The Colour Brown
Brown is a tertiary colour, composed mostly of darkened yellow, sometimes red hues, mixed with some green. Many colours – once combined – result in a brown tone. That´s why the colour brown covers a good part of the visible spectrum.
Dried Coffee Cherries | photo: (cc-by-sa) Frank Fox
Associations
Brown is down-home, persistent and solid, but also warm and cuddly. We often associate brown with tasty, aromatic coffee or sweet chocolate.
Recycled Paper Bag – Vintage Style | photo: (cc-by-sa) Frank Fox
But there are also negative associations, like stupidity, a slow mind, dirt or humiliation. Often it just depends on the exact hue, since brown nuances cover a very wide spectrum and each tone can awaken different feelings.
Roasting Coffee Beans From Khe Sanh | photo: (cc-by-sa) Frank Fox
Brown as colour for designs
Brown is in a quite bad position in the list of favourite colours. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I picked brown as my favourite colour because I did not have to “share” it with others.
Cows in Danang | photo: (cc-by-sa) Frank Fox
Yet, if you manage to pick the right nuance and combination, you can express all the positive aspects. Aromatic, spicy, cuddly, fertility – woody (no dreadful tin sort of things).
Brown also can be used to turn sterile, cold white into a pleasing creamy white hue.
Pine Forest Langbiang | photo: (cc-by-sa) Frank Fox
- The colour brown is steadfast, aromatic, spicy and sweet
- It refers to dirt and the fertile soil
- Coffee, chocolate, crispy bread
- Wood and woody colours make the home a warm and cosy place
- Often brown refers to poverty, because dyes were quite expensive in medieval times. Cowls of the Franciscan monks for example.
- Brown is ranking quite low on the list of favourite colours
- Yet brown covers pretty much of the spectrum, for most warm colours turn brown when darkened or mixed
- Brown is the classic camouflage colour in the animal kingdom
