RAL Design System plus — hue 080

That maximum is not a choice but a property of colour space. Yellow reaches its highest saturation at a high lightness — around L\* 80 — while red and blue reach their maximum in the middle range or below it. Yellow and lightness cannot be separated: a dark yellow does not exist, a dark red does.

The practical consequence is in the data. The most strongly saturated shade sits at L\* 80 with a light reflectance value of 57.2, while the hue itself begins at L\* 20 with 080 20 05 *Night brown black* at 6.4. The filled part of the lightness–saturation field is therefore skewed here: muted and brown at the bottom left, bright at the top right.

Yellow is the colour with the highest light output per unit of saturation and therefore the basis of almost all warning colours. In RAL Classic that is laid down in RAL 1023 traffic yellow and RAL 1003 signal yellow; in this hue the comparable positions lie in the corner around C\* 70 to 90.

All 55 colours in this group

RAL 080 20 05 — Night brown blackView RAL 080 20 05 →RAL 080 20 10 — Vanilla bean brownView RAL 080 20 10 →RAL 080 30 05 — Earth blackView RAL 080 30 05 →RAL 080 30 10 — Olive blackView RAL 080 30 10 →RAL 080 30 20 — Clove yellow brownView RAL 080 30 20 →RAL 080 30 26 — Smoked oak brownView RAL 080 30 26 →RAL 080 40 05 — Office greyView RAL 080 40 05 →RAL 080 40 10 — Stone brownView RAL 080 40 10 →RAL 080 40 20 — Pimento grain brownView RAL 080 40 20 →RAL 080 40 30 — Ochre greenView RAL 080 40 30 →RAL 080 40 40 — Autumn leaf brownView RAL 080 40 40 →RAL 080 50 05 — Dusk greyView RAL 080 50 05 →RAL 080 50 10 — Rye brownView RAL 080 50 10 →RAL 080 50 20 — Greyish yellowView RAL 080 50 20 →RAL 080 50 30 — Chili greenView RAL 080 50 30 →RAL 080 50 40 — Dirt yellowView RAL 080 50 40 →RAL 080 50 50 — Chamois yellowView RAL 080 50 50 →RAL 080 60 05 — Flannel greyView RAL 080 60 05 →RAL 080 60 10 — Light khakiView RAL 080 60 10 →RAL 080 60 20 — Spelt grain brownView RAL 080 60 20 →RAL 080 60 30 — Golden quartz ochreView RAL 080 60 30 →RAL 080 60 40 — Bamboo yellowView RAL 080 60 40 →RAL 080 60 50 — Brass yellowView RAL 080 60 50 →RAL 080 60 60 — Fig mustard yellowView RAL 080 60 60 →RAL 080 60 70 — Yellow goldView RAL 080 60 70 →RAL 080 70 05 — Garlic beigeView RAL 080 70 05 →RAL 080 70 10 — Fine greigeView RAL 080 70 10 →RAL 080 70 20 — Yellow brownView RAL 080 70 20 →RAL 080 70 30 — Mustard seed beigeView RAL 080 70 30 →RAL 080 70 40 — Diamond yellowView RAL 080 70 40 →RAL 080 70 50 — Antique brassView RAL 080 70 50 →RAL 080 70 60 — Courgette yellowView RAL 080 70 60 →RAL 080 70 70 — Grapefruit yellowView RAL 080 70 70 →RAL 080 70 80 — Sunflower yellowView RAL 080 70 80 →RAL 080 70 88 — Arnica yellowView RAL 080 70 88 →RAL 080 80 05 — Micaceous light greyView RAL 080 80 05 →RAL 080 80 10 — Pastel sandView RAL 080 80 10 →RAL 080 80 20 — Natural rice beigeView RAL 080 80 20 →RAL 080 80 30 — Yellow beigeView RAL 080 80 30 →RAL 080 80 40 — Straw yellowView RAL 080 80 40 →RAL 080 80 50 — Mirabelle yellowView RAL 080 80 50 →RAL 080 80 60 — Full yellowView RAL 080 80 60 →RAL 080 80 70 — Pear yellowView RAL 080 80 70 →RAL 080 80 80 — Fire yellowView RAL 080 80 80 →RAL 080 80 90 — Summer yellowView RAL 080 80 90 →RAL 080 85 05 — Wheat flour whiteView RAL 080 85 05 →RAL 080 85 10 — Onion whiteView RAL 080 85 10 →RAL 080 85 20 — Nashi pear beigeView RAL 080 85 20 →RAL 080 85 30 — Vespa yellowView RAL 080 85 30 →RAL 080 85 40 — Puff pastry yellowView RAL 080 85 40 →RAL 080 90 05 — Japanese whiteView RAL 080 90 05 →RAL 080 90 10 — Mushroom whiteView RAL 080 90 10 →RAL 080 90 20 — Macadamia beigeView RAL 080 90 20 →RAL 080 90 30 — Horseradish yellowView RAL 080 90 30 →RAL 080 93 05 — Milk star whiteView RAL 080 93 05 →

More about hue 080

That also means a saturated yellow cannot be used decoratively in a building. It is read as a sign, and in a setting where genuine signage is present it weakens that signage. For decorative use, stay below about C\* 40, or keep the surface small.

Of all colours, yellow is the hardest to apply opaquely. Yellow pigments have a low scattering power, so the substrate shows through for a long time: on a dark or uneven substrate a saturated yellow is rarely on colour in two coats. That carries through into the calculation and into the result, because every coat shifts the colour a little further.

With the very saturated shades in this area the choice of pigment also plays a part. The historical opaque yellows relied on lead chromate and are off the market; the organic replacements cover less well and are more sensitive to UV. For an exterior application with a shade above C\* 70, ask explicitly about the build-up and about colour stability.

The majority of the 55 shades do not lie in the bright corner. 080 40 10 *Stone brown*, 080 70 30 *Mustard seed beige* and 080 80 05 *Micaceous light grey* are the colours for which this hue is most often opened in practice: warm greys, mustard tints and sand colours that hold up on large surfaces. Towards the top the series ends at 080 93 05 *Milk star white* with a light reflectance value of 83.6.

Within that part you change the effect of a surface far more strongly with the saturation than with the lightness: saturation determines how lively and eye-catching a surface looks, lightness mainly how heavily it weighs.

Yellow is unreliable on a screen: monitors fail to reproduce precisely the saturated yellows, so that two neighbouring shades look identical on it. Choose with the fan deck or the colour book and approve on the A4 colour samples as the colour standard, under the light and at the gloss level of the final situation.

Technical data

Hue: 080 · Shades: 55 · Lightness: L\* 20–93 · Saturation: C\* 05–90 · Lab values: per shade on the colour page · LRV: 6.4 to 83.6 · 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 075, RAL Design 085

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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