Pantone's 'Despicable' Announcement: Minion Yellow Is Now a Color
The yellowish hue spins off the popular minions from "Despicable Me."
— -- A "despicable" color is making a debut.
The Pantone Color Institute, regarded as a leading authority on color, defining and standardizing color for the design world, recently announced the unveiling of “minion yellow,” named after characters from the Despicable Me franchise that are soon to be featured in a spinoff movie, "Minions."
Minion yellow “is an illuminating, energetic, friendly and fun-loving yellow shade that immediately calls out to you,” according to Pantone’s website.
The new color “heightens awareness and creates clarity, lighting the way to the intelligence, originality and the resourcefulness of an open mind,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “This is the color of hope, joy and optimism.”
The partnership between "Minions" and Pantone came to be when Pharrell Williams, who has done music for the Despicable Me franchise, thought of creating a “minion yellow.” Pantone and Illumination Entertainment worked closely to come up with a color that didn’t already exist, and "to identify the most pure representation of the minions’ iconic yellow color.”
As an “extroverted hue, [minion yellow] projects playfulness, warmth, and is suggestive of intellectual curiosity and enlightenment,” the company said.
The color will be added to Pantone's Fashion, Home and Interiors color palette, the company said.
The movie "Minions" opens on July 10.