Reported recently – Cardiff City football club’s association with their team colour has been threatened with change by the club’s Malaysian owners who want to change the colour of the team kit from blue to red.

Whilst Cardiff City Supporter’s Trust are concerned with the implications of “changing a century of tradition”, the club’s Malaysian owners believe red to be a more dynamic colour and also a significant colour for Wales.

Although colour is important to visually differentiate teams on the playing field, it can also have a very positive effect on the performance of a team. Here in the UK, three of our most successful football teams, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool F.C., wear red as their team strip. Red is a very ‘physical’ colour representing the qualities of courage, stamina, activity and strength.

Much heraldic and cultural symbolism is associated with colour, and in Malaysia culturally, the colour red represents the very same values as those it represents in colour psychology.

The colour of Cardiff City’s current team strip, blue, relates to the mind and ‘logical thought’. In terms of colour psychology therefore, the team’s strength may be in their ability to ‘out-psych’ the opposition or develop a better strategy for play. Culturally the colour blue in Malaysia represents truth, loyalty, perseverance and justice. It may be the view of Cardiff City’s owners that whilst (blue) team loyalty is commendable, the red qualities of strength, courage and stamina are going to win them the game!

Explore Colour in Your World

What is colour? Why does it have an effect on us and how can we harness it’s effects?

A one-day workshop for all those interested in finding out more about colour – Saturday July 21st 2012

click here for more details and to book

Eyebrow raising research recently published in the Journal of Social Psychology confirms how the colour of clothing can have a powerful influence on how men perceive the opposite sex.

A survey of 120 male students conducted by researchers at the University of South Brittany, were asked to look at  images of a woman wearing a series of  red, blue, green and white tops. The woman was perceived to be the most attractive when wearing the red top. Furthermore, most thought that a woman wearing red was more likely to agree to sex.

Interestingly similar findings were reported from colour research by the University of Rochester (2010) which found that women were more likely to be sexually attracted to men wearing red. (See article Red Alert!)

While wearing blue will very likely communicate that you are trustworthy, green that you are even-tempered or ‘chilled,’ and white communicates a kind of ‘hands off’ purity (!); there is no doubt that any person, male or female is certainly likely to be noticed wearing red. Its physical effect is to increase stamina and energy, our ‘drive’ and motivation. Therefore any hopeful males (and females) will be subconsciously switched on to this strong colour signal that arouses interest and……yes, possibly passion!

Recent research from the University of Rochester suggests that men pictured wearing or surrounded by the colour red are found to be more attractive or sexually appealing by women. The study also noted that women perceived men wearing red T-shirts to have a higher status than those wearing blue T-shirts.

Superman – brains and brawn then?

Considered the ‘male energy’ colour, the impact of red is on the physical self. It motivates, increases energy, stamina and courage. Red is our ‘drive’ – our get up and go, so it’s perhaps no surprise that this colour might signal to the girls an alpha male quality whilst blue communicates logic, thought, authority and trust. We have quite literally a choice between brains or brawn!

See the full ‘Women attracted to men in red’ article as appears in Yahoo! Lifestyle

More about the study at the University of Rochester

Learn more about the ‘super powers’ of colour! in:colour training and workshops

Did anyone catch last weeks ‘presidential’ TV debate? If not live then you almost certainly can’t have failed to hear about it in the rest of the media!

One of the points that I often try to make about colour is that it is – to quote Angela Wright, ‘the universal non verbal language’. We use colour to communicate. Everyday we make choices (mostly subconsciously) about what colours to wear that whether we realise it or not, express how we feel.

Each leader David, Gordon and Nick all wore ties in their respective party colour of course, and one of the things that struck me as interesting when reading about last weeks debate was that each of the party leaders also appeared to exhibit qualities in their behaviour which reflected their party colour!

Perhaps previously considered the underdog, the overall impression was that Nick Clegg’s polished performance had ‘come out on top’ with a confident address to the viewers. A more noticeable colour, the positive aspects of the liberal party colour yellow express qualities of confidence, optimism and positivity.

Contrast this delivery with the overriding opinion of Gordon Brown’s performance in the Labour ‘red corner’ as being ‘aggressive and attacking, repeatedly interrupting and becoming increasingly frustrated’. These ‘behaviours’ are most synonymous with the negative traits of the colour red whilst David Cameron in the ‘blue corner’ was described as ‘statesmanlike, holding his nerve under a barrage from the Prime Minister’. Cool, calm and collected blue can appear authorative if a little predictable and safe.

Purple Power – Gordon Brown and team tapping in to the potential of purple

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.