Faber Birren was born in Chicago, Illinois on 11 September 1900, the son of Joseph P. Birren, a landscape painter, and Crescentia (Lang) Birren, a pianist. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago while in high school and the University of Chicago for two years where he studied color theory.^[2]

He began publishing articles on color in 1924; his first book, Color in Vision was published in 1928.^[3]

In 1934 he established his own company and worked as an industrial color consultant, advising clients on the psychological effects of color on safety, employee morale, productivity and sales.^[3] His recommendations included changing wall and interior colors to reduce visual fatigue, and using bright colors on machinery to reduce accidents.^[3] DuPont, Monsanto, and General Electric were among his clients as well as the military.^[1]

He also wrote extensively on color, writing forty books and over 250 articles on the subject.^[2]

Birren died in Stamford, Connecticut on 30 December 1988 after a stroke.^[1]

Birren married Wanda Martin and they had two daughters, Zoe and Fay.^[1]

• Color in Vision (1928).
• The Printers Art of Color (1934). Chicago: Crimson Press.
• Functional Color (1937). New York: The Crimson Press.
• Color Psychology and Color Therapy (1950). New York: McGraw-Hill.
• New Horizons in Color (1955). New York: Reinhold Pub. Corp.
• Creative Color (1961). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
• Color in Your World (1962). New York: Crowell-Collier Publishing Co.
• Color: A Survey in Words and Pictures, from Ancient Mysticism to Modern Science (1963). New York: University Books.
• History of Color in Painting (1965). New York: Reinhold Pub. Corp. lccn 64-22424
• Principles of Color: A Review of Past Traditions and Modern Theories of Color Harmony (1969). Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 9780442207748
• Ostwald: The Color Primer (1969). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
• Color and Human Response (1978). Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 9780442207878
• The Textile Colorist (1980). Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 9780442238544
• Light, Color, and Environment (1982) Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 9780442212704
• Color Perception in Art (1986). Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 9780442207823
• The Symbolism of Color (1988). Citadel. ISBN 9780806511092
• Light, Color, and Environment (1988). Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 9780887401312
• The Elements of Color: A Treatise on the Color System of Johannes Itten Based on His Book The Art of Color (1970). Johannes Itten, and Faber Birren. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442240384
• The Principles of Light and Color: The Classic Study of the Healing Power of Color (1967) by Edwin D. Babbitt; edited and annotated by Faber Birren. New York; University Books.

In 1971, Birren donated nearly two hundred books about color, many of them rare, to the Yale University Library. He also established an endowment for color research.^[2]

• Faber Birren color-circle
• Review of The Principles of Light and Color