RAL 000 15 00 — Ink black
The darkest colour on the grey axis. With a lightness of L* 15 and a light reflectance value of 5.3 per cent, this surface reflects back virtually nothing — it absorbs the light that falls on it.
| Colour code | RAL 000 15 00 |
| Name | Ink black |
| Collection | RAL Design System plus |
| Colour group | Grijsas (000) |
| Lightness | L* 15 |
| Chroma | C*ab 00 |
| Lab | 12,5 · -0,9 · -1,2 |
| Hex (indicative) | #1F2121 |
| Light reflectance value (LRV) | 5.31— official RAL value |
Choose your format
You order this colour as a loose sample. Choose the format below.
D3 kleurchipRAL D3 losse kleurchipsPart of RAL D3 losse kleurchips · Item RALD-D3-LOS
Need several colours? Order colour samples in bulk
About RAL 000 15 00
Even so, this is not black. In the RAL Design system black is not a separate colour but the end point of the scale, and that scale starts here at 15. If you need a true black, you end up with the black shades of RAL Classic, where 9005 jet black goes deeper than this shade.
In use, that difference matters more than it seems. Over a large surface 000 15 00 reads as black, but next to a genuinely black element you notice that there is still grey in it. In combinations with fittings, profiles or anodised metal — which are almost always truly black — that shows.
Practical point: at this lightness, form disappears. Detail, relief and profiling are barely distinguishable any more, because too little light comes back to show shadow. If you want to keep form in a dark surface, choose 000 25 00 or 000 30 00 instead.
| English | Ink black |