Abstract: The specification describes a label used for the codification of various articles such as files, tapes, cassettes, and the like. The labels are color-coded and each label bears to one side of its colored field a machine readable marking with a pair of visual readable indicium in the colored field. Each label is identifiable by color, by its machine readable marking, and by its visual indicium. When working with labels as described above, there is no need to provide additional labels to complete the code. The code on each article in the system is a unique one, so that each article is readily discernable from all other articles in the system by both visual and machine inspection.