Effective use of color and format

I found Design Army referenced in the Print Regional Design Annual for this year (BTW, it's a very good collection). While the product photography seems a bit small, I really do like the minimal yet dynamic use of 2 colors (black and red). I also like the sense of "being inside" this site's space. I suppose the strong black background contributes to this. Wonder what a different color in the background would feel like?