Uniqueness of Color Notation in Publications of the British Color Council

Abstract

The British Color Council (BCC) was a color standards organization actively issuing publications from the 1930s to the 1950s. Their exquisite publications are distinctive for their color nomenclature and their own color order system. After the second edition of one of the publications was published in 1956, the organization ceased operations, and its whereabouts are unknown. This study analyzes its uniqueness by examining five documents published by the BCC and assumes that the BCC was influenced by British political isolationism, which resulted in avoiding quantitative notations from the United States and Germany. The use of color names, special codes, and numbers; their own interpretation of the terms “tone”, “tint and shade”; and a brown scale prove the BCC’s unique direction. However, the BCC’s color notation failed to become a global standard. The introduction of the Munsell Color System by the British Standards Institution in 1953, and the color atlas by Imperial Chemical Industries in 1969 might have caused the closure of the BCC.