The Color Psychology of Brown

The Color Psychology of Brown Theories Cognitive Psychology Print The Color Psychology of Brown By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on February 01, 2020 More in Theories Cognitive Psychology Behavioral Psychology Developmental Psychology Personality Psychology Social Psychology Biological Psychology Psychosocial Psychology Notice how brown is used in the image below. How does brown make you feel? Do you associate brown with certain qualities or situations? According to color psychology, colors can evoke psychological reactions and influence how people feel and behave. Brown tends to feel like a solid, earthy color, but it can sometimes seem drab and boring. Light browns such as beige are often used as neutrals in design and fashion. While they can provide a conservative and traditional backdrop, these shades are often perceived as dull. Illustration by Cindy Chung, Verywell Color Psychology Characteristics of BrownBrown is a natural color that evokes a sense of strength and reliability. Its often seen as solid, much like the earth, and its a color often associated with resilience, dependability, security, and safety.Brown can also create feelings of loneliness,  sadness, and isolation. In large quantities, it can seem vast, stark, and empty, like an enormous desert devoid of life.Brown brings to mind feelings of warmth, comfort, and security. Its often described as natural, down-to-earth, and conventional, but brown can also be sophisticated.Darker colors like brown tend to be associated with more negative emotions.?? Brown in Feng Shui In feng  shui, a system of harmonizing your environment, each color correlates to a specific feng shui element. Brown represents either wood if its dark and rick or earth if its light.?? Though it has an energetic, nurturing quality, brown should be used sparingly in your decorating and be well balanced with other colors to avoid a lack of ambition and drive. Blue is a good color to combine with brown because of the earth-water harmony. Brown in Marketing Color plays an important part in the psychology of marketing and branding and can influence peoples perception of a brands personality. Its more important to pick a color that supports the personality of your brand than it is to try to instill certain feelings in potential customers since everyone has different experiences and opinions. In branding and marketing, brown is associated with reliability, dependability, and nurturing. Popular brands that use brown in their logos and marketing include UPS, Hersheys, Cotton, Edys, J.P. Morgan,  and MMs. A Preference for Brown While there are generalities we can make about colors and what people associate with them, colors and our affinity toward them have a lot to do with our personalities, upbringing, environment, and experiences. One recent study on how adults perceive color according to the topic showed that more females than males chose brown as their overall favorite color, but it was still one of the three least favorite colors for both genders.?? However, when it comes to clothing, brown was chosen as the fifth favorite color out of 18 total colors, including no preference. Brown was the second color choice for both men and women for their living rooms and the fourth choice for their bedrooms.