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Colours > Dulux Trade paints > Colour Palette > The Colour Palette notation system
The Colour Palette notation system
At ICI Paints, we have developed a unique proprietary colour notation system, one
that is the result of extensive research and consultation with an international team
of experts.
The role of our notation system is to make every colour we produce precisely
identifiable. Each has its own unique reference number made up of three distinct
parts: a hue reference, a light reflectance value ( LRV) and a chroma value.
Hue
It is this aspect of colour that we
see in a rainbow. Most colours
have a clear hue associated with
them for example, pink has a
red hue. The only colours that
have no hue are white, black
and the pure greys that lie in
between.
The first part of an ICI Paints
colour notation describes this
aspect of colour by using two
digits and two letters, as shown
in this diagram.
In order to give a more precise
indication, a scale from 00 to 99
is used to locate specific hues within each colour group. For example, 50YY is a
pure yellow and is found in the middle of YY; 90GY is more green than 10GY.
LRV
This, the second part of the notation system, is a two-digit number of between 00
and 99 and is used to describe how dark or light a colour is (it is actually a
measure of how much light is reflected by a surface of that colour).
LRV works on a black to white basis the higher the LRV, the lighter the colour.
Chroma
The remaining component of colour is chroma and this measured using three
digits, from 000 to 999. It is the chroma that makes a colour either intense or
subtle; the higher the number, the more intense the colour will be.
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Related links
Browse the Colour Palette
The science behind colour
Special process colours
Colour in paint specification
Reducing colour variation
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Colour Palette notation system http://www.icipaints.co.uk/colours/duluxtrade/palette/notation.jsp
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