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Colour theory made easy

... RAL, HKS, NCS, CMYK & Co. - an overview ...

When it comes to the colouring of products, there are very different possibilities for the exact definition of different colour tones. The colour system to be used is always related to the corresponding application, which has the disadvantage that some colours cannot be transferred exactly to all media. Thus, in the course of time, the most diverse colour systems have become established in the most diverse areas.

It becomes problematic when standards, e.g. from the printing sector, are applied to the surface design of different materials and vice versa.

For powder coating, for example (as a durable and robust type of surface colouring) of sheet steel and aluminium, among other things for displays and snap frames, as well as for the exact colour standardisation of paints and varnishes, the RAL standard(Reichs-Ausschuß für Lieferbedingungen) has established itself as the most important colour catalogue for the unification of industrial colour standards. The colour collection "Classic" with its 213 colour tones is the most frequently used version, supplemented in the meantime by the systems "Design" and "Effect", which now contain 1625 and 490 colour tones respectively.

HKS, NCS, CMYK - more information on this topic will follow soon.

Best regards from Cologne,

Yours, Rolf Göpfert