My Crayon Project

Read the campaign story

The documented programme combines a physical object with a guided activity. According to the campaign and production accounts, Shiseido scientists helped create colour profiles, which were matched to crayons. Children then used the colours in self-portraits and drawings of classmates. The sources establish a 2018 programme and identify R/GA Tokyo and TOKYO’s production role. They do not provide a controlled evaluation of bullying or long-term attitudes.

Editorial interpretation: the creative move changes the available materials before asking for a changed belief. A standard set of colours can silently imply that one option is normal. A more personal palette makes variation tangible, and exchanging crayons gives that variation a social meaning. The learning experience depends on facilitation, not simply on giving each child a custom product.

The subject also requires care. Skin colour is not a complete account of identity, and a matching exercise must not become a ranking or a test of belonging. Children should not be made responsible for educating peers about discrimination through public exposure. This case is most useful as a design question: how can an ordinary tool make room for more people while protecting their dignity, privacy and ability to decline participation?

A useful follow-up is whether the improved materials remain available after the filmed session. A campaign-only intervention can create a striking contrast without changing the ordinary classroom. For another brief, budget for maintenance, replacement and facilitator support before deciding how much to spend on documenting the launch.

Change the default in the materials

Audit the assumptions built into a form, kit, example or interface before writing a message about inclusion. Ask who cannot recognise themselves in the available choices and whether the choices can be expanded without forcing disclosure. A useful redesign can remove a small repeated exclusion. Test it with the intended community rather than relying on the team’s interpretation. Avoid making one group a special exception that requires extra effort. The aim is a better normal experience, not a ceremonial variation available only during a campaign launch.

Design the facilitation as carefully as the object

An activity about difference can create discomfort if participants are compared or singled out. Work with qualified educators and community advisers to set the language, consent process and response to difficult comments. Give people several ways to participate and a comfortable way not to participate. The facilitator should know what to do if the exercise reveals an existing problem that the campaign cannot solve. A beautiful object is not sufficient safeguarding. Plan the classroom or workshop experience independently of any filming requirements or promotional deadline.

Keep learning evidence proportionate

A positive reaction during an activity does not establish a durable change in attitudes. Ask what participants understood and what the exercise enabled them to do, without collecting unnecessary personal data. For work involving children, use appropriate institutional permissions, parental consent where required and child assent. Avoid publishing identifiable profiles merely because they make an appealing case film. Longer-term educational claims need a suitable research design. A campaign can demonstrate a thoughtful material intervention while acknowledging that its broader social impact has not been established.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: a design team could review an adult-facing workshop kit with a small, paid group of participants and an inclusion specialist. Ask which default examples or materials exclude relevant experiences, then prototype a broader set of options. Use fictional scenarios rather than collecting biometric or identity data. Run the revised exercise without cameras and ask participants whether it supports the task more comfortably. Document changes in the tool and unresolved concerns, not personal stories unless people separately volunteer them with informed consent. This tests inclusive material design without reproducing a sensitive classroom or skin-scanning programme.

Measure task participation, perceived choice, comprehension, unwanted disclosure and facilitator observations. Do not equate workshop enjoyment with reduced discrimination.

Stop if participation pressures people to disclose identity information, if comparisons become stigmatizing or if appropriate educational and safeguarding oversight is absent.