If you happen to come across this question, you can assume that it will be a weird combination. Nevertheless, color mixing is fun, and you can discover a lot of colors and learn many things about each color. Read the article if you want to learn about the resulting color of the combination of purple and green, but first, let’s examine the two colors that make it.  Green is a secondary color that has soothing qualities. It is a color somewhere in the middle of the color of the visible light spectrum. The color is often associated with life, nature, calmness, safety, money, and jealousy. It is one of the recognizable colors, along with blue and red.  Purple is another secondary color that has an ambiguous quality on it. It is a synthetic color that doesn’t appear in the visible light spectrum. The color is always associated with royalty, wealth, status, luxury, androgyny, counter-cultures, drugs, poison, spirituality, and magic. The color is often confused interchangeably with violet, which has a different meaning.  If you combine these two secondary colors, you will get a Brown. In paint pigments, however, mixing these two colors will get you a muddy shade of gray. 

What is Brown?

Brown is a compound color made by combining red, black, and yellow in the CMYK model. It is a color that is prevalent in nature and has many associations in cultures around the world.  The word brown is derived from the Old English word brun to refer to any dark shade color. The word is also meant to refer to any dark color that shines or glistens; hence it is also where the English word varnish came from. 

Cultural Associations

The color brown is used since prehistoric times. In the caves of Lascaux, France, prehistoric people used various brown shades in most of their cave art to depict animals and their activities. The prehistoric people used a clay pigment of manganese oxide and iron oxide to create brown paint used in their cave paintings.  During ancient times, Egyptian tomb paintings depict humans with brown skin. Greeks and Romans used a pigment called sepia as a background in their vases to emphasize black-colored figures depicting their mythological characters.  In medieval times, the color brown is associated with the poor class and the commoners. The commoners used coarse cloth and dyed it with woad and madder to create a russet color. The monks wear robes in russet brown and sometimes gray as a symbol of humility and poverty.  In Renaissance art, Leonardo da Vinci used a paint pigment called sepia obtained in cuttlefish in most of his written works and drawings. The paint is also adapted by many painters in this era, one of these is Rembrandt, who employed a [aints of sienna and umber for his chiaroscuro effect paintings.  In science and nature, brown has been a prevalent color in nature, from soil, animal skin, trunks of trees. In the human body and genetics, brown eyes are a common eye color in the world. In contrast, brown hair is a secondary abundant color in many populations, only secondary to black, which is the most dominant hair color globally.   In the modern world, the color brown represents natural and organic, brown paper bags are commonly used around the world to replace plastic bags in response to the campaign for a more sustainable and organic future. In grains, brown rice, sugar, and bread are used than white variants for people who prefer organic and natural products. 

Color Psychology

The color brown has always been associated with earth and its many qualities. It represents stability, assurance, and resilience. The quality of stones and soil associated with this color, the hardness, and the endurance to erosion is well represented. The brown gives a sense of returning to nature and respecting its ability to provide and sustain material wealth and minerals. It is correlated with structure and natural order, recognizing the power of nature and its processes of cycles of decay and renewal. When paired with green, the effect is organic and full of life.  It also represents humility, trust, and responsibility. The color may affect seriousness and ruggedness, but it’s the positive connotation of a sense of trust and being dependable that precedes its chromatic effect. It is hardworking, trustworthy, honest, and sincere; the color represents the low-income class workers who work hard to provide for their families. Brown is also associated with maturity and the crystallization of self-identity. It is also tolerant, yielding, and does not like to be the center of attention. It is very shy and quiet but true and loyal. The color brown is like that one of our friends who we overlooked but stayed in the background and supported us even though our attention is with someone else. 

Use of the Color

The color brown is one of the least favorite colors globally, yet it is the most abundant color in nature. The color brown has a bad reputation for looking cheap and being too serious about being used in many applications, but knowing the right colors to pair it with will ensure you that this color can be an asset to your design.  It is a color not commonly used in graphic design, but it is certainly a winner in its own right. Bown is perfect on advertisements that represent the all-natural, all organic, and sustainability movement. For products that are honest and natural, lighter browns can be used to highlight the organic effect. For posters, banners, and product labels, pair them with the color green to the products that promote vegetarianism. The color can also be used to signify nostalgia and classical antiquity in graphic design. Use it on projects that highlight these concepts.  In interior design, the color brown is well used in rustic interiors, especially the kitchen Bown; colored organic pieces and cloths can add a warm note to Scandinavian minimalist modern interior space’s starkness. Rattan and wicker baskets are perfect for a more organic look in a modern home or office. Play it with the indoor vegetation and traditional art pieces that can give an eclectic bohemian rustic touch to your living room or bedroom.