"Our aim is to shake up the colour industry and finally give creative and fashion professionals the most logical, intuitive and universal colour system that will revolutionize."
The company CLR Code Limited, founded in 2017, is pursuing nothing less than this ambitious goal with its new colour system "Coloro". CLR Code Ltd. was registered in London in 2017 with a share capital of EUR 100,000, an office is also operated there, and there is also a Chinese agency, but business is primarily conducted in an industrial estate in Overath near Cologne.
Behind CLR Code Limited are two people who are well-known in the colour industry: Detlev Pross used to head the Pantone European headquarters in Karlsruhe. Thorsten Traugott has held management positions at one of the leading trend research institutes: Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), which is part of the media company's network. Ascential heard.
The international ambitions of CLR Code Ltd. also become clear from the fact that the website only exists in English.
Web application "Coloro Workspace
The software for Coloro does not exist for Windows, Macintosh, Android or iOS, but is a web application implemented directly on the website. To use it, you have to register, which is free and quick.
In the largest possible input areas, each of the 3500 colours can be set here by dragging the mouse. There is a web colour atlas that displays the colour tones in systematic form and in which you can compile your own colour sets. A further window shows the closest colour tones to a default colour. You can calculate colour harmonies in the application and even a 3D representation of the system is implemented on the website. For all colours, the interface also shows the corresponding sRGB colour values and the Lab colour values.
Materials
The largest colour book is the so-called "Toolbox". This slipcase consists of 63 slip-in folders with 3500 removable plastic colour samples of the size 5x5cm. It costs 5995 EUR.
The "Codebook" is a ring binder colour atlas in which the 3500 shades are systematically pasted according to the HLC-3D model, it costs 895 EUR.
The "Lookbook" is a smaller ring binder. It has approx. A4 format and shows the 3500 plastic shades in 1.5×1.5cm in consecutive order. The price is surprisingly low at 395 EUR.
In addition, the plastic colour samples are also offered individually in 10x10cm and 5x5cm.
„Creative Freedom“
„At Coloro, we believe in creative freedom and that anyone can realise their creative potential...“
... is one of the first sentences on the website. However, this freedom is limited to the 3,500 predefined colour shades; intermediate shades are not calculated or displayed. Outwardly, Coloro is only comparable with other colour systems and collections via Lab values.
The licence conditions make it even clearer what they mean:
"For the avoidance of doubt, you agree not to distribute, reproduce, modify, store, transfer or in any other way use any of the CLR Code Materials (including as part of any database, library, news, information, archive, website or similar service) other than as set out above."
It is permitted to use and save the colour tones on a workstation. However, there are numerous „You may not“ points, which include, for example, passing on colour information or creating a colour database with the colour tones.
In practice, colour information very often has to be passed on to suppliers and cooperation partners, so the question arises „how much colour information can you pass on?“ - In case of doubt, not a single one? This cannot be the intention of Coloro, but it is in the...
Licence conditions, see especially point 3
Hue/Lightness/Chroma
"With a 100-year colour methodology, we created a truly intuitive colour system."
"Coloro decodes colour as the human eye sees it."
In the colour names of the Coloro colours, Hue/Lightness/Chroma coordinates are reproduced. The screenshot colour 064 59 32 above, for example, is given as Hue 64, Lightness 59 and Chroma 32. This classification according to hue, lightness, saturation corresponds to our perception - in this respect Coloro follows a very sensible path.
However, the Coloro-Hue/Lightness/Chroma does not match the Hue/Lightness/Chroma of the CIELAB model (HLC or LCh), which has been introduced since 1976 and is now common worldwide. In the example above, for example, a CIELAB-L of 61.64 is given for the Coloro-L of 59. How the conversion to the CIELAB colour values works remains hidden. While the CILEAB colour values are still given for the 3,500 colouro colour tones, this is not the case for intermediate levels. Free conversion into other colour spaces (RGB/CMYK), which every computer can do via colour management, or colour system comparisons, which usually take place via the Lab colour values, are therefore only possible for the 3,500 specified colour tones of the Coloro collection.
Although the term “Hue/Lightness/Chroma” and its abbreviation „HLC“ are commonly used today for the CIELAB model, they are not protected for it, so the procedure is not legally objectionable. However, HLC confusion is inevitable, e.g. with our HLC Colour Atlas, the HLC fans, the RAL Design System and numerous other applications.
It would have been easier and freer for all sides if Coloro had relied on the usual CIELAB Hue/Lightness/Chroma. This would have had only one disadvantage: since CIELAB is not protectable as a purely mathematical model, the above-mentioned restrictive licensing model would then not have been possible.
Conclusion
Coloro is a manufacturer's colour collection, sensibly sorted by hue, lightness and saturation. The proclaimed "freedom" is to be seen critically: the system is unfree on the one hand by self-imposed restriction to fixed colours, on the other hand by restrictive licence conditions, the second requires the first.
The question arises as to whether Coloro is more “old wine in new bottles” than a colour revolution, despite the „20 years of scientific research” due to the use of the good old Munsell system? Some functions and ideas also remind the author of joint discussions and the Digital Colour Atlas.
It remains to be seen to what extent the revolution can be realised with Coloro. What speaks in favour of this is that often the best quality does not prevail, especially in the colour sector, and the players are well-known and have been in "big business" for a long time - so it remains exciting.
Further links
Detailed article on the Munsell system
Interview with Thorsten Traugott on colouro
Is Coloro the biggest challenge to Pantone's dominance of the colour market?
Why you'll love Coloro, from a certified colour expert
CLR Code Limited, Company Info
CLR Code Limited Ndl. Germany, Commercial Register Company Info
Author: Holger Everding
The opinion of the author does not necessarily reflect the opinion of all members of the fF team.
2 comments
Unfortunately, our paint manufacturers cannot read their colour codes.
What can we do
This shows what happens when every supplier of a colour system „cooks its own soup“: a lack of comparability among each other. If you have specific questions about the Coloro colour codes, please contact the Coloro team. (Holger Everding)