Does Anyone Use Red Ink Anymore?

[XYZZY]

If you swap things around, correct in green, stop signs are green, red means go, etc, then those people would just grow up freaking out when they saw green. The problem isn't the color, it's people incapable of coping.

[MuddyWaters]

Whether it's a problem of coping or not and whether you are powerful and smart or not, whatever is best for the kids should win out in the end.

[LizEF]

Sometimes I'm the last one to get a joke, but this goes completely over my head.

Build a bridge and get over it.

[Misfit]

I really like Montblanc Corn Poppy Red. I primarily use it in letters during the holiday season. But it can end up in letters in January or later until the pen runs out of ink.

 

LizEF is right about correcting school papers.

[inkstainedruth]

My mother always used red (albeit with a ballpoint) for corrections. Even for her own work. She got asked once to critique an outline and first chapter of someone's work and it was so bad that the markup looked as if (her words) she bled on it when she got done. It was being done anonymously. She then read that someone was so upset with the critique that the person rewrote everything. She had me mail a letter from her to the person (so it wouldn't trace back to her) saying "If it was your work I read and you're rewriting it now, GOOD! IT NEEDED IT!"

Red used to get used because it got people's attention. If someone used red for markup on something I had done I'd pay attention to what was said. I wouldn't be agonizing over "OMG, they used red! I'm so traumatized!" because I wouldn't be. YMMV

Me, I don't use red a lot but I do sometimes. If I need something that's pretty waterproof I use Noodler's Park Red. But if I don't, and want something smack in the middle of the spectrum/fire engine red/red like my first car (the color was called "Graphic Red" by Plymouth ) and not blood red, red violet, orange red, pinkish red or Burgundy red/I reach for Diamine Classic Red. Because red.... (If someone was marking up something I had written with, say, Sheaffer Red, I'd be upset because I think most blood red inks are UGLY...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: I'd much rather someone edited/corrected something of mine in red ink than with orange. I have yet to find an orange ink I like. The closest is Diamine Anniversary Terra Cotta, which is more of an orange/brown (and one of the most accurately named inks I've ever seen ).

Edited June 25, 2020 by inkstainedruth

[Intensity]

If you swap things around, correct in green, stop signs are green, red means go, etc, then those people would just grow up freaking out when they saw green. The problem isn't the color, it's people incapable of coping.

 

You can always re-define things to be arbitrarily different, but is it always necessary? If you change all the stop signs in a particular city to purple color from red, people will pick up on it, but the question is why? Red is most often the color we grew up with, seeing it on corrections to our homeworks. It's the association many people now make with it. Red is also a more "loud" color for our eyes/brains, suitable for catching attention, as opposed to muted colors like black, darker blue, mid-to-dark green. The eyes don't "rest" on red, they might rest on green. Is the goal to switch things around and watch people react, or is the goal to offer comments and corrections?

[katerchen]

I usually start the day at work with a bullet list, with plenty of white space left on the margins and between the items. Then as the day progresses I add my notes, check marks, miss marks, etc. with a fine point red pen.

 

I really like Pilot Red (the coke bottle variety) : it was cheap and stands out nicely.

[XYZZY]

You can always re-define things to be arbitrarily different, but is it always necessary? If you change all the stop signs in a particular city to purple color from red, people will pick up on it, but the question is why? Red is most often the color we grew up with, seeing it on corrections to our homeworks. It's the association many people now make with it. Red is also a more "loud" color for our eyes/brains, suitable for catching attention, as opposed to muted colors like black, darker blue, mid-to-dark green. The eyes don't "rest" on red, they might rest on green. Is the goal to switch things around and watch people react, or is the goal to offer comments and corrections?

My "swap" comment was just rhetorical. I think it would be a bad idea for many reasons. My intent was that changing colors fails to address any underlying problem.

[BrassRatt]

I sometimes need to mark up a textual collaboration, such as a patent application. I like to do this on a paper printout, using Sheaffer Skrip Red in a very fine nib. I use red mostly because it is easier for me to notice all the fine marks later, when I transcribe or edit the document in its digital form; I don't want to overlook something I wrote in or crossed out. Sometimes the marked-up pages go to other people, and I hope the color helps them too.

 

It's not about emotion, it's about ease of use. Anyone who gets emotional about it is someone I'll avoid having to work with again.

 

I use purple ink in my work notebooks, just because I like it. People probably consider that one of the ways I'm weird, and that's OK.

[Martolod]

... I keep red ink for writing erotica. Maybe the touchiness is for people who did bad in English classes, I always think of flesh or sex when I think of red's symbolism.

[Karmachanic]

Off to mix some black red

[Monophoto]

I'm retired, so I use whatever color I want - I don't have to please anyone other than myself. So I have several 'redish' inks in my rotation - Black Swan in Australian Roses, Saguaro Wine, and J Herbin Rouge Hematite.

 

The only pushback was that a bank teller once said that he couldn't accept an endorsement on a check in red ink. I don't do business with that bank anymore.

[TSherbs]

... I keep red ink for writing erotica. Maybe the touchiness is for people who did bad in English classes, I always think of flesh or sex when I think of red's symbolism.

Love this!

 

I think of murder, but maybe that's the shadow side of sex.

[TSherbs]

Am I the only teacher of children here? Sometimes red is fine, sometimes it isn't. Those who say "get over it" are likely not people who work with children (or shouldn't be). The efficacy of various types of editing has been studied and written about. Color hardly matters, and choosing not to use red for whatever reason is not much a relevant matter, except to the degree that the choice reflects an underlying helpful (or not helpful) tone and/or relationship with the student learner. Efficacy is more about both quantity and quality of editorial feedback, not the color used.

 

And yes, red is still used. Just look at how many shades are being produced. Red fountain pen ink can be picky and dry and non-permanent, so it has some other challenges to it.

 

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Edited June 25, 2020 by TSherbs

[aardvarkbark]

I use Diamine Red Dragon for Christmas card notes.

 

I use Diamine Oxblood in rotation with blue/blacks for daily note taking as a change of pace. From my EEF nibs, it looks more like a brown than a 'dried blood' deep red.

[Intensity]

On a semi-related note, ever since I've read here that people associate some red tones as "dried blood", I've been apprehensive about using ink hues like Diamine Oxblood for anything but personal journaling and notes, since I'm a bit worried about possible reactions. Although I stop caring when it comes to Colorverse Dark Energy, because I love it, and it looks different enough (plus it sheens olive green). To those who use dark red types, do you [ever] get the comments about dried blood look?

[fphilipp]

I have one red ink (pilot cartridges) that I use in one pen only (Pilot VP, fine nib) for marking annotations in reports. Perfect combo!

[PAKMAN]

Red inks seem to stain pens more often, so I don't have many reds and rarely use them.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Red inks seem to stain pens more often, so I don't have many reds and rarely use them.

Finally! a decent reason to avoid using reds!

[Brianm_14]

I am a university science professor of nearly 40 years (life sciences and chemistry) and use red ink. I firmly believe what one writes on essays, tests, and lab reports can hurt students, but it's not the color of the ink. Criticism needs to be kind, unless the student willlfully plagiarizes or just blows off the assignment.

 

Indeed, my syllabi state that red ink is reserved for my use in my courses.

 

Some administrators, who have dictated some (too many) of the ways in which I can now teach in spite of having little or no teaching experience, and a few colleagues, claim red ink bruises student egos. Well, if it does, they set the students up for such bruising by creating an unwarranted sense of entitlement.

 

Skrip red or Diamine Oxblood does the trick. If students want to see less red ink, they can always try proofreading, or using the spell checker on their computer, or going to the Writing Center as I suggest.

 

For other purposes, I favor Diamine Rustic Brown or Waterman Brown, and Herbin Vert de Gris is for ordinary communication. Usually I also have a pen loaded with a lovely Diamine blue of some sort, although I am about to try a run of Colorverse Rainy Day and Rohrer & Klingner Salix.

 

The very same people who have made a mess of secondary education in this country are now hard at work devaluing the average college education. I fight them at every step, even down to the color of the ink I use. But I confess we are in an organized retreat. The battle is lost.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Brianm-14-FRMS