RAL Design System plus — hue 040

What makes 040 unusual is how far apart the shades lie in character while the hue stays the same. At the dark, low-saturation end this hue reads as brown: nobody calls 040 20 19 *Wild brown* and 040 40 05 *Ash brown* orange. At the strongly saturated end stands 040 50 70 *Pompeii red*, an outspoken red-orange. And at the light end with low saturation lies 040 80 10 *Thulite rose*, which is read as a muted pink.

So brown, red-orange and pink are not different hues but different doses of the same one. In conversation with a client that is a useful fact: someone who says "no orange" usually rules out the high saturation and not the hue.

The saturation reaches C\* 70 here, well above the 60 of 030. The maximum lies not at the top but in the middle area, around L\* 50 — that is where this red-orange can be taken furthest from the grey axis. Towards the top the hue loses intensity: the lightest shade, 040 93 05 *Natural white*, is at saturation 05 and has a light reflectance value of 84.6.

All 45 colours in this group

RAL 040 20 19 — Wild brownView RAL 040 20 19 →RAL 040 30 05 — Basalt blackView RAL 040 30 05 →RAL 040 30 10 — Caviar blackView RAL 040 30 10 →RAL 040 30 20 — Coffee brownView RAL 040 30 20 →RAL 040 30 30 — Root brownView RAL 040 30 30 →RAL 040 30 40 — Corrosion redView RAL 040 30 40 →RAL 040 40 05 — Ash brownView RAL 040 40 05 →RAL 040 40 10 — Somali brownView RAL 040 40 10 →RAL 040 40 20 — Vandyck brownView RAL 040 40 20 →RAL 040 40 30 — Chestnut brownView RAL 040 40 30 →RAL 040 40 40 — Brick redView RAL 040 40 40 →RAL 040 40 50 — Henna redView RAL 040 40 50 →RAL 040 40 60 — Copper redView RAL 040 40 60 →RAL 040 40 67 — China redView RAL 040 40 67 →RAL 040 50 05 — Nomad greyView RAL 040 50 05 →RAL 040 50 10 — Umbra sandView RAL 040 50 10 →RAL 040 50 20 — Agate brownView RAL 040 50 20 →RAL 040 50 30 — Rust colouredView RAL 040 50 30 →RAL 040 50 40 — Ant redView RAL 040 50 40 →RAL 040 50 50 — English redView RAL 040 50 50 →RAL 040 50 60 — Fox redView RAL 040 50 60 →RAL 040 50 70 — Pompeii redView RAL 040 50 70 →RAL 040 60 05 — Warm greyView RAL 040 60 05 →RAL 040 60 10 — Light caramelView RAL 040 60 10 →RAL 040 60 20 — Sienna yellowView RAL 040 60 20 →RAL 040 60 30 — Cedar redView RAL 040 60 30 →RAL 040 60 40 — Terra orangeView RAL 040 60 40 →RAL 040 60 50 — Mandarin orangeView RAL 040 60 50 →RAL 040 60 60 — Coral orangeView RAL 040 60 60 →RAL 040 70 05 — Passepartout greyView RAL 040 70 05 →RAL 040 70 10 — Mohair mauveView RAL 040 70 10 →RAL 040 70 20 — Soft siennaView RAL 040 70 20 →RAL 040 70 30 — Industrial roseView RAL 040 70 30 →RAL 040 70 40 — Apricot redView RAL 040 70 40 →RAL 040 70 50 — Fruit redView RAL 040 70 50 →RAL 040 80 05 — Natural silk greyView RAL 040 80 05 →RAL 040 80 10 — Thulite roseView RAL 040 80 10 →RAL 040 80 20 — Madder orangeView RAL 040 80 20 →RAL 040 80 30 — Nature apricotView RAL 040 80 30 →RAL 040 85 05 — Pandora greyView RAL 040 85 05 →RAL 040 85 10 — Fine alabasterView RAL 040 85 10 →RAL 040 85 20 — Delicate sweet apricotView RAL 040 85 20 →RAL 040 90 05 — Sahara light redView RAL 040 90 05 →RAL 040 90 10 — Delicate roseView RAL 040 90 10 →RAL 040 93 05 — Natural whiteView RAL 040 93 05 →

More about hue 040

That progression is usable. A colour scheme within this one hue can run from a warm, almost white wall to a saturated accent, without a second hue joining in and without the warmth of the whole changing.

The low-saturation part of 040 is the area of the classic earth pigments. In the built environment those colours are so common that they provoke little resistance, and they match materials that lie in this area themselves: untreated hardwood, terracotta, weathered steel, Corten-like surfaces. Next to concrete and grey brickwork this part of the hue works as a counterweight, because the difference in hue is large and the difference in saturation stays small.

The saturated part behaves in the opposite way. A shade around C\* 60 claims the attention on a large exterior surface and goes on claiming it; saturation determines almost entirely how lively and eye-catching a surface looks. In mechanical engineering and interiors that part is therefore mainly usable over limited areas.

Red-orange pigments cover less well than neutral ones. With the saturated shades of this hue, film thickness therefore carries through directly into the final colour: a thinner coat reads lighter and drabber, a thicker one more saturated. Two runs with the same code can diverge visibly when they are built up differently or sprayed differently.

So at approval, record it on the A4 colour samples as the colour standard and not on a fan-deck sample — the size of a fan-deck sample is too small to show a difference in coverage.

Technical data

Hue: 040 · Shades: 45 · Lightness: L\* 20–93 · Saturation: C\* 05–70 · Lab values: per shade on the colour page · LRV: 6.5 to 84.6 · Included in: RAL D4 A4 colour samples (colour standard), RAL D2 fan deck, RAL D3 colour book, RAL D4 atlas, RAL D6 and D8 boxes

Neighbouring hues

RAL Design 030, RAL Design 050

Loose colour samples from this group

Click a colour for the available formats, or see the full product range in the shop.

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