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RAL is a colour management system used in Europe that is created and administered by the German RAL gGmbH [de] (RAL non-profit LLC), which is a subsidiary of the German RAL Institute [de]. In colloquial speech, RAL refers to the RAL Classic system, mainly used for varnish and powder coating, but now plastics as well. Approved RAL products are provided with a hologram to make unauthorised versions difficult to produce. Imitations may show different hue and colour when observed under various light sources.

RAL colour space system

RAL Classic

In 1927, the German group Reichs-Ausschuß für Lieferbedingungen (Imperial Committee for Delivery and Quality Assurance) invented a collection of forty colours under the name of "RAL 840". Prior to that date, manufacturers and customers had to exchange samples to describe a tint, whereas from then on they would rely on numbers.

In the 1930s, the numbers were changed uniformly to four digits and the collection was renamed to "RAL 840 R" (R for revised). Around 1940, the RAL colours were changed to the four-digit system, as is customary. Army camouflage colours were always recognized by a "7" or "8" in the first place until 1944. With tints constantly added to the collection, it was revised again in 1961 and changed to "RAL 840-HR", which consists of 210 colours and is in use to this day. In the 1960s, the colours were given supplemental names to avoid confusion in case of transposed digits. At the international furnishing fair imm Cologne, 13-19 January 2020, two new colours were presented in the Classic Collection:   RAL 2017 RAL orange and   RAL 9012 Cleanroom White.

"RAL 840-HR" covered only matte paint, so the 1980s saw the invention of "RAL 841-GL" for glossy surfaces, limited to 193 colours. A main criterion for colours in the RAL Classic collection is to be of "paramount interest". Therefore, most of the colours in it are used on warning and traffic signs or are dedicated to government agencies and public services (for example:   RAL 1004 - Swiss Postal Service,   RAL 1021 - Austrian Postal Service,   RAL 1032 - German Postal Service). The first digit relates to the shade of the colour:

RAL F9

This collection, which follows the naming of RAL Classic, was invented in 1984. It is now made up of ten colours (  RAL 1039-F9 Sand beige,   RAL 1040-F9 Clay beige,   RAL 6031-F9 Bronze green,   RAL 6040-F9 Light olive,   RAL 7050-F9 Camouflage grey,   RAL 8027-F9 Leather brown,   RAL 8031-F9 Sand brown,   RAL 9021-F9 Tar black and   RAL 6031-F9 HR Bronze green semi-matt) used by the Bundeswehr for military camouflage coating.

RAL Design

In 1993 a new colour matching system was introduced, tailored to the needs of architects, designers and advertisers. It started with 1,688 colours and was revised to 1,625 colours and again to 1,825 colours. The colours of RAL Classic and RAL Design do not intersect.

Contrary to the preceding systems, RAL Design features no names and its numbering follows a scheme based on the CIELAB colour space, specifically cylindrical CIEHLC. Each colour is represented by seven digits, grouped in a triple and two pairs, representing hue (000–360 degrees, angle in the CIELab colour wheel), lightness (same as in L*a*b*) and chroma (relative saturation). The three numeric components of almost all RAL Design colours are multiples of 5, the majority are divisible by 10.

Conversion from RAL Design number tuple to CIELAB

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{RAL}}_{\text{Design}}&=\left(h_{ab}^{\circ },L^{*},C_{ab}^{*}\right)\\a^{*}&=C_{ab}^{*}\cdot \cos \left(h_{ab}^{\circ }\right)\\b^{*}&=C_{ab}^{*}\cdot \sin \left(h_{ab}^{\circ }\right)\end{aligned}}}$

  RAL 210 50 15 converts to L* = 50, a* = −12.99, b* = −7.5, for instance.

RAL Effect

RAL Effect comprises 420 solid colours and seventy metallic colours. It is the first collection from RAL to be based on waterborne paint systems.

RAL Digital

RAL Digital is software that allows designers to navigate the RAL colour space.

See also

• Colour chart, other colour systems and charts
• Federal Standard 595
• Natural Colour System
• Pantone

References

1. "Imprint". RAL Farben. Archived from the original on 6 Jun 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
2. "RAL Colours history". Retrieved 15 June 2016.
3. "RAL Historie" (PDF). Retrieved 15 June 2016.
4. "RAL COLOURS at imm cologne 2020 – The international furnishing fair". ral-farben.de. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
5. "The RAL CLASSIC Colour Collection". Retrieved 15 June 2016.
6. "How is the RAL CLASSIC colour collection structured?". Archived from the original on 9 Aug 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
7. "RAL F9". Retrieved 15 June 2016.
8. "Does RAL CLASSIC include the camouflage colours of Germany's Armed Forces?". Archived from the original on 28 Oct 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
9. "Overview of all RAL Design colours". Archived from the original on Nov 30, 2020.

External links

• Official website

v t e Colour space
List of colour spaces Colour models
CAM	CIECAM02 iCAM CAM16 CIECAM16
CIE	XYZ (1931) RGB (1931) YUV (1960) UVW (1964) CIELAB (1976) CIELUV (1976) CIECAM02 CIECAM16
RGB	RGB color spaces sRGB rg chromaticity Adobe Wide-gamut ProPhoto scRGB DCI-P3 Rec. 601 SMPTE 240M/"C" Rec. 709 Rec. 2020 Rec. 2100
Y′UV	YUV PAL YDbDr SECAM YIQ NTSC YCbCr Rec. 601 Rec. 709 Rec. 2020 Rec. 2100 ICtCp Rec. 2100 YPbPr MAC xvYCC YCoCg
Other	CcMmYK CMYK ColorADD Coloroid LMS Hexachrome HSL, HSV HCL Imaginary colour Oklab OSA-UCS PCCS RG RYB HWB YJK TSL
Colour systems and standards	ACES ANPA Colour Index International CI list of dyes DIC Federal Standard 595 HKS ICC profile ISCC–NBS Munsell NCS Ostwald Pantone RAL list JIS Z8102 [ja]
For the vision capacities of organisms or machines, see  Colour vision.

v t e Colour topics
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Colour philosophy	Colour scheme Colour tool Monochromatic colours black-and-white Complementary colours Analogous colours Achromatic colours (Neutral) Polychromatic colours Light-on-dark Web colours Tinctures in heraldry Colour theory Colour mixing Primary colour Secondary colour Chromaticity Colour solid Colour wheel Colour triangle Colour analysis (fashion) Colour realism (art style) On Vision and Colours (Schopenhauer) Theory of Colours (Goethe)
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Colour organisations	Pantone Color Marketing Group Color Association of the United States International Colour Authority International Commission on Illumination (CIE) International Colour Consortium International Colour Association
Names	Lists List of colours: A–F List of colours: G–M List of colours: N–Z List of colours (compact) List of colours by shade List of colour palettes List of colour spaces List of Crayola crayon colours history Colour chart List of RAL colours List of web colours Shades of: Red Orange Yellow Green Cyan Blue Violet Purple Magenta Pink Brown White Gray Black
Related	Vision Contrast Qualia Lighting
Category Index

• RAL color standard
• Color space
• Standards of Germany
• 1927 in the arts
• 1927 introductions
• Color organizations
• Color schemes
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• German inventions