It should take anywhere from 20-50 years to name each and every color at the current rate. :)

Are you sure? We're at least 1/8th of the way at 2,289,861 currently named colors :D

Technically speaking the human can appreciate about 10 million colours. To give them all names is pretty pointless. As an example, try asking ten people to mix a cafe latte colour. All ten will give different colours proving that to give a name which describes a colour is ultimately useless if you want to use those colours in a practical way. When you talk about a 'named colour' to peoplein different countries they will have their own local references from which to draw and therefore you will end up talking about different colours.

But what if you have a swatch, colour sample or chip..? Fair enough, but again the majority of chips on the market are terrible quality and fade at a rate of knots. Again, you're screwed.

I work for the Natural Color System and we've got the world's most accurate colour samples which are all based on a scientific system which can give a precise notation to any colour we can see based on how closely it resembles six 'elementary'colours. So we can give a precise, descriptive coding to any of the 10 million colours we can see. Which can be used anywhere in the world on any material. Plus, our samples are not printed so they take about 30 years to fade from their original deep-frozen master batch.

If you're serious about colour names are not the way to go. Feel free to drop me a line anytime richard.prime@ncscolour.com or have a play with Navigator www.ncscolour.com/navigator to take a better look at how the system worksand also see the nuances and relationships between colours themselves.

Cheers,

Rich

rdprime wrote:

Technically speaking the human can appreciate about 10 million colours. To give them all names is pretty pointless. As an example, try asking ten people to mix a cafe latte colour. All ten will give different colours proving that to give a name which describes a colour is ultimately useless if you want to use those colours in a practical way. When you talk about a 'named colour' to peoplein different countries they will have their own local references from which to draw and therefore you will end up talking about different colours.

But what if you have a swatch, colour sample or chip..? Fair enough, but again the majority of chips on the market are terrible quality and fade at a rate of knots. Again, you're screwed.

I work for the Natural Color System and we've got the world's most accurate colour samples which are all based on a scientific system which can give a precise notation to any colour we can see based on how closely it resembles six 'elementary'colours. So we can give a precise, descriptive coding to any of the 10 million colours we can see. Which can be used anywhere in the world on any material. Plus, our samples are not printed so they take about 30 years to fade from their original deep-frozen master batch.

If you're serious about colour names are not the way to go. Feel free to drop me a line anytime richard.prime@ncscolour.com or have a play with Navigator www.ncscolour.com/navigator to take a better look at how the system worksand also see the nuances and relationships between colours themselves.

Cheers,

Rich

Bugger off, Rich.

Cheers,

Sam

We all have our own opinions and ideas about color... that's why this is such an inspirational community... so many view points from all over the world.

I encourage everyone to share their ideas... so long as they do it in a positive and constructive way.

Rich, you might want to take a look at how some of your thoughts come across.

Sam, you might want to put a bit more care into expressing your opinions.

+D

My apologies Darius, but I'll doff my cap at Sam for use of the word 'bugger'. I was looking to add something constructive though. My view is that, using and appreciating colour itself is surely of more value than naming them?
Each colour has its own unique ingredients and using a colour system like NCS opens up the nuances in far more detail than a name could ever hope to. Why some colours work with other, how a colour might alter if viewed in natural light as opposed to artificial, why certain colours work together as a combination. The more you can understand the technical aspects of colour, the more creative you can be.

As a response though Sam, made me chuckle.

Rick - understanding technical aspects of color has zero to do with amount of potential creativity.

As per normal on this site, the people who would appear to have the most to say about technical specifications are also the ones with the least actual contribution or output here on colourlovers.com.

I would challenge and welcome you to make some palettes and join in this community you are hawking your wares to.

--sam

It's not a case of hawking wares Sam. The most influential individuals in the world of colour; Li Edelkoort, David Shah, Global Color Research, the countless international trade shows - PV, IMM, Milan, Heimtextil, Fabre... which have the most impact on the colours we see around us every day, rely upon information of a technical nature so that they know the boundaries which might inhibit potential avenues of creativity.
The vast majority of art, fashion and design schools all feature a period in which students are instructed on the physical and technical aspects of colour. Education is the basis for the creative use of colour. The creative individual relies on a background of learnt and applied knowledge - the only limit to creativity is the amount of skills you have garned during your life.
IKB was not a happy accident.

Rick,

None of this explains why you prefer to talk a big game as opposed to making some palettes.

Using the color system you are selling, please make some combinations on this site so we can all be amazed at what a difference technical knowledge makes.

--sam

Sam, good point. I myself have come to this site fed up with theory and wanting to find more about the practical use of color. One needs to get down and dirty with color to understand it.

Rich, being a curious sort, I tried that free software. Did it occurred to you guys that some people might still use resolutions like 1024x768? Also, if you actually want people to try your software, don't make us hunt for that goddamn button.

I'm all nuts for schematics, infographics, and cool visual representations, and was already aware of how cool that NCS 3D ColorWheel is, but the software itself is very close to USELESS as a color combination software. And I've used a few.

The NCS system might add someday its contribution to the furtherment of the technical reproduction of color, but we're here for COLOR itself, not this or that particular system. You talk about technicality, we talk about BEAUTY. And beauty is very very real and practical to me on a daily basis, as a graphic designer having to come up with fitting color schemes for various music products.

Oy, NCS. I don't know anything about how technically 'good' your system is ... but you *need* a designer, stat. Lousy interface, and an awful website.

We'll sort that in the new year Taenia, don't you fear.