Blue labels may only be created by artists – their names will automatically appear on any label they write. A Blue label is created by first entering essential static information about the work (such as Title, Year and Materials) and uploading an image. Once satisfied with the information, the label can be locked and a unique serial number is randomly generated, producing a digital ‘Birth Certificate’ of the artwork.

Blue labels can be seen by all users but the locked information cannot be changed by anybody, including the artist. This locking process ensures that essential ontological information about artworks can be secured for posterity to artists’ exact specifications.

Purple labels are virtually identical to Blue labels, except that they are created, posthumously, by the artists’ estates, not by the artists themselves.

White labels are in essence traditional description sheets and can be created by any BlueLabel user – not just by artists or estates – and are private. Information is entered using the same data-entry protocols as for Blue and Purple labels. They are intended for confidential use, or for secure exchanges between and among parties: they can be thought of as pieces of paper – like notes, letters, telegrams or faxes. Users can create white labels of works they own and send them to artists or estates to have them converted into blue/purple labels; artists and galleries can create white labels of works in progress or works consigned to a forthcoming exhibition and disseminate these confidentially, etc.