Minion Yellow is an Illuminating New Pantone Color
As Minion fans, we are pretty excited about the announcement that the Minions now have their own official color or specific shade of yellow.
In mid April 2015, Pantone Color Institute® announced that the silly yellow minons have their own official color. The illuminating, energetic and fun-loving “Minion Yellow” is now an official Pantone® Color. This vibrant color of sunshine has the distinction of being the first character-branded hue; the color launch is tied to the upcoming new Minion Movie.
News of the minion color is spreading on social media via Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
with some help of Stuart, Kevin and Bob
Image: Pantone® Minion Yellow from Pantone®
The Facebook video in which the minions from the upcoming Minion Movie—Kevin, Bob and Stuart—enthusiastically show off the Minion Yellow comes and goes from Facebook. I’ve found it again and am embedding it again.
New favorite color! #Pantone #MinionYellow
Posted by Minions on Friday, April 24, 2015
The amusing video went viral on Facebook April 21 with over a million views last I saw.
Be forewarned about there are some shots of unclothed gender-less minions.
In the meantime, this video from Newsy Entertainments gives you a look at the Minion Yellow as well as peeks at the upcoming Minon-inspired fashions.
History of the Minion Yellow Color
Pharrell Williams, who created the music for Despicable Me, including the viral hit “Happy” came up with the idea of a specific Minion yellow, when working with the Pantone Color Institute®. They made the observation that people wanted to be adding more energizing, uplifting colors into their lives.
With the creation of Minion Yellow, this is the first time in Pantone’s history that a custom color or hue has been specifically created and then named after a character.
Also of note, this hue of yellow named after the minions is the the first new Pantone® color to be released by the color specialists in three years.
What colors come next? Perhaps Sexy Scarlet Overkill Red or Evil Minion Violent Violet?
I know I’ll be adding some yellow to my wardrobe, like maybe a bright pair of yellow happy-colored sneakers in honor of the minions.
Minion Yellow Color
The color of Hope, Joy & Optimism
The vibrant Minion Yellow custom hue was created specifically by the Pantone Color Institute® to capture the spirit of the fun-loving minions.
Pantone® color developers wanted to be sure that the color didn’t replicate one of the existing yellows already part of the Pantone® palette.
To ensure the colors were different they worked with the Illumination (Entertainment) animation team behind the Despicable Me and Minion Movie to create the “bello yellow” shade.
The Minion yellow was created by scientifically determining the actual average yellow of the various minions from the movies using spectroscopy and analyzing the various components in the yellow color. They measured the wavelength of Minion Yellow to make sure it was different from the other yellows in the Pantone catalog of colors.
I wonder if the official Pantone Color for 2016 will be the year of Minion Yellow.
Image: Pantone® Minion Yellow from Pantone®
Minion Yellow is the color of Hope, Joy & Optimism.
Estimating the Yellow Color Code
We have to wait until the newest minion hue is added in Summer 2015 to the next addition of the PANTONE Fashion, Home + Interiors color palette to officially look up the new Minion Yellow on the Pantone Color Finder and get the actual color code for Minion Yellow.
With a bit of sleuthing, using Colorzilla we did a sampling of the Minion Yellow Color and came up with the following HTML codes.
R: 249 G: 226 B: 96 |
R: 247 G:230 B: 98 |
R: 245 G: 224 B: 80 |
Note: Peeking at some of the background page codes from one of Pantone’s announcement pages, #f5e050 our third sample, appears to be a yellow that they are using in connection with Minion Yellow, which could be a good guestimate for now.
Descriptions of the Minion Yellow Color
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard so many people writing so poetically about a color, but all of the articles about the release of the minion-inspired yellow have been very excited and approving.
These silly yellow minions, even though their purpose is “to serve history’s most despicable masters,” somehow they have still managed to embody the happy, sweet, child-like, playful, mischievous, energetic, enthusiasm of childhood. Just watching the crazy antics of these yellow critters puts a smile on one’s face.
In the press release for the new color, Minion Yellow is described as “an illuminating, energetic, friendly and fun-loving yellow shade that immediately calls out to you.”
I think that a lot of the enthusiasm for the yellow color release is because these yellow minions are linked to Pharrell William’s “Happy” song written for Despicable Me 2.
The joyful song that inspired people to dance was a viral, happiness-promoting sensation in 2014 and the best-selling song for 2014. The color yellow was included as part of the video, perhaps recognizing that this color makes people feel happy.
Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute goes on to compare this new shade of yellow to that of the sun…
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
Here is a list of some of the words and phrases being used to describe Minion Yellow:
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According to Pantone® The resulting new shade of 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.
Minion Bello Yellow – Coming to a Store Nearby
To coincide with the release of the Minion Movie, Bello Yellow apparel, accessories and products will be making their way to the stores.
The “Minions Bello Yellow Collection” will debut a limited-edition apparel and accessories in June at Selfridges in the U.K.
This limited-edition collection will feature U.K. designers Rupert Sanderson, Giles Deacon, Piers Atkinson, Tatty Devine and Criminal Damage. Denim designs will also be coming from SJYP, a label from South Korea.
The Parisian boutique, Colette will be releasing a collection in July 2015. Word is that the line will be expanding distribution globally in July.
Peek at the collection in the Women’s Wear Daily article on ‘Despicable Me’ Minions Inspire Fashion Line.
Jamie Stevens, Executive Vice President, Global Retail Development, Universal Partnerships & Licensing worked with Pantone® in developing this new marketing concept of a character-branded hue. He noted in the press release that the Pantone color experts saw a market demand for a new, energetic yellow. They looked to the Minions, as global pop culture icons, to add a new shade of yellow into its yellow spectrum.
Image: Bellow Yellow from Minions on Facebook
Related Articles on Minon Yellow
For more about the new Minion Yellow take a look at the official announcements from the Pantone Color Institute® and from Fast CoCreate.
- Minion Yellow Pantone Color Institute® Announces PANTONE Minion Yellow
- Pantone, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Partnerships & Licensing unveil industry’s first-ever character-branded color inspired by Illumination’s Minions
- How a Movie Co-Branding Campaign Spawned a Brand New Color: Minion Yellow
Make Your Own Minion Yellow Costume
In anticipation of the new Minion Movie we updated our Yellow Minion Costume pages to help you dress up like your favorite illuminating, energetic, friendly and fun-loving sidekick. You might also want to make the DIY Bello Yellow, Birthday Suit Minion Costume inspired by the official minion bellow yellow color.
- DIY Yellow Minion Costumes for the Minion Movie
- DIY Yellow Minion Costumes a.k.a. the original Silly Ones
- 5 Easy Ways to Make Minion Goggles or Glasses
- Yellow Minion DIY Hair, Hats and Makeup Ideas
We’ll be pulling together our own collection of costumes related to the Minion Movie, featuring the yellow minions, Scarlet and Herb Overkill.