There’s more to colours than just red, green and blue. The human eye, for instance, can distinguish between approximately 10 million different hues. It would certainly be impossible to give them all a name: we have enough problems making ourselves understood when it comes to simple shades. At the end of the day, everybody defines descriptions such as light yellow or bright orange in a slightly different way.
Since 1927, RAL Colours has standardised an abundance of colours and created a common language for identifying them. With sometimes flowery descriptions such as Broom Yellow (the colour of the German Post Office) or Pearl Blackberry, the institute – formerly known as the State Commission for Delivery Terms – conveys a clear visual impression of the colour in question. In its role as a mediator between industry and retail, for instance, RAL introduced colour identification codes. The colours can thus be clearly identified on the basis of fan decks, dispensing with the need for manufacturers to supply colour samples.
The family of existing systems – Classic, Effect, Design and Digital – has now been joined by RAL Plastics, an independent colour standard created in response to demand from the plastics-processing industry. By means of a complex technical process, the 100 most popular shades from the Classic collection have been translated into a dedicated plastics standard.
