Spent 45 minutes tweaking a hex value by 1% at a time

I was working on a dashboard for a client last Tuesday and the text on a blue background just felt off. So I start moving the hex value down by tiny increments, like #2B5C8A to #2B5C8B. Did that for almost an hour before I realized the contrast ratio didn't change at all across those tiny shifts. I could have just plugged it into a contrast checker from the start and saved all that time. Has anyone else fallen into that trap of fiddling with tiny color changes when the real issue is picking a totally different hue?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessawebb11d ago

Man my buddy Dave did this exact thing. He spent a whole lunch break shifting a button color by like 2 hex values at a time on a landing page. Turns out the real problem was the color contrast was so low that no tiny tweak was gonna fix it. Had to scrap the whole blue and go with a completely different shade to get it readable.

logansullivan11d ago

Drove right past the real problem like a rest stop on a highway.