Free colour on the internet
FreeColour is obviously a worldwide need. In addition, it is an endlessly exciting, lively, creative subject that has fascinated not only us for many years.
Web pages on the subject
International Commission on Illumination (CIE)
This commission has been developing the theory of the CIELAB colour space since the 1930s. Information on the various CIE colour models and publications.
International Color Consortium
Association of all well-known manufacturers in the graphic arts industry to define a uniform standard for colour profiles (ICC standard). Among other things, you can download the current specification of the ICC standard.
FOGRA
German research institute for the graphic arts industry and co-initiator of the ICC standard. Among other things, you will find ICC profiles for standardised offset printing according to FOGRA/BVD.
European Colour Initiative
Largely German association of colour management users. Focus on media-neutral image databases and colour management in the gravure printing environment.
Colour & Vision Research Laboratory, University College London
Andrew Stockman and his crew provide the most important functions for illuminant and normal observer in 10nm and 5nm steps online, both in logarithmic and linear scaling, as numbers or as a plot. Also various other material. A real treasure trove if you want to programme colour theory from scratch.
Color Group
An interdisciplinary society that draws together those concerned with different aspects of colour - its measurement, reproduction and perception
Colour.com
Forum where anyone can post articles on the subject of colour. Numerous areas of colour, from the building market to colour theory, are dealt with in brief form. Practice-related topics are in the foreground. Unfortunately somewhat outdated.
Colour pulses
Brillux's online magazine for colour in science and practice with introductions to colour systems, theory, research, practice and effects.
Paint Quality Institute
Tips and tricks for successful use of colour. The right choice of colour, solutions for colour problems, decorating with colour, how to paint correctly and much more. An offer from the Rohm + Haas Company (USA).
VirtualColor Museum - Urs Baumann
The virtual colour museum for the book "Colour Systems in Art and Science". The information ranges from the cultural history of colours to a virtual walk-through colour space (Java). Very much worth seeing.
Metacolor.de - Birgit Hallenberger and Hartmut Rudolf
Tutorial on colour theory. Brigitte Hallenberger (communications expert) and Hartmut Rudolf (web designer) provide a detailed outline of colour theory, which also contains practical approaches (e.g. how do I design my website?).
Colourimetry - Ludwig Gall
The family of the developer of the (meanwhile much changed) RAL DESIGN system, who died before 2009, still maintains its website. The long-time head of colourimetry at BASF was one of the best connoisseurs of colour and CIELAB. The website offers many explanations of colourimetry and colour formulation as well as CIELAB-based calculation tables for practical questions.
colourmanagement.de - Jan-Peter Homann
A treasure trove on the subject of colour: bibliography, many links, download of high-quality ICC profiles and an overview of service providers in the field of colour management.
kuepperscolor - Harald Küppers
In his numerous publications, Harald Küppers advocates the Rhombohedron colour space model he developed. He also finds clear words on Itten, CIELab and others. Worth reading!
polygrafix.ch - Eric A. Soder
The website of the designer and digital imaging specialist also offers in-depth information on colour management with a focus on monitor calibration and colour reproduction in the web browser.
Colour Music - Hans Peter Kruesi
"Hanspeter Kruesi's FARBMUSIK concerts delight lovers of both classical and popular music genres." The website offers compositions that are as calm as they are fitting for individual colour areas. Worth listening to!
Colourmonics Studio - Ulrich Hoegg
Is there a connection between musical harmonies (chords) and colour harmonies? In the 1950s, Lili Eberhard developed literature and practical colour selectors on this question, with which one can display, for example, a "C-DUR based on light red". Urich Hoegg, who manages the heritage today, has developed a software solution.
Theory of Colours - Eckhard Bendin
The designer and lecturer publishes his own materials (e.g. the "Farbenkiste") and oversees the "Sammlung Farbenlehre" at the University of Dresden. His colour theory is in the tradition of Wilhelm Ostwald.
Colour Themes - Andreas Schwarz
The art historian from Essen offers, for example, an overview of the history of colour models, from Aristotle's one-dimensional colour ray to the three-dimensional CIELAB model. In addition, there are also memorable things such as a review of colour determination methods on humans.
Colour Theory and Colour Design - Ingrid Crueger
Everything about colour theory and colour design including colour harmony, the effect of colours and guidelines for the optimal use of colours.
Synchromy - the sound of colours - Jürgen Opitz
"Synchromie is the name of my large-scale project, which seeks an analogy to classical music in order to make the laws of the world sensually perceptible in colour in similarly condensed and plan-like formations and rhythmic depth of form". The colour and light effects cast a spell over everyone.
Colour Art - Martin Minde
Martin Minde is a freelance artist and colour composer. He advocates an approach "in which specific phenomena take on concrete form in colour-formal schemes that stand figuratively for the entire potential of possible colour variants in the same form. In their fullness, they can only be seen mentally, no longer factually". His composition "unites in the concrete image that opens our minds to the whole potential of our visual nature - on the way to ourselves." "Cosmic depth of form" instead of random colours - see for yourself! Minde also shows the design of a consistently equidistant colour model.
Gallery Bunt - Walter Graessli
A retired lecturer in colour, he now works as a freelance artist in several fields. His motto: "I want art as poetry. Poetry! Art is poetry! People need poetry. That has been the case from the beginning. Theology or philosophy or ethics teach. But not art. Art has always been poetry. And the best artists were always poets - all the others were craftsmen." At graesslifarbe.ch you will find presentations on various colour theories, from Goethe to Ostwald and Paul Klee, and much more.
Colorbration - CTYeung
Online calculation programmed in Flash from the remission curve to the RGB colour value. Light type, observer angle and remission curve of the colour sample can be freely entered.
Colour Calculator - Bruce Lindbloom
Probably the best known source for CIE/CIELab colour space formulas ("Math") and calculations ("Colour Calculator"). In addition, Bruce Lindbloom also offers a 3D view of the CIELab body, various test images and test files on colour theory.
Javascript Library with CIELAB Colours - D3js.org
This free Javascript library supports CIELAB and CIE-HLC (HCL). This means you can use CIELAB colours directly in a website, the conversion from or to RGB happens by itself. Also interesting: Gregor Aisch: How To Avoid Equidistant HSV Colors and the d3.js- Instructions: L*a*b* and HCL colour spaces
hexcolordeck.com
A website that provides numerous RGB/Hex-based colour calculations, in line with our FreeColour principle: "it can be frustrating for individuals working with logos or brand guidelines colourized in other popular methods like RGB or CMYK to have to convert. Fortunately, Hex Color Deck is a new resource that aims to make hex codes as easy to find and implement as possible." The first version with colour values and colour transition calculations was published at the beginning of 2015, and the site is being continuously expanded (colour circles, harmony calculations, etc.)[:en]
Free colour on the internet
Free colour is obviously a worldwide need. This is an infinitely exciting, lively, creative theme that has not only fascinated us for many years.
Websites on the topic
International Lighting Commission(CIE)
This commission has been developing the theory of CIELAB colour space since the 1930s. Information about the different CIE colour models and the publications.
International Color Consortium
Combination of all well-known manufacturers in the graphic arts industry to define a uniform standard for colour profiles (ICC standard). Among other things, you will find the current ICC standard specification for download.
FOGRA
German Research Institute for the Graphic Arts and co-initiator of the ICC standard. Among other things, you will find ICC profiles for standardized offset printing according to FOGRA / BVD.
European Colour Initiative
Mostly German merger of colourmanagement users. Focus on media-neutral image databases and colourmanagement in the area of rotogravure.
Color Group
An interdisciplinary society that draws together those concerned with different aspects of colour - its measurement, reproduction and perception
Colour & Vision Research Laboratory, University College London
Andrew Stockman and his crew provide the most important functions for illuminant and normal observers in 10nm and 5nm steps online, both in logarithmic and linear scaling, as numbers or as a plot. In addition to this, various other material is also available. A real treasure trove if you want to program colour theory from scratch.
Colour.com
Forum, where everyone can publish articles on colour. Numerous areas of colour, from DIY to colour theory are treated in a short form. Practice-oriented topics are at the forefront. Unfortunately somewhat dated.
Colour pulses
The on-line magazine of the company Brillux for colour in science and practice with introductions to colour systems, theory, research, practice and effect.
Paint Quality Institute
Tips and tricks for the successful handling of colour. The right choice of colour, solutions for colour prompts, decorate with colour, how to paint correctly and much more. An offer from Rohm + Haas Company (USA).
VirtualColor Museum - Urs Baumann
The virtual color museum on the book „Paint Systems in Art and Science“. The information ranges from the cultural history of the colors to the virtually accessible color space (Java). Definitely worth seeing.
Metacolor.de - Birgit Hallenberger and Hartmut Rudolf
Tutorial on colour theory. Brigitte Hallenberger (communication manager) and Hartmut Rudolf (web designer) provide a detailed demo of colour theory, which also contains practical approaches (for example how do I design my website?).
Colourimetry - Ludwig Gall
The family of the deceased RAL DESIGN system (still heavily modified) deceased before 2009 still maintains its website. The long-time head of colorimetry at BASF was one of the best experts on colour and CIELAB. The website provides many explanations on colorimetry and formulation as well as CIELAB-based calculation tables for practical questions.
colourmanagement.de - Jan-Peter Homann
A treasure trove on the subject of colour: a list of references, many links, download high-quality ICC profiles and an overview of the service providers in the field of colourmanagement.
kuepperscolor - Harald Küppers
In his numerous publications Harald Küppers represents the model of the Rhomboeder colour space he developed. He also finds clear words about Itten, CIELab and others. Worth reading!
polygrafix.ch - Eric A. Soder
The designer's and digital imaging specialist's website offers some in-depth information on colour management with an emphasis on monitor calibration and colour rendition in web browsers.
Colour Music - Hans Peter Kruesi
„Hanspeter Kruesi’s FARBMUSIK concerts thrill both the lovers of classical as well as the popular musical genres.“ The website offers just as calm and fitting compositions to individual color areas. Worth listening!
Colourmonics Studio - Ulrich Hoegg
Is there a connection between musical harmonies and color harmonies? In the 1950s, Lili Eberhard developed literature and practical color selectors for this question. A „C-DUR on a light red basis“. Urich Hoegg, who manages the heritage today, has developed a software solution.
Colour theory - Eckhard Bendin
The designer and lecturer publishes his own materials (for example, the „color box“) and supervises the collection of color theory at the University of Dresden. His color theory is in the tradition of Wilhelm Ostwald.
Colour Themes - Andreas Schwarz
The art historian from Essen offers e.g. An overview of the history of the colour models, from the one-dimensional colour beam at Aristotle to the three-dimensional CIELAB model. In addition, also memorable as a review of colour determination methods in humans.
Colour theory and colour design - Ingrid Crueger
Everything about color theory and color design, including color harmony, effect of colors and guidelines for the optimal use of colors.
Synchromy - The sound of the colours - Jürgen Opitz
„Synchromy is the name of my large project, which seeks the analogy to classical music in order to make coloring and light effects perplexed by color and light effects in similarly condensed and planned formations and rhythmic form depths.
colour Art - Martin Minde
Martin Minde is a freelance artist and color composer. He represents an approach „in which specific phenomena take on a concrete form in color-formal schemes, which is pictorially shaped for the entire potential of possible colored variants. In their fullness, they can only be seen mentally, no more in fact.“ His composition „unifies in the concrete image, which opens our mind to the full potential of our visual nature – on the way to ourselves.“ „Cosmic form depth“ instead of random colors – see for yourself! Minde also shows the design of a uniformly uniform color model.
Colorbration - CTYeung
Flash-programmed online calculation from the emission curve to the RGB colour value. The light type, observer angle and emission curve of the colour sample can be entered freely.
Colour Calculator - Bruce Lindbloom
The best known source for CIE / CIELab color space formulas („Math“) and calculations („Color Calculator“). Bruce Lindbloom also offers a 3D view of the CIELab body, various test pictures and test files on color theory.
Javascript library with CIELAB colours - D3js.org
This free javascript library supports CIELAB and CIE-HLC (HCL). This allows you to directly use CIELAB colours in a website, the conversion from or to RGB is done by itself. Also interesting: Gregor Aisch: How To Avoid Equidistant HSV Colors and the d3.js- Instructions: L*a*b* and HCL colour spaces
hexcolordeck.com
A website that provides numerous calculations on colour based on RGB / Hex, entirely in the sense of our free-color principle: "it can be frustrating for individuals working with logos or brand guidelines colourized in other popular methods like RGB or CMYK to have to convert. Fortunately, Hex Color Deck is a new resource that aims to make hex codes as easy to find and implement as possible." At the beginning of 2015, the first version appeared with colour values and colour transition calculations, the page is continuously expanded (colour circles, harmony calculations, etc.)[:].