POV: Client says ‘make the button red’

Three data-backed reasons you say NO - plus the dopamine-accent rule in 60 sec.

Author

Tim Hanson
June 06, 2025

🧨 FAT CTA — READ THIS OR REGRET IT 🧨

Penfriend is humming.
Articles that actually rank. Clusters mapped. Echoes checked.
I should be satisfied.

I’m not.

Because I want the next version to punch harder, write smarter, and maybe pour your morning coffee.

So here’s the deal:

I need 10 brave souls to break what I’ve built.

  • Must be on a paid plan (skin in the game, baby).

  • Must reply with “TIM I WANNA TALK TO PENNY” 
    (caps mandatory; Penny likes enthusiasm).

  • Must be okay with seeing things that might—occasionally—catch fire.

First 10 through the door get:

  1. Early access to every shiny new feature.

  2. Direct line to me (yes, actual Tim).

  3. Eternal glory in release notes.

Last time I did this, testers found a bug that saved us 14 hours of support tickets in 3 minutes. Let’s beat that record.

Inbox → Reply → “TIM I WANNA TALK TO PENNY.”
Do it before someone else steals your seat.

(and yes, the codename probably spoils the surprise—deal with it)

Day 108/100 (I’ve always had a problem with task you can finish. I guess finished isn’t in my dictionary)

 

Hey—It's Tim.

I’m the guy who wears an orange beanie to a meeting and knows the hex codes for the entire Penfriend palette by heart (call it an ex-illustrator flex).

Colours aren’t decoration; they’re persuasion. Swap one swatch and you can tank—or triple—conversions.

We’re skipping Colour-Theory-101.

No colour wheels.
No don’t use black.
No “red = passion” nursery rhymes.

Let’s talk shop.

Pure Black & Bleach-White Are Dead

Everyone says don’t use them. No one gives you other options.

They hit maximum contrast, minimum comfort.
Swap them for near-blacks (#111111, #1A1A1A) and oat-whites (#FAFAFA, #F7F7F7). Same accessibility compliance, zero glare.

Quick Penfriend swap:
• Body copy → #1A1A1A
• Canvas background → #F7F7F7

Your bounce rate (and cornea) will thank you.

Wrong Hex Code, Wrong Life

Blue builds trust.

It isn’t folklore; three separate studies showed blue outperforms red on perceived reliability—banks, healthcare, SaaS dashboards all cash in on it.

But shade matters.

A hyper-saturated #0050FF screams “electric toothbrush.” A calmer #3C7DF0 whispers “your money’s safe here.” Swap the hue, watch the completion rate climb.

Colour Moves Worth Stealing

Dopamine Accent Rule
Pick one vivid hit (We use Orange #FF7F550) and keep it under 5 % of your UI. Scarcity makes every CTA glow like a Vegas marquee.

LCH Rails for States
Instead of hunting new hexes for hover/active/disabled, lock a hue & chroma, nudge lightness: −10 L for hover, +20 L for disabled. Cohesive, predictable.
Use 0to255.com for this.

Brand-Memory Anchoring
Penfriend Light Blue #07C4C4 shows up in: email dividers, webinar slides, even invoice footers. Repeat a tint outside the product and users spot the shade before they see the logo.

My favourite sites to help with this

Get this Chrome extension - Colour Picker. Just the best.

And then these sites are my favs

Bookmark, binge, colour responsibly.

Send me yours. I’m always adding to the list.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "Guess My Favourite Colour" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. Beta testers. I need em.

 

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.
 

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