Free talks on colour in sport: the red effect, colour blind inclusion and gendered sneaker design. 3 Dec, Northumbria University.

Colour & Sport: Does Red Still Win?

Does the colour you wear change how you play, how you’re judged, or whether you can take part at all? Join us for a free public evening of talks exploring colour in sport, from the science of the red effect to the realities of colour blindness and the gendered colours of sneaker design.

Three speakers will each give a short talk, followed by time for questions and discussion. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, teacher, club representative, designer, researcher or simply a sports fan, you’re warmly invited.

The talks

Does Red Still Win? Re-evaluating claims on red and winning in combat sports: Professor Thomas Pollet (Northumbria University)

Does wearing red help you win? In 2005, a study of the Athens Olympics made international headlines. Boxers, wrestlers and taekwondo fighters in red won more often than their opponents in blue, especially in close bouts. Two decades on, does this effect still hold? Working together with the researchers behind the original study, we analysed data from seven Olympic Games and nine World Boxing Championships. Overall, we found little support for a "red effect”. However, there may be some suggestion that, prior to 2005, there may be an advantage to contestants in red in close contests. We discuss some reasons for the presence or absence of colour effects.

Title TBC: Dr Adam Bibbey (Oxford Brookes)

Colour blindness is far more common than many people realise, yet colour is built into sport, from kits and bibs to pitches and scoreboards. This talk introduces the background to colour blindness, explains how it can affect sporting life, and presents the latest research from Oxford Brookes, before offering guidance on creating inclusive environments that help colour blind players, coaches and spectators take part and overcome the challenges they face.

From “pink it and shrink it” to the “mushy middle”: how the sneaker industry continues to get gender wrong in colour design: Kel Jackson (Royal College of Art)

Pink on One Side, Blue on the Other: Colour Design Beyond the Binary

Historically, sneaker design was built around men, creating a culture where male users are prioritised and women users are the exception. This is made visible through a practice known as “pink it and shrink it,” where women’s sneakers are often constructed by scaling down the men’s version and using colour to mark the divide between men and women. In stores, it becomes a wall of pastels, pinks and sparkles facing a wall of blue, red, grey and black. At a time when people beyond the binary are more visible, and face growing political opposition, designers want to include them, and are asking how to approach colour design beyond the binary. Yet when design cultures stay organised around the binary, the result, for the colour designers in my research, is what they described as the “mushy middle”: pink on one side, blue on the other, and whatever is left over for everyone else. Drawing on my PhD at the Royal College of Art, including a study of three years of sneaker “best of” lists, this talk argues for a different starting point: designing for users as a gender mosaic, and using curiosity and storytelling to make room for people who express themselves in many ways, whether or not they match the binary.

Description supplied by the event organiser.