
Why Pencils Are Yellow (2017) - colinprince
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-little-known-reason-pencils-yellow
======
KirinDave
So the story is, as it is for nearly every physical artifact in my life,
"Because people are easily lured by bright objects and catchy marketing into
associating quality with anything but the quality of the goods."

I'm reminded of User Testing at Powerset. When we did unbranded search testing
of Wikipedia, late-stage Powerset usually won most search comparisons by
users. But if we branded the search results against Google, we lost. At first
we thought this was an artifact of the test data, but then we ran an
experiment where we randomly assigned a brand to our search results and asked
users to rank them. Same GvP comparison. The Google branding won. We took it a
step further: sometimes random recall searches crept in (there aas essentially
no logic to what we put in front of the users other than keyword match). If
those got branded "Google", sometimes they still won just by the power of
brand association, even against Powerset's sophisticated NL-powered search.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> So the story is, as it is for nearly every physical artifact in my life,
> "Because people are easily lured by bright objects and catchy marketing into
> associating quality with anything but the quality of the goods."

Bright? According to the article, the pencils were painted yellow to symbolize
China, because their graphite was sourced from Siberia. (Seems like a stretch,
but that's what it says...)

What does brightness have to do with it?

~~~
KirinDave
It's an adjective. An adjective not uncommonly associated with the hues in
question. It's also not uncommon as a turn of phrase in english to say,
"people are distracted by the newest bright and shiny object." So I took the
opportunity.

Is this... a real question? This seems like a fake question.

~~~
y_tho
It's not a fake question, it's question your assertion (which comes with no
citation) regarding the origin of the colour yellow used in pencils, which
contradicts the origin story described in the article.

~~~
KirinDave
I'm sorry, but which part of calling the color yellow "bright" conflicts with
the article's presented content in any way?

------
j0e1
Growing up in India, all the pencils I used were red and black striped made by
Nataraj. I remember seeing yellow pencils in western movies though.

[https://cwpencils.com/collections/nataraj/products/621-hb-
pe...](https://cwpencils.com/collections/nataraj/products/621-hb-pencil)

~~~
Nition
Probably the most common colour in New Zealand is that red and black stripe as
well, but usually made by Staedtler[0]. Some other brands also copy the same
style[1].

Seems like we need another article on Why Pencils Are Red And Black.

[0] [https://i.imgur.com/AMbEQzT.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/AMbEQzT.jpg)

[1] e.g. [https://i.imgur.com/mmN943m.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/mmN943m.jpg)

~~~
murrayb
Yep same in Australia

------
Symbiote
Almost all the pencils in my childhood were red. The manufacturer was Berol.

Of course, my schools didn't necessarily buy the highest quality pencils for
the children, and they probably all came from the same supplier.

The high-quality ones, which a relative who was a draughtsman used, were dark
green [1]

[1] [https://www.ebay.ie/itm/12-x-Berol-Venus-H-Fine-Quality-
Writ...](https://www.ebay.ie/itm/12-x-Berol-Venus-H-Fine-Quality-Writing-
Drawing-Pencils-Vintage-White-Tip/123380819314)

~~~
b5
Across the water in Scotland, the most common pencils in school were black and
yellow striped -- the Staedtler Noris, back then made in Wales and stamped
"Made in Great Britain". These were the ones the school provided and also the
ones parents bought. Still a great pencil today, but no longer made in the UK.

High-quality ones, used by a couple of artists and a draughtsman my parents
knew, were blue: Staedtler Mars Lumographs, again made then in the UK, but now
only made in Germany. Still an even better pencil than the Noris.

I remember Berol "Handwriting" pens, red with a white nib that produced blue
ink, but never liked them or used them much. Berol had colouring pencils sewn
up when I was in school.

~~~
lb1lf
Across yet another pond, in Norway, my childhood school pencils were Norises
in primary whereas in secondary we got Lumographs.

I still can vividly recall the sense of awe whenever I entered the storage
room in which the school kept all consumables - box upon box of pencils,
erasers, rulers, notebooks...

Somewhat of a writing fetishist to this day - I have a box of Lumographs in
the office for field notes, whereas meeting notes and such are mostly done
with a fountain pen.

------
airstrike
In my mind, Faber-Castell will forever be the ultimate pencil. I think yellow
pencils are a staple of American culture but in my mind pencils are green...

[http://www.fabercastell.com/products/pencils/GraphitepencilC...](http://www.fabercastell.com/products/pencils/GraphitepencilCastell9000Perfectpencilsparepencil/119038)

~~~
martyvis
How is this particular item a "spare" pencil? > Spare pencil for the Castell
9000 perfect pencil

Surely any time you buy a new pencil it is a spare or replacement for the
pencil you already have?

~~~
gatesphere
I could be wrong, but I think it means 'spare' as in 'singular' or 'loose',
not as in 'replacement' or 'extra'.

~~~
chrisseaton
No it's spare as in replacement. It's a replacement pencil for a pencil
holder. That's why it's so short.

------
tapanjk
The article can as well be “Why Pencils are XYZ” where XYZ depends on the
country. Once a product is successfull, the original manufacturer and their
competitors just continue to copy the attributes of the sucessful product
until people can no longer imagine the same product with very different
attributes. That is why “Why pencils are yellow” makes sense only in the US,
while people living elsewhere are saying: nope, not where I live.

------
t3ra
Explains my confusion with early internet "cliparts" and icons being always in
yellow. I am sure most non westerns might be equally confused.

Pencil meant black and red for us in India - Natraj FTW

~~~
fnordprefect
It's not even Western, from my experience it's just the US. In Australia, I
don't think I'd ever seen a yellow pencil, other than one that came in a set
of coloured pencils for art. I hadn't realised it was the norm in the US until
relatively recently.

We have these, just for example:

[https://www.faber-
castell.com/products/GraphitepencilGoldfab...](https://www.faber-
castell.com/products/GraphitepencilGoldfaber1221HB/112500)

[https://www.staedtler.com.au/en/products/pencils-
accessories...](https://www.staedtler.com.au/en/products/pencils-
accessories/pencils/tradition-110-pencil/)

~~~
gdrulia
Definitely not just US. I'm from Lithuania and these were the pencils we all
used [0]. That was around 1992 and later, so could have been a relic from
Soviets.

Only in later years green ones appeared and yellow with black stripes.

[0] - [https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/lead-pencil-isolated-
white-b...](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/lead-pencil-isolated-white-
background-51944149.jpg)

~~~
int_19h
I distinctly recall yellow pencils in the USSR. Not that it was the only
color, but it was definitely a popular one.

Looking it up, apparently this has something to do with pencils being
manufactured in early (1920s) USSR by an American entrepreneur:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Hammer#Career](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Hammer#Career)

[https://i.imgur.com/vpObXqU.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/vpObXqU.jpg)

Eventually the Soviet government bought the entire operation from him, and
thenceforth it became this:

[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE...](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B4_%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%88%D1%83%D1%89%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B6%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%BE_%D0%B8_%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%82%D0%B8)

And they probably just continued to use yellow, because why not?

------
biztos
I remember all the pencils being yellow in school (in California), some at
home being red and maybe also some blue ones, and then in Germany of course a
lot of green.

These days the general-purpose pencils I occasionally use are no "color" at
all:

[https://www.leadfast.org/blog/2017/8/11/generals-cedar-
point...](https://www.leadfast.org/blog/2017/8/11/generals-cedar-pointe-
pencil-review)

------
vanous
Yes, yellow were the pencils of my childhood. But finally I learned what Koh-
i-noor stands for, never bothered to Czech. Pun intended :) CZ citizen here.

~~~
babak_ap
The article doesn't mention that "Koh-i-Noor" is Persian for "Mountain of
Light" [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koh-i-
Noor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koh-i-Noor)]

------
Insanity
I associate it with these actually:
[https://hobbyklei.nl/1816-large_default/bic-potlood-
gilbert-...](https://hobbyklei.nl/1816-large_default/bic-potlood-gilbert-
blister-van-2-stuks.jpg)

Maybe a Belgian / Netherlands thing? Or perhaps just me :)

~~~
ThePadawan
We did have yellow pens in Germany, but thinking back on it, the forest green
of Faber-Castell [0] was the color I would associate with pencils the most.

[0] [https://www.faber-
castell.com/products/GraphitepencilCastell...](https://www.faber-
castell.com/products/GraphitepencilCastell9000JumboHB/119300)

~~~
HarryHirsch
Also blue. Staedler was blue, with a black top.

~~~
eterm
Our school Staedler HB pencils were all yellow and black such as these:
[https://www.glsed.co.uk/product/stationery/pencils/blacklead...](https://www.glsed.co.uk/product/stationery/pencils/blacklead/staedtler-
hb-graphite-noris-pencils-pack-of-72/g290387)

The occassional ones were red and black, I think those were more likely to be
'B' or '2B' ones, but it's been longer than I can remeber since I used such a
pencil.

------
Udik
... except when they aren't.

This reminds me of the famous "why manhole covers are round" question. They
aren't, as a quick look at the Wikipedia page can confirm:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole)

------
isomorph
They aren’t. Nice bit of local history for Americans though!

------
Johnny555
I think this needs more detail:

 _In China, yellow had long been tied to royalty... Eventually, the shade came
to represent happiness, glory, and wisdom._

Was this true outside of China too? Did buyers in the western world really
associate the color with Chinese Royalty? Or did they just like the bright
color?

~~~
macintux
Disclaimer: pure speculation follows. Ignorance abounds.

In that era, I believe there was an obsessive interest in all things
"Oriental". China and Japan were both still very mysterious, with Japan having
been forced to open up in the 2nd half of the 19th century, and China
similarly unwillingly thrust onto the world stage by the Opium Wars in the
same timeframe.

So, it wouldn't surprise me that a company would be able to leverage the
interest in China via marketing. Maybe people didn't know of the association
with yellow before the marketing, but I'd bet they did after.

------
hevi_jos
I was raised in Europe, my pencils were always blue like those:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Pencils_...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Pencils_hb.jpg)
[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2r0Y8HUTeMI/UQVsbzQceKI/AAAAAAAAB5...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2r0Y8HUTeMI/UQVsbzQceKI/AAAAAAAAB5g/PF_Q4SXiQ1k/s1600/staedtlernorica1.JPG)

I was surprised the first time I saw a yellow pencil, like the IKEA ones.

~~~
richev
Yellow IKEA pencils - in what country? I've only seen unpainted ones (in the
UK, and also the US from what I remember, circa 2004-5), with IKEA printed in
black on the side.

------
jimjimjim
Red and Black stripes. I don't think i've ever held a yellow pencil.

------
notatoad
article appears to be down, pastebin of google cache:
[https://pastebin.com/W7ZXM6Vy](https://pastebin.com/W7ZXM6Vy)

~~~
basch
easier to read -- [https://telegra.ph/The-Little-Known-Reason-Pencils-Are-
Yello...](https://telegra.ph/The-Little-Known-Reason-Pencils-Are-Yellow-10-31)

------
RoutinePlayer
My reading skills are going down. I was expecting a punchline delivery to the
reason why pencils are mostly yellow: "Essentially, because of marketing".
Just wasted 5 minutes of my life.

------
martinsuchan
I'm Czech and never heard about this story. I knew about Hardmuth and why Koh-
I-Noor was used, but the story of the color was new to me, thanks!

------
dv_dt
At the time, many yellow paints had lead in them. I wonder of that was the
true then... makes me think about chewed-upon pencils.

~~~
rdtsc
Or cadmium is also a yellow pigment. I do remember chewing on my pencils.
Maybe I should get a lead blood test. Or maybe I shouldn't cause it's too late
anyway...

~~~
c0nfused
It may be tough to detect vs the background noise in the United States these
days,
[https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1DE1H2)

------
crispinb
Because you're a parochial American?

------
logfromblammo
My pencils have been plastic and steel as far back as I can remember, with 0.5
mm HB rods in the good ones, and 0.7mm HB in the disposables.

During some tests, some teachers just couldn't believe that HB and #2 were the
same thing, so that's about the only time I wrote with painted wood.

~~~
technofiend
Fark yeah. I'd give real money to get my 9th grade book bag back! HP 11C
scientific calculator, drafting supplies including a bunch of mechanical
pencils and fancy erasers, and a copy of the HHGTTG. Pure nostalgia right
there.

~~~
macintux
A few years back HP manufactured a few new HP-15C calculators as a limited
edition. I was lucky enough to hear about it early and buy one.

I see they're now on Amazon for crazy high prices, so I assume they're no
longer in production.

------
viburnum
Borrowdale is only seven miles from Derwent. Were there other English pencil
makers in the area?

------
KamiCrit
I'm pretty sure “natural polished” pencils could make a major comeback. Dare I
say for the hipsters? Could add an environmental spin on it as well.

------
kchoudhu
All my pencils growing up were either red/black or yellow/black, depending on
how hard they were.

I miss Staedtler pencils.

------
baddash
So it has its origins in bullshit. Great.

------
blt
Koh-I-Noor still makes high quality art supplies, btw.

------
choot
I thought this is because School busss color is Yellow so everything yellow
identifies things which has to do with students.

------
tsumnia
"Hardtmuth settled on yellow to communicate the graphite’s geographical
origins", China because "yellow had long been tied to royalty."

Please stop clickbait.

~~~
narag
Without the clickbait title, you might have missed the beautiful pop-up that
obscures the entire window requesting a subscription.

Nowadays, every page seems to have one of those or the cookie disclaimer.
Advertisers and idiotic laws are close to reaching their goal of definitely
ruining web experience.

------
deepspace
I stopped reading and mentally discarded the article as trash upon
encountering the phrase "diamonds are graphite".

