NCS—Natural Color System: A Swedish Standard for Color Notation

Abstract The Natural Color System (NCS) is a psychometric model for color description and also a practical application of Hering's opponent‐color theory. The need for different color‐measurement systems in industry, architecture, design, and research is discussed, together with the importance of having in common a valid language by which all those who work with colors can describe the perceptions of color and color combinations. The origin of the NCS is described with its underlying phenomenological philosophy—color is what we see. NCS is a symbol language which provides various possibilities for describing colors and relationships between them, both by graphical illustrations and by letter–digit notations. Finally, some principles of the Swedish Standards Institution Color Atlas NCS are mentioned; this collection of color samples provides a physical representation of the psychometric of the NCS system for color notation and is now published as a Swedish Standard.