You Won't Believe How Much Crayon Colors Have Changed In 100 Years

by N/A, 9 years ago | 1 min read

Over the last century or so, Crayola's crayon colors have changed significantly, perhaps even more than you thought.

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If you ever attended kindergarten, chances are you've heard of Crayola.

Crayola is the company behind virtually every crayon you've ever used. They've been the leading name in crayons for over 100 years. The company was initially founded in 1885, and began producing the wax crayons they're so famous for back in 1903. Then, the company only made 8 different colors. But today, they make 120 crayons of varying shades.

Here's a neat infographic, created by Stephen Von Worley for Data Point. It traces the beginnings of Crayola's eight simple crayon colors to the modern additions and divergences.

In case you can't tell, there are now 120 different crayon colors being manufactured by Crayola. Some have discontinued and been renamed along the way.

This all may seem a bit confusing, or having access to so many crayons may seem unnecessary. But I ask you this: why not have as many crayon colors as possible?

Crayon collecting is a real thing, and people need their color variety. After all, it's not only kids who color.

According to Stephen Von Worley of Data Pointed, there will be 330 different crayon colors manufactured by Crayola by the year 2050.

This is, of course, assuming that Crayola stays exponentially true to their yearly percentage addition to color variety. It's hard to imagine having that many different colors at your crayon-coloring disposal, isn't it? But it's important for kids like those above to have access to whatever their precious imaginations can muster up.