Red Bunting
Nr. 07

The anatomy book “Atlas der angewandten Anatomie der Haustiere” (in English: “Atlas of Applied Anatomy of Domestic Animals”) by Franz-Viktor Salomon and Hans Geyer uses a red background for all of its anatomical photographs.

When I asked Prof. em. Dr. med vet. Hans Geyer, why they decided to use red as the main background color in all their photographs, he highlighted the advantage of the red material. It was the official cloth used for the DDR flag. This was cheap and easy to buy everywhere when the first volume of their book was created (published in 1997). The authors considered other colors as possible backgrounds at the time and they even made some tests with alternative colors. 

In addition to practicality, the authors felt that red was the most suitable color. Nowadays, when anatomical photographs are shown with a red background in veterinary medicine, it can be assumed almost without exception that the image was taken from the publication by Salomon and Geyer. Thus making the red bunting part of the branding of this publication.