Colourissima Study by Dr Burkitt
and University of Chichester
and University of Chichester
Colourissima Study by Dr Burkitt and University of Chichester
Dr Esther Burkitt is a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Chichester. Esther graduated with an honours degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology from the University of Oxford in 1995, an honorary MSc in Psychology from the University of Oxford in 2000 and was awarded her PhD examining expressive aspects of children’s drawings from the University of Surrey in 2000. She is a Chartered Psychologist, a Chartered Scientist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Dr Esther Burkitt
Lelli Kelly contacted Dr Esther Burkitt to analyse in practice the meaning and purposes of the Colourissima project, the first example of “interactive” school shoes characterised by some colourable and interchangeable straps that little girls can colour in, providing parents with a simple and immediate indication of their mood and feelings.
Dr Burkitt was immediately very interested and decided to realise a specific study on Lelli Kelly Colourissima shoes. This study was dedicated to 11 girls between 5 and 8 years old and their mums, who participated in a project to see how the girls’ feelings corresponded to their choices of colours to colour in the hearts-shaped accessories of the Lelli Kelly Colourissima shoe. The girls coloured in the hearts and the colours they used were noted. The girls reported that they felt very excited and happy at the time. The mums were asked about their daughters’ feelings in general and in their lives around the time of the activity to assess the applicability of emotional characteristics often associated with colour choices by girls in childhood with the colours they used to colour in the hearts. The feelings that the mums reported as applying to their girls overall and at the time of taking part in the activity corresponded well with the feelings that specific colours choices can be associated with in childhood and also corresponded well with the emotional characteristics summarised in the Lelli Kelly emotion descriptors. Whilst we cannot draw causal conclusions from this activity, it can be suggested that the emotions associated with colour choices in childhood may be reflected in the girls’ colour choices for the Lelli Kelly hearts. In the present project, the feelings often associated with colour references in childhood were indicated for red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise/light blue, blue, purple and pink most clearly in the present project.
You can download the whole study by Dr Esther Burkitt clicking here below:
Click here to find out more on Colourissima project.
Click here to find out more on Dr Esther Burkitt.
Lelli Kelly contacted Dr Esther Burkitt to analyse in practice the meaning and purposes of the Colourissima project, the first example of “interactive” school shoes characterised by some colourable and interchangeable straps that little girls can colour in, providing parents with a simple and immediate indication of their mood and feelings.
Dr Burkitt was immediately very interested and decided to realise a specific study on Lelli Kelly Colourissima shoes. This study was dedicated to 11 girls between 5 and 8 years old and their mums, who participated in a project to see how the girls’ feelings corresponded to their choices of colours to colour in the hearts-shaped accessories of the Lelli Kelly Colourissima shoe. The girls coloured in the hearts and the colours they used were noted. The girls reported that they felt very excited and happy at the time. The mums were asked about their daughters’ feelings in general and in their lives around the time of the activity to assess the applicability of emotional characteristics often associated with colour choices by girls in childhood with the colours they used to colour in the hearts. The feelings that the mums reported as applying to their girls overall and at the time of taking part in the activity corresponded well with the feelings that specific colours choices can be associated with in childhood and also corresponded well with the emotional characteristics summarised in the Lelli Kelly emotion descriptors. Whilst we cannot draw causal conclusions from this activity, it can be suggested that the emotions associated with colour choices in childhood may be reflected in the girls’ colour choices for the Lelli Kelly hearts. In the present project, the feelings often associated with colour references in childhood were indicated for red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise/light blue, blue, purple and pink most clearly in the present project.
You can download the whole study by Dr Esther Burkitt clicking here below:
