We give strong unconscious reactions to different colours, therefore - knowingly or unknowingly - we are bombarded by "colour-coded" stimuli many times a day. I have a passion for colours since my very early teenage years. I even aspired to be an artist for a while, but then I finally chose psychology and for several years after graduation I was involved in a research dealing with the symbolism of colours. In this series, I would like to share this passion with you by having a closer look at the meaning of one colour at a time.

After exploring the meaning of red, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple, we continue our journey with the warmest "neutral" colour, brown, which is a composite colour (in painting you can make it by mixing red, black and yellow, in projection by mixing green and red lights).

Brown is comfortable

In classic psychology brown represents all of the bodily senses and relates directly to the physical body. Brown is often preferred by people with an increased need for comfort, security and stability, therefore this colour represents physical comfort - a convenient home, delicious food and loyal companionship.

Just imagine sipping a cup of nice, warm coffee in the morning in a comfortable brown armchair, looking at the logs in the fireplace in a room with a cosy wooden floor ... Homeliness everywhere.

Brown is a welcoming colour, so it is a good choice for home furniture and decoration. Too much brown on the other hand can be dull and boring, therefore in interior design brown is usually combined with intensive colours such as orange to create a friendly, yet "spicy" atmosphere. (My own living room also has brown, orange and beige as predominant colours and I really love it.)

Brown is stable

Being an earthy colour, brown is frequently associated with material security and material possessions. This is a reliable and approachable colour suggesting endurance, duty and stability.

One of the biggest and best-known financial institutions in the world, J.P. Morgan uses brown because of its associations with stability and reliability. Over the years, their logo has remained timeless thanks to the "serious" shade of brown and the conventional serif font.

Brown is simple

Sir Winston Churchill once said "I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns."

Brown does not seek attention, it's rather a colour of simplicity, this is why many associate cheapness and poorness with it in certain circumstances.

Brown is regarded as a neutral color, although the lighter shades such as beige and cream tend to work better on a background than the darker shades of brown. These light browns are often used in design and fashion, too.

Nowadays brown is a common symbol in western culture for simple, inexpensive, natural and healthy. Just think of the brown paper bags of supermarkets, they became quite common. Or another example can be brown bread and brown sugar; these are viewed as more natural and healthy than their white counterparts.

With its connection to the outdoor and down-to-earth activities, brown is a perfect choice for businesses promoting outdoor products and services. Landscaping and farming businesses also frequently use brown, as well as producers of wholesome and organic products.

What does brown tell about you…

If you choose brown as your favourite colour, you are probably an introverted person, who prefers to "melt in the crowd" and tries to avoid limelight. You have a tendency suppress your emotions at times, only those very close to you may know your deepest thoughts.
You are practical and down-to-earth with both feet planted firmly on the ground. You are a rational thinker. You think twice before giving away any money, you don't like to spend on unnecessary things.
You probably have a keen sense of duty and responsibility - you take your obligations very seriously, therefore you are a very reliable family member and a loyal partner. You have a strong need for security and belonging to a supportive partner.
You like physical comfort, simplicity and quality. You do everything with restraint, you hardly ever lose your head.

Brown in different cultures

• In Ancient Rome, usually people of the lower classes or barbarians wore brown clothes. The term for the plebeians (urban poor) was "pullati", which can be translated as "those dressed in brown".
• In the Middle Ages monks of the Franciscan order wore a very typical brown robe as a sign of humility and poverty.
• In the 1920s, brown was the uniform colour of the Nazi Party in Germany. The paramilitary organization (Sturmabteilung or SA) were also known as the brownshirts, moreover the national headquarters of the Nazi party, in Munich, was also called the Brown House. The choice of this colour for their uniforms was originally a practical decision, as a large number of war-surplus brown uniforms from Germany's former colonial forces in Africa were cheaply available in the 1920s. It also suited the working-class and military images that the Party wished to convey.
• In India, brown is the colour of mourning because it resembles dying leaves.
• The Japanese do not have a word for brown, so they use more descriptive names such as "tea-color," "fox-color," and "fallen-leaf."
• For American Indians the colour brown means the power of self-discipline.

Interesting facts about brown

• Artists before the 17th and 18th century didn't really like brown, they preferred more vibrant colours. Caravaggio and Rembrandt Van Rijn were the first painters to use browns predominantly to create a special effect, where the subject appeared out of the darkness. Rembrandt also added umber to the ground layers of his paintings because it made the painting drying faster. Rembrandt started to use new shade of brown pigment, called Cologne earth made of organic components. It was later used by Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, and became known as Van Dyck brown.
• Mummy brown was a pigment used in oil paints made from ground Egyptian mummies. Anecdotes say that a painter once learned the fact that his brown oil dye was produced by burning human bodies and he was so shocked that he ran out to the garden to bury all his tubes containing that colour.
• Brown is probably the least liked colour: a survey showed that brown was chosen as the favourite colour of only one percent of respondents.
  *Pullman Brown is the colour of the United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery company. It was earlier the colour of Pullman rail cars (this is where the name comes from) and was adopted by UPS both because brown is easy to keep clean, and due to the associations of luxury that the Pullman brand evoked. UPS has filed two trademarks on the colour to prevent other shipping companies from using the it. In advertisements, UPS refers to itself as "Brown" ("What can Brown do for you?").
• NFL team Cleveland Browns was named after Paul Brown, the team's founder.
• Brown is associated with the Earth Star Chakra that is located about a foot and a half below the surface of the ground. It is responsible for our physical well-being and connects us to the grounding energies of the earth. It can also play a role in any DNA-related or hereditary issues.

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If you are interested, here you can read the previous parts in this series:

Introduction
Fiery Red
Cool Blue
Golden Yellow
Forest Green
Vivid Orange
Royal Purple
Baby Pink
Mesmerizing Turquoise
Ordinary Grey

Literature used

• Max Lüscher: "The Lüscher Colour Test", Remarkable Test That Reveals Your Personality Through Color
• Victoria Finlay: Colour: Travels Through The Paint Box published in North America as Color: A Natural History of the Palette
• Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur; effets et symboliques. Editions Pyramid (2009)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown
• http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-brown.html
• http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-brown.html
• http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/brown-in-business.html
• https://www.fatrabbitcreative.com/blog/psychology-of-the-color-brown-and-what-it-means-for-your-business
• http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-brown-4365#.WmycFiOZOqA
• http://karenhaller.co.uk/blog/colour-psychology-the-meaning-of-brown/
• http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/soul-star-earth-star-chakras/

Sources of pictures

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