Monday, 23 September 2013

Colour, Appearance is Perception

From the age of 2 my son might request a ‘Toby chocolate’.  What he’s asking for may bemuse anyone else but it’s crystal clear when you live here.  Toby, a lesser known friend of Thomas the Tank Engine, resides in one of the sheds alongside his pals on this mug and we’ve fallen into a pattern of only serving hot (tepid) chocolate in it! 

How many ‘grown-ups’ are stressed by children requesting a certain colour beaker, getting upset when their drink is delivered in something else?   And yet, we do it. 

It won’t surprise you to know that there has been some research into this very subject:

As the article says, ‘Lovers of hot chocolate may say that ingredients are the key to a truly satisfying drink’.  Apparently this is not entirely true, researchers have revealed that using an orange-coloured cup is the best way to enjoy the beverage!’

Their findings could explain why we prefer to drink tea or coffee from our favourite mug.

From a selection of 57 volunteers, using 4 possible different coloured plastic mugs, researchers found that people said hot chocolate tasted better when served in an orange or cream coloured cup than in a red or white one.

From my personal selection of more than 20 mugs, yet again I reach for one of my 2 or 3 favourites.   It does make me feel, almost imperceptibly, better drinking out of one of ‘my’ mugs, than the children’s Thomas mug, car mug or the chipped one.  It is also a combination of shape with appearance – it has to look right AND feel right when I hold it. 
 

 
In fact, head over to the internet and type in ‘hug mug’ and a whole range of options come up, which you can just imagine drinking out of!

The wisdom of children is so often overlooked or discounted but maybe we should apply this learning to our wardrobes.  Taking more notice of how our clothes make us look and feel, the impact they have on our experience and mood, might help us to pay more attention to establishing, using and developing a wardrobe of clothes that supports us as individuals.



 

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