THE KING OF COLOR<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\nIn THE KING OF COLOR, director Patrick Creadon and design consultant Sean Adams explore the life and legacy of Lawrence “Larry” Herbert\u2014the largely unsung visionary behind the Pantone Matching System (PMS)\u2014and, in doing so, illuminate how one man quietly transformed the way the world sees, communicates, and standardizes color across all industries.<\/p>\n
Now 96 years old, Herbert grew up in Depression-era Brooklyn at a time when color was anything but precise. Printing was inconsistent, subjective, and often chaotic. From that environment emerged an idea that would ultimately establish a universal language for color\u2014one that reshaped creative industries, manufacturing, branding, and everyday life. Directed by Creadon (Wordplay, Hesburgh<\/em>), the documentary features an intimate, exclusive interview with Herbert himself, anchoring the film in the voice and perspective of its remarkable subject.<\/p>\nCreadon\u2019s path to Herbert began unexpectedly. As he explains, a mutual friend approached him with what was jokingly described as \u201ca bad idea\u201d\u2014the story of a 95-year-old inventor in Palm Beach, Florida, ready to tell his life story. Before Pantone was even mentioned, Creadon was intrigued by the notion of someone at that stage of life reflecting on a full arc of creation and consequence. When he learned the inventor was Larry Herbert, the connection became personal.<\/p>\n
As you’ll hear, Creadon first encountered Pantone in film school in the early 1990s and had long been fascinated by its precision, numbering system, and the idea of color as a kind of high-tech language. Meeting Herbert in person sealed the project almost immediately. Within minutes, Creadon knew he wanted to make the film\u2014drawn equally to Herbert\u2019s sharp humor and vitality, and to the improbable world he created. It was a story, he realized, that could resonate with both professionals who use Pantone daily and audiences who have never heard of it, yet still live in what he describes as a \u201cPantone world\u201d without realizing it.<\/p>\n
To deepen the film\u2019s exploration of color itself, Creadon brought in Sean Adams\u2014an acclaimed designer, author, and educator whose work centers on making color accessible and meaningful to a broad audience. Adams had already written extensively about color and taught courses with the express goal of \u201cbringing color to the masses.\u201d When Creadon reached out, Adams immediately recognized the documentary as, in his words, \u201can amazing vehicle\u201d for expanding how people perceive and emotionally respond to color\u2014not to turn viewers into printers, but to sharpen their awareness.<\/p>\n
The timing proved serendipitous. Adams had recently delivered a talk on mid-century branding that prominently featured Pantone and Herbert, including a case study on Holiday Inn\u2019s success being tied to consistent green and yellow branding\u2014an example that directly underscored Pantone\u2019s cultural and commercial impact. The overlap made the collaboration feel inevitable, a natural extension of Adams\u2019 existing work and interests.<\/p>\n
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Visually, in addition to archival footage, home movies, photographs, and interviews, THE KING OF COLOR employs a distinctive narrative device: pen-and-ink animation that gradually becomes more saturated as Herbert\u2019s life unfolds. The choice was not merely aesthetic, but deeply rooted in biography and history. Herbert was born into a largely black-and-white world\u2014newspapers, films, and early visual media lacked color entirely. Beginning the animated sequences in stark monochrome reflects the visual reality of his childhood.<\/p>\n
As Herbert\u2019s world expands\u2014through his fascination with movies, his discovery of printing machinery in sixth grade, and the explosive growth of color printing in the 1950s\u2014color intensifies within the film, mirroring Herbert\u2019s ever-expanding world. By the time Herbert steps into what Creadon describes as the \u201cwild west\u201d of color printing and invents the Pantone system, the animation has become fully vibrant, mirroring both personal and technological transformation.<\/p>\n
As Creadon explains, \u201cWe started the pen-and-ink animation in black and white because Larry was literally born into a black-and-white world\u2014newspapers, movies, everything\u2014and then let color slowly seep in as his life, career, and the world of color itself expanded.\u201d He adds, \u201cThe animation became our way to visualize the parts of Larry\u2019s story you can\u2019t film\u2014his childhood, imagination, and inner life\u2014and by moving from stark black and white to rich color, it mirrors his journey from a poor kid in Brooklyn to the man who gave the world a language for color.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s emotional throughline is further reinforced by composer Alex Mansour\u2019s score, which balances whimsy with character-driven intimacy. Mansour joined the project early and immersed himself in Herbert\u2019s personality and family dynamics, crafting recurring musical motifs that quietly unify the film. According to Creadon, \u201cComposer Alex Mansour came on early, got to know Larry alongside us, and somehow found the pulse of both the man and the story\u2014the music feels like Larry\u2019s energy translated into sound.\u201d He adds, \u201cAlex Mansour is a bit of a mad genius\u2014still young, but already a remarkably gifted composer\u2014and his music lifts the documentary to a whole different level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result is a score that mirrors the film\u2019s visual and emotional arcs\u2014playful where color itself feels playful, reflective where legacy and family come into focus.<\/p>\n
Legacy, in fact, sits at the heart of THE KING OF COLOR. Herbert has long been concerned with how his life\u2019s work would be remembered. Through this documentary, that concern is put to rest. The film preserves his story not only for his family, but for anyone who has ever chosen a color and assumed it would match.<\/p>\n
For Creadon, Herbert\u2019s life embodies a distinctly American narrative. \u201cLarry\u2019s story is the American Dream in full color\u2014a poor kid from Brooklyn who turned a chaotic \u2018wild west\u2019 of color printing into a shared language the whole world now quietly relies on,\u201d he says. \u201cEven if you\u2019ve never heard of Pantone, you\u2019ve lived in Larry Herbert\u2019s world; this documentary simply pulls that invisible influence into the light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fittingly, the interview with Creadon and Adams took place the morning after Pantone announced its 2026 Color of the Year, Cloud Dancer. Adams approached the selection analytically, noting, \u201cI\u2019m not crazy about the name\u2014I like the \u2018cloud\u2019 part, but I\u2019m not getting \u2018dancer.\u2019 What I do love is that it\u2019s a white that asks people to really look at all the different whites out there.\u201d Creadon, meanwhile, saw symbolism in the choice. \u201cWhen I saw that color, it felt very much like a clean slate,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if that\u2019s what next year is about, I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the color it celebrates, THE KING OF COLOR invites viewers to look more closely\u2014at history, at process, and at the unseen systems that quietly shape the visual world we take for granted.<\/p>\n
TAKE A LISTEN. . .<\/strong><\/h2>\nby debbie elias, exclusive interview 12\/05\/2025<\/p>\n
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