For the first time since 2004, NCS Colour has launched 100 new Standard colours on the market.
For the first time since 2004, NCS Colour has launched 100 new NCS Standard colours in the low chromatic colour area. The new colours aim to solve some questions including: Which white colour to choose? How to choose between different greige colours to get the right shade, neither too grey nor too beige? Can the famous Nordic light be adapted into a design, using a specific colour hue?
Low chromatic colours play a vital role in interior and exterior design, product design and architecture. When looking at colour samples, it is often difficult to distinguish between one colour and another. However, when colour is applied, any slight differences in shade or hue can be felt and have a major impact on the final design. For this reason, NCS Colour is making the Standard colour range denser in the low chromatic area of the colour space. This way, the user will have more options and control.
Four areas of colour
Low chromatic colours are the most used colours in NCS apart from truly Neutrals (N). The new colours focus on hues between Yellow and Red. This area of the NCS colour circle includes beige and brown (as a shade of orange) and pink (a shade of red). Also, "white" is an extremely important colour for painting. While there are countless shades of white on the market, most of them have 05 to 10 in Blackness and 00 to 02 in Chromaticness in NCS. For this reason, NCS adds in this space two new shades, 0601 and 1001, which correspond to the best-selling whites apart from the current NCS Standard.
The 100 new Standard colours are divided into four colour areas called White Delight, Nordic Midtones, Great Greys and Black Elegance.
A global community of colour professionals contributed to the development of colours
The 100 new colours are the result of a joint effort between NCS Colour and a global community of colour professionals to further enhance the NCS system. A new technology has enabled NCS to produce samples in entirely new nuances with low chromaticity.
“The low chromatic colours are a constant in our top list regarding bestselling colours. We have seen over the years how important these colours are. They are frequently used in our colour development projects with the decorative paint industry, kitchen brands, home appliance, automotive industry etc. and recurrently top the list of most requested colours by the design community”, said Ingela Koski-Vähälä, Portfolio Manager, NCS Colour.
Updated tools
NCS Colour has also released an update to the most popular design tools containing colour samples of the entire NCS Standard range. This includes NCS Index, NCS Atlas, NCS Block, NCS Album, and NCS Box. Updates are made to improve the usability and sustainability of the tools.
NCS Index 2050“We take pride in constantly working to improve the Natural Colour System and its physical and digital representations. Adding 100 new Standard colours is an important milestone for us”, stated Elin Askfelt, CEO, NCS Colour.