Most of us probably have our favourite mug for a comforting cuppa at home or at work and without which no brew would taste half as good, and now recently published research might explain why.

Studies conducted by researchers from Oxford University and the Polytechnic University of Valencia published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, have shown how serving food and drink in different coloured bowls or cups can alter the perception of its taste, aroma and appeal depending on the colour of receptacle it’s served in.

Volunteers were asked to sample hot chocolate from plastic cups in four different colours: red, white, orange and cream and found that drinking from the orange and cream cups had the best flavour.

They preferred the flavour of the chocolate when drunk from an orange cup finding it more intense and found that the beverage served in a cream cup appeared to be sweeter, with a better aroma. (My own preferred ‘comfort’ mug is orange)!

As this piece of research indicates, colour influences behaviour – and also our choice of product. Although more often used to package orange (fruit) juice related products, it is quite an apt colour for other food stuffs too, as used in the packaging for the cereals above. The colour orange itself appeals to our sense of physical comfort, sensory enjoyment and feeling satiated, and so can be a useful colour to consider including in the design for many food related products.

(Images courtesy Nestle, Weetabix, http://dylankendall.com)

Find out more about colour! What does your choice of colour say about you? How does colour influence you – from what you buy to how you live? Come and find out at this experiential day of colour and ‘Explore colour in your world’. SAVE £30 when to book by 16th January – BOOK NOW

Continuing the theme of ‘red’ I wanted to talk about the effect of colour in branding and design.  When we think of ‘Mega-brand’, Virgin, the colour we will associate with any of its products, is red. But how do we perceive this colour in relation to the brand – does red accurately convey the values and qualities of the Virgin ‘empire’, the third most recognised brand in the UK?

The Virgin Brand

Diverse and independent, Virgin’s businesses are licensed and branded under the Virgin group banner. The customer franchise is strong and applied to a vast range of businesses across sectors including music, finance, leisure, travel, communication and cosmetics.

Customer service oriented and fun, the Virgin ethos believes in delivering quality, innovative and value products whilst being authentic. The company values are listed as such:

• Fun – enjoyment and humour
• Value for money – simple not cheap
• Quality – attention to detail, not expensive for the sake of it
• Innovation – challenging convention, but not for the sake of being different
• Competetive challenge – responding to consumer needs, not being irrelevant
• Brilliant customer service – delivered by empowered, professional people

Colour cohesion is important in brand design to communicate authenticity. Research in to the relationship between marketing and colour has found that colour increases brand recognition by up to 80%. Taking a look at some of the logos for different Virgin branded products and services, it’s apparent that as much diversity exists in the colours of the different brands as in the Virgin group itself. Criticism exists that Virgin’s multi brands don’t make a comfortable fit visually or culturally. Are we becoming confused as to who Virgin are anymore?

Because overall the ‘business personality’ of Virgin would appear youth-orientated, fun, confident and with its roots based in music, communication and travel; I would be looking at hues from a light, clean, fresh palette of yellow based colours to mirror these qualities (spring).  I would choose different hues within this group to express the individual qualities of the brand products maintaining both visual and brand integrity.

While the colour red fits the bill for expressing any qualities in branding relating to action, courage, movement and energy;  the qualities of fun and value for money are best represented by the colour orange, a hue combining red and yellow linking physical colour red’s action with yellow’s confidence. Orange relates to our feelings of comfort and enjoyment. There seems to be confusion in what the Virgin red is? (Slightly orangeish Pantone Warm Red C would work best).

‘Quality’ is best represented by the colour purple, and ‘innovation’  best represented by turquoise blues. Some gravitas is required within these brands, particularly in Virgin’s finance venture – Virgin Money. We want to trust that this fun, forward thinking brand can be trusted with our money, so slightly stronger (spring) blues ought to be considered to communicate trust and efficiency!

Learn more about how colour affects branding and our daily lives in our one-day workshop – click ‘Exploring Colour in Your World’ Satuday July 21st 2012

Last week I had the opportunity to visit a recently completed project that I worked on last summer. Applewood is a respite care facility built in the community in Tadworth, Surrey by Surrey County Council for children and young people with disabilities aged 5-18 years. Accompanying me was Susannah Mathieson, National Account Services Manager for Dulux who was interested to see how I had used colour on this project.

When working with colour psychology the key to selecting a palette of colours is to identify the ‘colour personality’ of the environment. What is it used for – who will be using the space and how? A family of colours is then selected accordingly that best captures, expresses and supports the required qualities of the environment. The brief from Pat Williams, manager of Applewood was to create a bright, lively, fun and ‘funky’ living accommodation that would inspire the young guests who will be able to stay at the facility for between 2 and 6 nights

To convey these qualities and the feel that Applewood wanted to create I specified colours that had warm, clear and bright characteristics. The ‘personality’ of this family of fresh spring colours captures perfectly the qualities of youth, vitality, energy, creativity, activity, motivation and fun! It also identifies particularly well with professions, institutions or businesses linked with children and ‘youth’.

I then looked at the individual colours to select the ones which would best support an activity or create an ambience within each particular room. For example in the recreation rooms where the youngsters would be perhaps socialising and conducting activities I specified yellow to encourage optimism and confidence. Other colours I specified for the Applewood palette were green, turquoise, purple, orange and blue. Each of these colours selected contribute to an upbeat and engaging environment both for the young people staying at Applwood and for the staff working there.

Interior Designers – Would you like to learn how to apply the power of colour in to interior design? Our courses may be just what you’re looking for! http://www.incolourconsultancy.com/interiors_training_in_colour.htm

Leafing through the current crop of fashion magazines and reading various fashion editorials you can’t fail to have noticed a theme of bold colour this season. As the worlds of fashion and interior design seem to become more entwined it appears that that like fashion too, there is also bit of a ‘thing’ for bold colour in the interior decorating world at the moment.

As with what you wear, consider carefully the impact of a colour that you may choose to surround yourself with – after all it’s easier to return your garment to the shop and change it than spend several hours re-decorating your four walls!

Colour is the most economical way to transform a room, give it a fresh new feeling, even disguise irregularities and highlight the best features! Colour can change the apparent shape and size of spaces and objects. ‘Advancing’ colours such as reds, yellows and oranges appear to make a surface closer to us or make an object look bigger. ‘Receding’ colours such as blue, violet or green can make a room seem larger because they make surfaces appear to move away from the eye. And of course it goes without saying that colour affects how you feel. Look at the effects of some of the colours here.

If you want to try out some of the new bold paint or paper colours for decorating I suggest that you may like to try painting one feature wall first. Add more colours to your scheme by adding ‘accents’ in the form of accessories; cushions, lamps, pictures, and furniture, as you feel comfortable.

The stores listed below offer different products, style and decorating tips and pictures of inspirational room sets. I hope you will find them helpful.

Laura Ashley Inspirational Room Sets http://www.lauraashley.com/icat/inspirations
These room sets give an interesting guide to the decorating elements that might appeal to the different colour personality types.
Garden Room – light, fresh, clean. Floral elements and small patterns (spring)
Enchanted Forest – elegant, soft, serene, shimmering (summer)
Decorative Living – berry shades and textures (autumn)
Country Pursuits – substantial rich, muted palette (autumn)
Black & White Living – mirror, lacquer and glass (winter)

Laura Ashley

B&Q online brochure
http://www.diy.com
This is online guide that you can pick up from stores too. It contains pictures of styled room sets for inspiration and is full of designer tips and products.

Homebase inspirations pages http://www.homebase.co.uk
Offers tips on different paint effects to try and how to make a mood board.

Uk Home Ideas
http://www.ukhomeideas.co.uk/
An online home interior decorating magazine with articles, featured products, tips and ideas for everything to do with decorating and the home

Do you have any comments or questions? May be you have some great decorating tips and advice to pass on!Please do send them in I’d love to hear from you! If you know of anyone else that you think would enjoy the content of this newsletter please do forward it on to them. You can sign up here to receive editions. Thank you.