Red and green buttons nearly cost me a real estate deal in Austin

I was helping my buddy design a simple listing website for his real estate gig in Austin last spring. He wanted the 'buy now' button in green and the 'save for later' in red, standard stuff. Took a week to build, launched it, and his first client actually clicked the wrong button on a house she was dead serious about. She ended up losing the home because the system thought she only saved it, not bought it. Turns out our buddy has mild deuteranopia, and the contrast was invisible to him even though it looked fine to the rest of us. Now I never set a button up without running it through a colorblind simulator first. Has anyone else had a real live client mess up because of a color choice they thought was normal?

2 comments

2 Comments

dixon.rose3d agoMost Upvoted

Used to roll my eyes at people complaining about button colors. Thought it was just design snobs overcomplicating things. Then my sister's friend lost a wedding venue because the "confirm payment" button was gray on white. She thought it was disabled. Missed the early bird discount by 30 seconds. Now I triple check every color combo on a black and white screen before I call something good.

fiona_nelson513d ago

Oh, I can absolutely relate to that. It's heartbreaking when a simple design choice costs someone something important like a home or a wedding venue. I've learned the hard way that what looks clear to me might be invisible to someone else, and now I test everything on a friend who has colorblindness before I call it done.