The article talks about the international color standard RAL (RAL), its appearance, development, use and its features today. Who invented it? What new has this standard brought to our lives? How does he make our life easier? In what areas it is used, applied and improved. What is RAL? Is it useful? Can we use it in our daily lives? We tried to find even variations of different color names in the RAL palette. Here is our article about this.
Why the RAL scale was introduced
It is hard to imagine something more subjective than sensation. And color is no exception. The name of the flowers is traditionally different, even for artists and web designers. What is RAL and how was it developed?
Standardization is an integral element of technological progress, designed to regulate production. Expansion of production is inevitably associated with the adoption of standards. Therefore, in 1927, RAL was first introduced - the German color standard. It was developed at the request of manufacturers of varnishes and paints faced with this problem. That is why all industrial production, for which the correct selection of the color gamut is important (paint and varnish, plastic production, etc.), know very well what RAL is. Standardization allows, first of all, to speak the same language and understand each other to manufacturers in different countries, because instead of a complex, long and often obscure definition of color, certain letters and numbers are introduced. Standardization of the color gamut includes hue, brightness and intensity.
The first appearance of RAL
RAL was first developed by the German State Committee for the conditions of supply. In accordance with it, all colors were divided into ranges, a specific color received an unambiguous digital index. Since then, this company (Reichsausschuß für Lieferbedingungen und Gütesicherung) has been continuously developing and introducing complementary colors as the market requires. The explanations, which are additionally given at the same time, establish full clarity in color issues, which is necessary for many industries. The universal color designation system developed by RAL is the language of communication in many industrial fields to clarify color shades and their intensity.
RAL scales in the world today
RAL CLASSIC, RAL Design, RAL Digital, RAL Effect, RAL Plastics, RAL Books - today in the world several scales (color collections) are used.
What is RAL now? The latest RAL standard includes many colors and shades. The table shows only the most commonly used colors. The table is for reference only, as the colors displayed may differ from the actual colors from the RAL catalog.
RAL CLASSIC scale
It has been the benchmark since 1927. Today it consists of 213 colors, including yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green, gray, brown, light and dark colors. Of these, 17 are metallic, that is, with a metallic sheen. So, the color ral 9003 is a signal white, or very white. This collection, which has already become classic, finds use in a wide variety of industries and areas of production: from architectural objects and interiors of dwellings to the design of clothes, shoes and printing products.
RAL Design Scale
The year this scale appeared was 1993. Initially, the scale included 1688 shades, later it was limited to 1625 shades. The scale is systematized for professionals involved in design. Its developers took into account the tone, brightness and degree of color saturation, simplified the selection of partner colors for various color schemes. The colors were numbered according to the hue values (brightness and saturation were also taken into account) with seven-digit numbers. In 2017, a new palette appeared - RAL Design, consisting of 1,625 units of color shades.
RAL Digital
RAL Digital is an additional version of layouts. It is used by designers when working with programs that include automatic design systems. This software version gives access to the names of shades and colors from the Classic, Effect and Design collections.
In 2015, the RAL Digital lineup introduced the latest reader (colorimeter), capable of detecting colors from virtually any surface and selecting the right shade in RAL catalogs. The colorimeter also has a number of auxiliary parts and devices, including a digital magnifier and many other important industrial colorimetry functions today.
Ral effect
To meet the needs of industry, RAL in 2007 released an additional collection of matte and glossy shades, 420 and 70 units, respectively. The former are intended for water-based paints, the latter for metallized coatings. The numbering includes three digits of tone and the letter M for metallic and X for water based paints.
Ral plastics
Specifically for plastic products, RAL has released a new standard catalog based on the classic color version. It includes 100 of the most sought-after colors of classical design, made in polypropylene rectangular standards.
RAL Books
RAL specialists, together with Global Color Research (Great Britain), compile annuals for professional designers, which include sets of consistent color ratios from the complete color scale of all RAL collections.
Each collection uses 32 colors in different combinations. The complete collection includes an album, a movable color fan and an CD.
The color table in accordance with RAL Classic in the standard sorting by color groups is marked with the leading position (1000 s = yellow tones, 2000 s = orange tones, 3000 s = red, etc.).
Thus, RAL satisfies the current needs of the industrial market in determining color standards and their coordinated combinations.
Table Specifications and Terminology
Many RAL colors cannot be displayed correctly on monitors and printers due to differences in the color spaces of the device and are indicated only in approximate values. The color code RRGGBB (sRGB) used is displayed when the mouse pointer is over the Color Swatch field.
The colors associated with the RAL system may be called differently in official use.
- Lemon Yellow: RAL 1018 - Zinc Yellow for the telecommunications team.
- Golden yellow: RAL 1028 is a yellow melon for an army reconnaissance unit.
- Raspberry: RAL 3027 - Raspberry red for a collar and stripes of officer color in the General Staff.
- Bordeaux red: RAL 4004 - Bordeaux purple for the defensive unit.
- Medium Blue: RAL 5010 - Blue for Army Logistics.
- Dark blue: RAL 5013 - cobalt blue for medical care.
- Green hunter: RAL 6029 - a green mint color for hunters: a detachment of hunters, a detachment of paratroopers, a detachment of mountain hunters and a detachment of a tank grenadier army.
- Light gray: RAL 7037 - dusty gray for army aviation forces.
- White: RAL 9010 - pure white for military music service.
- Black: RAL 9011 - graphite black for the pioneer group.