colors, can’t you? Then you could use the darker shades for the accompanying tagline or other text.

5. Square Colors

Using a square color palette produces an interesting combination, including one hue that’s similar to the popular seafoam green but a little darker. The overall effect is more serious than the bright, bubbly palette we started with, showing how different combinations can bring out completely different sides of the same color. Use this palette to convey maturity and reliability.

How to Use Vermilion in Your Creative Projects

Want to add a burst of passion and interest to your projects with vermilion’s lovely red and orange hue? Whether you’re creating interesting patterns or business cards, this vibrant color is bound to capture attention. Here are some cool designs illustrating the hot – yet also cool – edge vermilion can add to your projects.

These chevrons are eye-catching, but add vermilion and they become eye-catching at another level completely. This wonderful pattern is available to download in both high-res EPS and JPG file formats.

Who says business brochures have to be boring? There’s nothing like a cool design and a pop of vermilion to lift your design to the stratosphere. This template contains 12 unique page layouts, so all the work is done for you. All you need to do is add your own text and images.

Whether you need a portrait or landscape business card, you’ll love this Luxury Business Card template with its terrific use of vermilion and white. The template offers both back and front layouts which are fully editable in the software of your choice.

Are you looking for an awesome mobile phone mockup to showcase your designs? How about this Vermillion iPhone Mockup? It offers six fully editable PSD files that you can customize in a matter of minutes.

For a flyer to be effective, it has to capture the attention of its target audience, and there’s no better way to do that than with an awesome design and vermilion. This trifold flyer comes in both A4 and US Letter sizes and is easy to edit in InDesign.

Branding is an art and a science. It requires great design and the right color combinations to motivate your target customers and clients. That’s just what you get with this fabulous corporate identity branding mockup. Use Photoshop to customize your mockup features quickly and easily.

Explore More Color Combinations Today!

Vermilion is vibrant and exciting and will bring an explosion of color to your projects. When you want to wake up the senses and inspire, there is no better color. It’s great for everything from business cards to brochures, branding designs, and any other cool project you have in mind.