By Mark Kotterink, director of the Dutch Colour Institute (SNKI) · Published 21 October 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026

Identifying an NCS colour in five steps

You want to touch up or match an existing wall, window frame or material, but nobody knows the colour. With an NCS fan deck, possibly a colour reader and a loose colour sample, you can find the code yourself. This is how to go about it.

An NCS code describes how a colour looks. So you are looking for the standard colour closest to the surface. Sometimes that is an exact match, sometimes the best approximation. The five steps below help you support that choice properly.

1. Compare with a fan deck in daylight

Start with your eye. That works best in even daylight without direct sun, for example at a north-facing window or on an overcast day. Artificial light and bright sun distort the colour.

• Clean a small patch of the surface. Dirt and grease make a colour duller.
• Choose a spot that has not been discoloured by sun or wear, for example behind a cupboard or a switch plate.
• First find the hue: which part of the colour circle, for example yellow with some red (Y20R) or neutral (N).
• Then find the nuance within that hue: how dark (blackness) and how colourful (chromaticness).
• Hold the sample flat against the surface, not in the air in front of it. That way the same light falls on both.
• Write down the two or three closest codes.

The NCS Index 2050 contains all 2050 standard colours, with a separate section for white, grey and black. For whites and greys, the NCS WS 160 offers larger samples, which makes comparing easier.

2. Measure with a colour reader

A colour reader such as the NCS Colourpin II or the Colourpin PRO gives the nearest NCS standard colour within a few seconds. Use it as a second opinion alongside your eye, not as a replacement.

• Calibrate first: the Colourpin II at every connection with the calibration cap, the PRO every 1000 scans with the white tile.
• Only measure on a flat, clean area. Curved or coarsely textured surfaces give a less reliable result.
• Measure in three or more places. If the same code keeps coming back, the result is reliable.
• Watch the gloss. With the Colourpin II gloss affects the reading; according to NCS, the PRO measures independently of gloss.

If the reader and your eye give a different code, place both candidates as samples next to the surface. That is step 3.

3. Order a loose sample to check

A fan deck sample is small. Order a loose, original NCS colour sample of the best candidates, preferably in A5 or A4. Hold it against the surface on site and look in daylight and under the artificial light normally used there.

If you are torn between two codes, order both. Two samples cost less than repainting a wall.

• Loose NCS colour samples, from A9 to A4 →
• Neutral colour samples: white, grey and black →

4. Take gloss and substrate into account

The same colour looks different on a different surface. That is why a colour always comes with a gloss level.

• Gloss: a glossy surface usually looks deeper and fuller than a matt surface in the same colour, but it also mirrors light. Look from different angles.
• Texture: plaster, wood grain and textile catch shadow and therefore look slightly darker than a smooth sample.
• Substrate: a thin coat lets the substrate show through, and a highly absorbent substrate can make a colour duller.
• Ageing: old paint may have yellowed or faded. You identify today's colour, not the original one.

With the NCS Gloss Scale you judge the gloss level by eye. The scale has seven steps, from 2 (full matt) to 95 (full gloss), measured at 60°.

5. Pass the code on correctly

Give the paint shop or painter the full code, with the S and the space: S 1002-Y50R. An incomplete or wrongly copied code leads to mistakes. Also pass on:

The paint shop mixes the colour using its own recipe. That recipe is an approximation of the NCS sample. So have a test patch applied first and compare it with the sample before the whole wall is painted.

Frequently asked questions

Mark Kotterink, director of SNKI. Colour expert, lecturer and researcher with 35 years of experience in colour technology and colour application.