Crayola Receives Open Plea To Change 24-Pack To Better Teach Color Theory

Photo 121758127 © Jerry Coli | Dreamstime.com

Crayola is among many a child’s first introductions to the world of imagination, placing the power of coloring outside the boxes to their little fingertips.

One educator, however, believes there’s a tiny yet significant change that Crayola can make to its 24-pack of crayons to further facilitate learning for kids. Peter Donahue, otherwise known as the ‘Color Nerd’ on TikTok (via Boing Boing), has posted an open letter asking the art supplies brand to revise the selection to make learning about complementary colors easier and more accessible in the classroom.

Donahue points out that the 24 crayons in the box don’t have an even progression, with 18 of them being full chroma hues. Plotting the spectrum across a perceptual color space, he reveals irregularities that make it harder for children to understand color theory.

@color.nerd

this is serious business. #colortheory #artandscience #colorwheel #artteacher #steameducation #complementarycolors #crayola #crayons

♬ original sound - color.nerd

“So why aren’t they more evenly spaced?” the artist questions. “You wouldn’t need to create new colors to do this,” he continues, adding that the right shades can be drawn from the existing 120-pack.

Donahue goes on to share his proposed assortment, which is more evenly stepped perceptually. When you paired opposing hues across a wheel, you’d find they were nearly perfectly complementary to one another too, which would help to teach young learners about color coordination.

@color.nerd

a visual comparison of the Crayola 24 pack against my proposed pack. #crayons #crayola #complementarycolors #artteacher #colorwheel #artandscience #colortheory

♬ original sound - color.nerd

[via Boing Boing and Color Nerd, cover photo 121758127 © Jerry Coli | Dreamstime.com]