The first-ever character-branded PANTONE Color inspired by Illumination Entertainment’s Minions.

Pantone Color Institute is excited to announce the creation of an official new PANTONE Color, Minion Yellow. Based on the Minions from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Meglobal film franchise, including the upcoming prequel Minions, PANTONE Minion Yellow is an illuminating, energetic, friendly and fun-loving yellow shade that immediately calls out to you.

Just as the sun’s rays enliven us, PANTONE Minion Yellow is a color that heightens awareness and creates clarity, lighting the way to the intelligence, originality and the resourcefulness of an open mind – this is the color of hope, joy and optimism.
— Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute.

The partnership was born when Pharrell Williams, who helped create the music for the Despicable Me franchise, came up with the idea while the Pantone Color Institute, the research arm of the company that charts global color trends and studies how color influences human thought processes, emotions and physical reactions, noted the desire of the consumer to add more energizing color into their lives. Pantone worked closely with the animation team at Illumination Entertainment to review the existing color range and to identify the most pure representation of the Minions’ iconic yellow color. The resulting PANTONE Minion Yellow is a custom color designed to represent the sweet and subversive characters. An extroverted hue, it projects playfulness and warmth and is suggestive of intellectual curiosity and enlightenment.

“Color is contextual and right now there is a desire for colors that are more vibrant and uplifting. This is especially the case with the yellows, so given the worldwide popularity of the Minions, it seemed only natural to name a color after a character for the first time in our history,” said Laurie Pressman, Vice President, Pantone Color Institute. “When developing the color, we worked directly with the animation team at Illumination, and we thoughtfully considered the characters’ aura to ensure PANTONE Minion Yellow is the exact right hue.”

“Pantone has long established its reputation as the global color authority,” said Jamie Stevens, Executive Vice President, Global Retail Development, Universal Partnerships & Licensing. “We are thrilled that their color experts saw market demand for yellow and looked to the Minions, as global pop culture icons, to add into its yellow spectrum.”

The custom PANTONE Minion Yellow color will be added to the PANTONE Fashion, Home + Interiors color palette with the next color addition.

Minions opens in theaters on July 10th, 2015.

All images courtesy of PANTONE – www.pantone.com