About us
Our RAL fan decks make choosing colours more efficient and colour communication easier
Welcome to RAL-SHOP.NL, official partner and distributor of RAL in the Benelux. This website is an initiative of, part of and owned by the Stichting Nederlands Kleur Instituut (SNKI): the Dutch centre of knowledge and advice on colour.
The SNKI exists to serve Dutch society by making knowledge, skills and products (RAL, NCS, VeriVide) available to everyone working to strengthen the Netherlands in the field of colour, colour application and colour technology.
Colour matters more and more
The impact of colour on human wellbeing is often underestimated: between 62 and 90% of all responses to information are determined by colour. Applying colour and colour experience well is essential both to our surroundings and to our economy. Whoever applies colour well contributes to people's wellbeing — and with it to a sustainable, circular economy. RAL products make choosing and working with the right colour simpler.
One point of contact for colour
With the founding of the SNKI there is a single point of contact for colour experience, colour application and colour technology. The institute has been working on colour in the Netherlands since 1976. Our years of knowledge and experience in colour, colour application and colour measurement let us serve you as well as possible.
We help you with RAL colour notations and with the RAL Design system and RAL products, but equally with colour application, colour problems and any other question about colour and RAL.
Training — Nederlandse Kleurenschool
Colour knowledge cannot be read from a fan deck. That is why the SNKI provides education through the Nederlandse Kleurenschool, for people who work with colour professionally.
Professional courses. Colour Science and Colour Consultancy, Colour Design, Colour Assessment, Colour Making and Pigments. Multi-day programmes in which theory and practice go hand in hand.
Online courses. NCS Colour Course, Online RAL Colour Training, General Colour Theory, Colour Psychology and Colour Symbolism, Chromophobia, and Applied Colour Technology I. To be followed whenever it suits you.
Workshops. Colour and Environmental Quality, Colour in Healthcare, Colour in Hospitality, Colour in Educational Institutions, Combining Colours and Harmony, and Colour in Interior Architecture.
The full programme, with dates and fees, is at kleurenschool.nl.
Consultancy — Nederlands Kleur Instituut
Alongside products and education, the SNKI carries out assignments for companies and institutions that want to bring colour under control.
- Colour formulation — working out a colour so that it is reproducible in production
- Product Colour Management — colour control across product lines, suppliers and materials
- Colour Standard Development — setting up and recording your own colour standard
- Colour disputes and arbitration — an independent judgement in a disagreement about colour
- Brand Visual Identity — fixing corporate colours so that they hold up in every medium
- Training and testing — colour vision tests and on-site training
- Project support — thinking along and measuring throughout a project
- Instrumentation and advice — choosing, calibrating and using measuring equipment
You can read more about these services at snki.nl.
Where we come from
The SNKI grew out of Color Technics (formerly Total Color Technics), NCS Colour Centre Nederland, the Nederlands Kleuren Centrum and the Stichting Nederlandse Kleurenschool.
The combined word and figurative mark "RAL COLOURS" is a registered trademark of RAL gGmbH, Bonn, and is used with the kind permission of the trademark holder.