Category Archives: fun

Colour and Manchester United

culture, fun, , , ,

van gaal

It’s not often I get to write about two of my favourite things at the same time. So I couldn’t resist remarking on a story today in the Daily Mirror about a colour code that Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal uses to describe different players in his squad. Apparently:

Blue:
“A blue player is intellectual and is always looking for structure and security in his job on the pitch.”

Red:
“A red player is creative, full of power, will want to work and is always focusing on the future.”

Green:
“A green player is very emotional, sensitive for different emotions or a different atmosphere in the squad.”

See the original article for the colours that the newspaper thinks that different players should be be allocated.

new designs for UK flag colour

culture, design, fun, news, opinions/rants, , , , , , , , , ,

I blog about anything related to colour and I am interested in all sorts of aspects of colour whether they be based in arts and design, cultural studies, evolution, chemistry, physics, biology or technology. But a couple of themes keep cropping up and I end up posting about them at regular intervals. So, in 2012 I posted about the historical development of the UK flag – the union jack. And then earlier this year I posted about an article on the BBC about the possible redesign on the union jack is Scotland votes to leave the United Kingdom in the forthcoming referendum there. Some of the designs that were being put forward were really horrible. Perhaps I am too attached to the union jack. A few days ago I came across another BBC story which included 25 readers’ designs for the union jack should Scotland leave. . I must say I much prefer the readers’ designs rather than those previously proposed by experts – the BBC reliably informs me that such experts are known as vexillologists. I like this flag (by David and Gwyneth Parker) – where the blue of Scotland has simply been swapped for the green of Wales, thus preserving the traditional look. (If you wonder why the green of Wales is not in the current flag see my earlier post.)

flag1

And I also like the following design (by Matthew Welch), where England and Wales are represented in the top left and bottom right corners respectively and the diagonal stripe represents Northern Ireland of course.

flag2

You probably have to be from the UK to understand this humorous design (by Al Main).

flag3

You can see all 25 readers’ designs at the BBC here.

If you are interested in vexillology (is that a word?) you may like to read another BBC story about a potential new flag for Norther Ireland. And finally, I was interested that the CIA apparently has a flag database that it makes available to the public.

School of Design hosts Leeds Sustainability Jam 2013

design, fun, news,

IMG STAFF WEBSITE

The weekend of the 22nd November saw the school of Design host the Leeds Sustainability Jam 2013, part of the Global Sustainability Jam taking place simultaneously across the world. A “Design Jam” is similar in concept to a Jam session in music: people come together, bringing their instruments, skills, and open-mindedness. Someone sets up a theme, and everyone starts to Jam around it and together you build something which none of you could have built alone.

The Leeds Sustainability Jam involved a gathering of students and non-students from different areas of study, research, cultures and experiences. The design-based approach to creativity enabled everyone to participate in the discussion of sustainability and consider the environmental, social and economic aspects. Throughout the weekend the emphasis was on “not just talking but actually doing”. By the end of Sunday the teams had turned their ideas into concrete designs or plans of action which could be shared with the global design network and then realistically put into action the next day.

The resulting projects from the Leeds teams included “Be a good Bean”; a network of sustainably sourced local suppliers all connected by a cup, “The Food Experience”; a system of events making lunchtime an experience to enjoy, reconnecting people with the idea of food as being an experience in itself, and “Walk-in Wardrobe”; a university clothes sharing scheme, initially starting with jumpers, where people get to rethink their perception of fashion, consumerism and ownership.

It is now up to the teams to implement these projects across the University campus and local community!

For more information on the projects and the list of Sponsors follow the links:

BLOG: http://jaminleeds.tumblr.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/jaminleeds
TWITTER: @jamin_leeds

Colour survey

culture, fun, opinions/rants, , , , , , , , ,

personal care products-1
I am currently carrying out some research using an on-line questionnaire about colour choices by consumers in product design. It would really help me a lot if you would take the survey. It only takes about 1 minute to complete. The link is http://questionpro.com/t/AKSnxZP9ij. Please feel free to share this link.

In a few weeks when the survey is completed you can come back to this page and you can see more details about what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what we found.

Steve

Workshop in Wuhan

design, fun, knowledge, , , , , , , , , ,

Last week I went to Wuhan (China) where I was invited by the Department of Industrial Design at Huazhong University of Science and Technology to give a two-day workshop on colour and a lecture. In the workshop I asked the students to arrange a set of colour chips in a logical order. Here is the result.IMG_3666

IMG_3667

IMG_3668

Group 1
Group 1
Group 2
Group 2
Group 3
Group 3
Group 4
Group 4

The last four images show the final work by each of four groups. Group 3 were the best in my opinion. Of course, this task is difficult, if not impossible, in 2-d. Colour perception is at least 3-d and the dimensions are lightness, chroma and hue. The workshop task was designed to enable the groups to explore the ontology of colour perception. It was also good fun!!!

Colour blind Chelsea fans

culture, fun, opinions/rants, , , , , , , ,

Rafael Benitez has not exactly been the most popular appointment as Chelsea Manager. I can understand the Chelsea fans’ disappointment. I would be distraught if Benitez was brought in to head up the club I support. However, fair’s fair. This week Benitez was criticised by Chelsea fans for wearing a red tie rather than a blue one; red being the colour of Liverpool football club where Benitez used to manage and is perhaps suspected of still having loyal ties. However, as you can see from the photograph, he was clearing wearing an orange tie not a red one. What does this mean? Are Chelsea fans colour blind? All of them? Have a we discovered a new phenomenon? If anyone would like to fund research into colour vision of football fans please get in touch.
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