The Munsell color system provides a standardized way to describe colors based on three attributes: hue, value, and chroma. Albert Munsell developed the system in the early 1900s to bring order and precision to communicating about color. The Munsell system arranges all colors in a three-dimensional color space and allows any color to be accurately specified using a numerical notation of its hue, value, and chroma. The system finds wide application in fields like art, design, agriculture, science, and quality control.

1. HAWASSA UNIVERSITY
Faculty Of Manufacturing
Department Of Textile and Garment Engineering
Color Measurement and Communication Seminar
Munsell Color Order System
By Group 1 Members
April 2021

2. Content
History of Munsell color system
Introduction to Munsell color system
Munsell Color Attributes
Munselll Color space and solid
Munsell color naming
Munsell color Tree
Munsell color notation
How to Read Munsell Color Chart?
System Standards
Application areas
Advantages and limitations

3. History of Munsell Color Order System
• He created "rational
way to describe color"
that would use decimal
notation instead of color
names which he could
use to teach his
students about color.
• He first started work
on the system in 1898
and published it in full
form in A Color
Notation in 1905.
• Albert Munsell, an
artist and professor
of art at the
Massachusetts
Normal Art School

4. …History
• In colorimetry, the Munsell
color system is a color space
that specifies colors based
on three properties of color:
hue (basic color), Chroma
(color intensity), and value
(lightness).
• Munsell was the first to
separate hue, value, and
Chroma into
perceptually uniform
and independent
dimension
• He was the first to
illustrate the colors
systematically in three-
dimensional space.

5. Introduction
Munsell color order system:
• Munsell brought clarity to
color communication by
establishing an orderly
system for accurately
identifying every color
that exists
• It defines colors by
measured scales of hue,
value, and Chroma, which
correspond respectively
to dominant wavelength,
brightness, and
strength or purity
• The system is also a
color space for
describing color of
surfaces. It uses an
irregular 3-dimensional
color space.
• The dimensions are hue,
value and Chroma

6. Munsell Color Attributes

7. …Attributes
Munsell Hue • Hue is that attribute of
a color by which we
distinguish red from
green, blue from
yellow…
• There is a natural order
of hues: red, yellow,
green, blue, purple.
• One can mix paints of
adjacent colors in this
series and obtain a
continuous variation
from one to the other.

8. …Hues
Primary and Secondary
Hue
• R,Y, G, B and P are
called primary hues
• The intermediates
between them namely
YR, GY, BG, PB and RP
five secondary hues
• Secondary are
equidistant between the
primaries.

9. …Attributes
Munsell Value • Value indicates the lightness
of a color.
• The scale of value ranges
from 0 for pure black to 10
for pure white via axis.
• The value scale applies to
chromatic as well as neutral
colors

10. …Attributes
Munsell Chroma • Chroma is the departure
degree of a color from the
neutral color of the same
value
• Colors of low Chroma are
sometimes called “weak,”
while those of high
Chroma are said to be
“strong,” or “vivid

11. Color Description With Hue, Value and Chroma

12. Munsell Color Space and Solid
Munsell color space
– Three-dimensional
arrangement of
colors with three
attributes
Munsell Color Solid
– All colors lie within a
specific region of
Munsell color space
called the “Munsell
color solid

13. Munsell Color Naming
Munsell Color Naming
– Munsell has created a
base-10 system for
naming colors, using
five primary hues and
five secondary, or
intermediates
– Subdividing each hue
into 10 steps.
– 100 colors in total

14. Munsell Color Tree
• Three-dimensional
representation of the
Munsell system so called
the Munsell color tree
• The vertical trunk of this
Color Tree corresponds to
the vertical value-scale
axis of the sphere
• The branches extend
outward horizontally from
the trunk an each branch
represents a series of
increasing in Chroma
(constant HUE &VALUE )
• HUES are spaced at equal
intervals around the trunk

15. Munsell Color Notation
• It is representation
of color with the
three color
attribute
• H V/C
– “10R” is the hue, meaning
a red which leans toward
orange rather than
purple
– 7 is the value, which is
two steps above middle
gray
– 6 is the Chroma, which is
relatively strong in
nature.

16. How to Read Munsell Color Chart?
The reading process
involves two important
steps
Step 1: Understanding
Color Attributes
Hue is the color such as
red, green, blue….
Value: is indicated with a
number i.e. 2, 4, 6…The
value scale runs vertically
Chroma: Chroma is
indicated with a number,
typically in the range of 2-
14. Its scale runs
horizontally

17. …Reading
Step 2:
Reading Color Notations
Each color is designated
with what is so far
referred to as a color
notation
Notation: 5R 7/2
• 5R is the Hue
• 7 is the Value
• 2 is the Chroma
These colors can then
be referenced on a
Munsell color chart to
see what the notation
looks like.

18. Munsell Color System Standards and Their
Application
Popular applications for Munsell color standards:
– Designers and brand owners use them to visually
communicate color to suppliers
– Munsell government standards help the U.S.
Department of Agriculture grade and timely
harvest produce
– Munsell environmental color communication
standards have been specially developed to help
archeologists, botanists, geologists and scientists
reveal clues about our environment

19. Application Areas of Munsell Color Order
System
Munsell color order system is used in:
– A soil scientist accurately assessing the makeup of
the soil in the field
– An artist in the studio replicating colors when
mixing paints or materials
– Quality control experts making sure final product
colors match the set standard.
– Electricians staying safe using standard color
codes
– A food scientist using custom colors to bring
consistent and reliable results

20. Advantage of the Color Order System from
Munsell
Some Advantages
– Loose and unrelated color terms are replaced by a
definite notation
– New colors in no way disturb the orderly
classification as a place is already awaiting them.
– Color may be easily and rapidly specified by direct
perceptual comparison
– Color communication made easy!
– Satisfies the legal community
– Easily used directly in the field!

21. Limitations of the system
Practical disadvantages of Munsell color system:
– Colors are defined only for a two-degree observer
and a C illuminant
– No analytical expressions to convert the CIE
system to the Munsell system, or vice versa, exist