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Characteristics of flags in fiction

Colours of flags as described in fiction

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Colours of flags as described in fiction

Red

I find it funny that the bright red Swiss flag in the novel Earth is described as "deep crimson". The only dark red flags around (apart from Latvia, Qatar, and old Georgia, which are very dark red, or even brown) are the United States and United Kingdom, yet many English-language sources (boardgames, graphic novels, etc.) use a darker shade for some other, originally bright red flags — the Soviet and Nazi Germany flags being often subjects of this treatment.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 October 2010

From an artist's perspective it's an odd word choice for the colour. You might describe the United States and United Kingdom flags, perhaps, as crimson, but most national flags using red (including Switzerland) use a scarlet red, not a crimson. Scarlet is a "focal" red similar to RGB 100%,0%,0%; crimson is a slightly pinker/bluer red. The slightly yellow/orange red equivalent in these terms is vermilion.
James Dignan, 12 October 2010