There's nothing quite like a brand-new box of crayons. The myriad color options — which, in our short lifetimes, have exploded to include nuanced shades such as "burnt sienna" and "laser lemon" — just beg to be explored. It's hard to believe the original box of Crayolas contained just eight hues. Today, there are 120. And, according to new data mapping, there will be 330 crayon shades by 2050.
The below graphic was created by Stephen Von Worley, a visualization researcher. He and a friend started with Wikipedia data about the 16-count Crayola box used by schools in 1935. From there, they found the average growth rate of new color additions — 2.56% annually. This augmentation rate means that every 28 years, the number of colors Crayola offers doubles.
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All of this data leads to the mind-boggling calculation that by 2050, the crayon manufacturer could be offering as many as 330 different colors. Do they even have names for all of these hues? Is the nomenclature going to have to get really specific? Will we have corn yellow, banana yellow, candy-corn yellow, electric yellow, goldfinch, early sunset, late sunset, golden hour, etc.? Maybe Crayola can do a cross-promotion with Instagram and release a special-edition box named after filters like Mayfair, Valencia, et al.
The color possibilities are truly endless, especially when you look at the chart below. Also, when will Crayola finally release a limited-edition box with all of the colors on Joseph's coat? It was red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ocher and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn... (Business Insider)
Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Von Worley/Data Pointed.