40 years as colour experts

1979-2019

DECEMBER, 2019

Colour research

To make colour decisions we must be able to accurately define and communicate colours, so that we can ensure that produced colours match the intended colours. To do this, we must understand how we perceive colour.

When the NCS System was launched in 1979, it was a scientifically based colour notation system based on how we perceive colour visually. It allows us to define all colour perceivable by humans, making it possible to define and communicate colour in a revolutionising way that ensures accurate results.

COMMUNICATE COLOURS CROSS-INDUSTRY
Part of NCS’s uniquity is that it allows all parties involved in the production process to accurately communicate colours and ensures that the result is precisely what it is intended to be.

Today the NCS System is used by architects, designers, material manufacturers and retailers globally to communicate colour – it is a universal standard for colour communication.

40 years of NCS Production History

Following the 1979 launch of the NCS System with the iconic NCS Atlas, NCS has become the preferred colour reference for architects, designers, and the global industry. We have developed a variety of products since, namely our best-seller NCS Index 2050 alongside innovative solutions such as the cloud-based colour management platform CAPQ. NCS's offerings continue to expand as research into colour perception and colour communication advances.

NCS HISTORY
Dating all the way back to the seventeenth century, the first known colour space, the Forsius Globe, was published in "Physica" (Forsius, 1611). The NCS Colour Space is inspired by the Forsius Globe.

In the 1960s, Dr. A. Hård, Dr. L. Sivik and Dr. G. Tonnquist initiated research to finally achieve this perfect visual colour communication system. In 1979, the NCS System was launched as a Swedish national colour standard (SIS).

The NCS System was then illustrated in the NCS Atlas with a standard selection of 1,412 colours.

As research continued, the selection of standardised colours has been revised and expanded. In 1984, an additional 118 colours were added. In 1995, a second edition of the standardised NCS colours was launched with a total of 1,750 colours. This edition brought about a world-leading colour accuracy and consistency that is still unique today. It was also based on environmentally approved pigments in accordance with EU regulations.

Today the NCS Standard Collection comprises of 2,050 NCS Standard colours.

Milestones

Illustrated below are the most important milestones on the journey to work with colour!

Revolutionising future colour communication

NCS System, Colour Samples, Fan decks, NCS Web

With the NCS System as its core, NCS Colour continues to develop innovative colour solutions and evolve within colour management, launching both physical and digital solutions. The NCS System is currently the national colour standard in several countries and international presence in 90 countries world-wide.

NCS – AN INTERNATIONAL RECOGNISED COLOUR STANDARD
It must be possible to produce the same colour on different products from different manufacturers. Producing the exact colour is crucial, as it can be for anything from the colour of emergency exit signs to the colour of medical needles to the colour of our Swedish flag. What these examples have in common is that the colour must be the same regardless of manufacturer for people to recognise them. This is made possible by national and international standards that authorities and industries mutually agree on and that describe the colours precisely (SIS, ISO, CEN and CIE are some of the most important standardisation organisations).

NCS is a standardised colour communication system with accurate colour notations and colour samples that provides the industry with the tools they need to always produce the right colour.

The NCS System and its colour samples are standardised in Sweden and multiple other countries. Furthermore, the NCS Notations are used in countless standards and instructions worldwide for accurate colour specification.