Why is the world losing color?

May I make a case for brown?

- Brown is an extremely warm color, and sucks up all of the ugly blues from unnatural light sources

- Brown pairs well with all sorts of shades and colors, just like the millennial gray and white tones

- Brown can come in all sorts of shades and vibrancies, but is not as stimulating as other colors

- Brown hides dirt, scuffs, and stains extremely well

Humans have spent most of our history being very familiar with the color brown in our natural world. I moved from a modern home (everything in white and grays) and into a 1920s brown home with brown-beige walls and all of its original brown wood accents and fixtures. And then I stuffed it with brown furniture. Not only is it beautiful and cozy, I swear that this was the first year I didn't suffer from seasonal affective disorder in a long time.

"Hides dirt" is a disadvantage to many. Especially somewhere public.

We famously had "The Brown Era" in video game art direction for a while, maybe 2005-2010. Most people claimed they hated it.

It may be called the "brown era", but it had more to do with desaturated, monochrome palettes in general (to this article's point) and muddy textures.

Brown and all its hues is very underappreciated color.

Reminds me of the "ugliest color"[1], the brown Pantone 448 C, selected for use on tobacco products in an attempt to dissuade purchase. However it turned out to be quite nice looking on packages[2], and at last here in Norway lead to no measurable decrease in sales[3].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone_448_C

[2]: https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/ddB3zq/designekspertene-elsker-d...

[3]: https://www.nrk.no/nordland/fhi_-ny-design-pa-roykpakker-og-...

Ironically Quake was like that in 1996, and, partially, Deus Ex.

I figure Earth tones will make a comeback at some point, but it will need a different style than the cream and travertine tan colors of the late 90s and 2000s. In 2025, new homes in my area are still built with the white/grey/black palette.