For open standards and open content
Jan-Peter Homann and the Board of freieFarbe e.V.
Digital colour communication between different applications, operating systems and production systems touches on the issue of commercial versus open licences in many areas. This article gives an introduction to the topic and describes the guidelines of freieFarbe e.V. in dealing with standards and licences.
When we take a look at colour from design to finished product, we are presented with an ecosystem of commercial applications and production systems from different manufacturers. In order to exchange colour information smoothly within this ecosystem, two conditions must be met:
- Open standards that describe colour regardless of the type of end product and production systems used
- Applications and production systems that support these standards
Projects supervised and published by freieFarbe e.V. are based on open standards for colour communication.
Open standards
are maintained by international standardisation organisations. Some relevant organisations and standards are:
CIE - Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage
„The International Commission on Illumination – also known as the CIE from its French title, the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage – is devoted to worldwide cooperation and the exchange of information on all matters relating to the science and art of light and lighting, colour and vision, photobiology and image technology“. (Source: CIE)
In 1976, the CIE published the CIE 1976 L*a*b / L*C*h* colour system to describe colour on reflective surfaces regardless of the type of object. With the CIE 1976 L*a*b / L*C*h* colour system, colours can be measured, specified and communicated in the field of coloured surfaces and printed objects.
ISO - International Organization for Standardization
ISO „is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 163 national standards bodies. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.“ (Quelle: ISO)
If colour plays a role in industrial production - e.g. for coloured surfaces - there is usually an ISO standard for this. ISO works together with CIE, e.g. to bring out common standards or to mutually reference them.
With a broad view of colour in digital or physical form and the associated industrial production processes, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ISO standards that directly address or reference these issues.
Important ISO standards for freieFarbe e.V. projects include:
- ISO 11664-4:2008 Colorimetry - Part 4: CIE 1976 L*a*b* Colour space
(This standard addresses a wide range of applications including paints and varnishes, plastics, graphic arts and textile production). - ISO 17972 Graphic technology - Colour data exchange format
(Family of ISO standards for colour communication in the graphic arts industry) - ISO 15076 - Image technology colour management
(Joint standard of ISO and ICC for colour management in the graphic arts industry)
ICC - International Color Consortium
„The International Color Consortium was established in 1993 for the purpose of creating, promoting and encouraging the standardization and evolution of an open, vendor-neutral, cross-platform color management system architecture and components. The outcome of this co-operation was the development of the ICC profile specification.“ (Quelle: ICC)
The ICC standard is the de facto standard for colour management in software for Windows, MacOSX incl. connected printing systems in the areas of professional digital photography as well as professional printed matter incl. packaging printing. It is also available as ISO 15076 standard.
IEC - International Electrotechnical Commission
„Founded in 1906, the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is the world’s leading organization for the preparation and publication of International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. These are known collectively as “electrotechnology”.“ (Source: IEC)
Based on preparatory work by Microsoft and HP, in 1999 the IEC developed the Standard
IEC 61966-2-1:1999 - Multimedia systems and equipment - Colour measurement and management published.
This family of standards describes, among other things, the sRGB colour space of a standardised computer colour monitor. sRGB is today the de facto standard in web and mobile media, digital photography with consumer cameras and office software. sRGB IEC 61966-2-1:1999 continues to be the colour reference for all W3C standards in the area of web and mobile media.
Open Content
When photos, graphics, texts, music and other content are published in the digital sphere, producers should specify whether and who may modify and redistribute this content.
We at FreieFarbe e.V. have set ourselves the goal of making digital colour communication between different commercial solutions from design to production as well as open source applications possible without any problems.
In order to make this possible, we place our tools under a Creative Commons Licence Attribution 4.0which allows the tools to be modified and integrated into both commercial and open source applications.
When integrating into commercial solutions, it should be noted that both the licence and the originator freieFarbe e.V. are referenced.
Open Source
FreieFarbe e.V. welcomes and supports open source projects in the field of colour. Our goal is to enable smooth digital colour communication between any commercial solutions as well as open source applications. Therefore, our focus is on the use of open standards and less on open source.
Further information on open source projects in the field of colour can be found at here.[:en]Jan-Peter Homann and the board of freieFarbe e.V.
Digital colour communication between different applications, operating systems and production solutions touches in several areas the field of commercial versus open licences. This article gives an introduction to this topic and describes how the team of freecolour.org (freieFarbe e.V.) handles these issues.
For Open Standards and Open Content
If we have a look on colour from design to the final product, we see an ecosystem of commercial solutions and production solutions from different vendors. To exchange smooth and easy colour data inside this eco system, two things are necessary:
- Open standards to describe colour independently from the final output or production solution
- applications and solutions supporting these standards.
Projects maintained and published by the team of freecolour.org (freieFarbe e.V.) are based on open standards for colour.
Open Standards
Open standards are maintained by global standardization bodies. Some relevant standardization bodies in the area of colour are:
CIE - Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage
CIE „The International Commission on Illumination – also known as the CIE from its French title, the Commission Internationale de l´Eclairage – is devoted to worldwide cooperation and the exchange of information on all matters relating to the science and art of light and lighting, colour and vision, photobiology and image technology“. (Source: CIE)
In 1976, CIE published the CIE 1976 L*a*b/L*C*h* colour system to describe colour on reflecting objects independently from the type of object. The CIE 1976 L*a*b colour system can be used to measure colour, specify and communicate colour e.g. in the area of painted surfaces or printed objects.
ISO - International Organization for Standardization
ISO „is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 163 national standards bodies. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.“ (source: ISO)
If colour is connected to industrial production and e.g. painted surfaces, it is probably standardized by ISO. ISO cooperates with CIE by publishing e.g. joined standards and by referencing each other standards. From a broad view on colour, paint and ink, and industrial production, there are dozens or even hundreds of ISO standards which are connected to colour.
Some relevant standards for freecolour.org (freie Farbe e.V.) are e.g:
- ISO 11664-4:2008 Colorimetry - Part 4: CIE 1976 L*a*b* Colour space
- ISO 17972 Graphic technology - Colour data exchange format
(family of ISO standards for digital colour exchange in the graphic arts) - ISO 15076 - Image technology colour management
(Joint standard with ICC for colour management in the graphic arts and print industry)
ICC - International Color Consortium
ICC „The International Color Consortium was established in 1993 for the purpose of creating, promoting and encouraging the standardization and evolution of an open, vendor-neutral, cross-platform color management system architecture and components. The outcome of this co-operation was the development of the ICC profile specification. “ (Source: ICC)
For colour critical work in Windows, Mac and LINUX applications including connected printing systems as well as the area of professional digital photography, commercial and packaging printing: colourmanagement with ICC profiles is the defacto standard and also standardized through ISO 15076.
IEC - International Electrotechnical Commission
IEC „Founded in 1906, the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is the world’s leading organization for the preparation and publication of International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. These are known collectively as “electrotechnology”. (Source: IEC)
Based on work from Microsoft and HP, IEC published the standard IEC 61966-2-1:1999 - Multimedia systems and equipment - Colour measurement and management.
This family of standards is describing e.g. the sRGB colourspace of a standardized computer display. sRGB is the defacto colour standard in web and mobile media, consumer digital photography and office applications. sRGB IEC 61966-2-1:1999 is also the colour reference for all W3C standards for web and mobile media.
Through the sRGB ICC profile, colour data from these sectors can be interchanged with the graphic arts world.
Open Content
If e.g. photos, artworks, texts, music and other content is published in the digital sphere, the creator(s) should specify, if and who is possible to share or modify this content. If e.g. photos, artworks, texts, music and other content is published in the digital sphere, the creator(s) should specify, if and who is possible to share or modify this content.
Open Source
Because of this, our tools are published under Creative Commons Licence Attribution 4.0which allows to modify, share and integrate the tools in commercial solutions. If our tools are integrated in commecial solutions, the licence and the freecolour.org team (freieFarbe e.V) have to be referenced.
The freecolour.org team (freieFarbe e.V) welcomes and supports all open source projects related to digital colour. Our goal is to make digital colour flow both through commercial design and production solutions as also through open source applications. So we are more focused on Open Standard than on Open Source. Further informations on Open Source projects connected to color can be found e.g. here[:]