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Coriano Harris

For Product Leaders Whose Color System Is Costing Them

Color Intent Technologist

Real color systems
build real trust.

I'm the one who'd stare at flower color patterns for hours in a botanical garden.

So I never take color lightly. When your product doesn't hide—when color tells the truth—people feel seen. They trust you. They choose you. That's worth fighting for.

People decide who you are before they read a single word. Color is that decision.

Coriano Harris

Is this for you?

We're looking for people who get it. Everyone else? That's fine too.

I write for the Head of Product at a 40-person SaaS who's lost two contracts to color accessibility. She knows color is broken. She can't prove it yet.

If you want a quick rebrand or the cheapest option, this isn't for you. And that's fine.

This is for you if:

  • You have a design system (but it's not working)
  • You're scaling and don't have a design system yet
  • Color confusion is costing $100K+/year
  • Designers and engineers fight about every color choice
  • You've failed color audits or lost contracts

Not for you if:

  • You just want a 'color refresh' or rebrand
  • You think color is purely creative work
  • You're looking for the cheapest option

Get in touch

You're here. You're ready. What happens next is up to you.

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me@corianoharris.com

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Explore further

The story you tell yourself

Everyone says it. Then the board asks why.

"We'll fix the colors after launch"

Color debt costs 10x more to fix.

"Our designers can handle it"

$180K/year in revision cycles.

"Users won't notice bad colors"

67% abandon apps with confusing interfaces.

"This rebrand will be quick"

Six months later, still updating hex values.

The people who win? They ship before they're ready. They act now.

How it works

Built and battle-tested. Decodes emotion from pixels so you get clarity, not chaos.

Step 1

Upload

Share your design tokens or a public page URL.

Step 2

Analyze

Emotion and intent extracted from every color. You know what you're really saying.

Step 3

Get your output

Receive color-intent formatted output in JSON, PDF, or DOC.

Here's what happened

One story. A moment that matters.

They were 90 days away from losing a $2M contract. Not because they lacked talent. Because they lacked clarity. Their color accessibility audit failed again. Error looked like success. Warning looked like info. Users couldn't tell the difference. The report was 47 pages long.

So they stopped decorating and started communicating. Color mapped to intent. Trust for confirmation. Energy for urgency. Growth for success. One system. Design and engineering aligned.

In this scenario, they passed the audit. They kept the contract.

Your results will vary. But clarity compounds. And the teams who act before the next deadline? They’re the ones who find out what's possible.

What could it look like?

Illustrative scenarios, not promises. Could this be you?

Scenario

"Blues scattered across Figma and code. No single source of truth. Releases stalled."

What it could look like:

One system. Design and engineering aligned. Revision cycles cut.

Scenario

"Color Accessibility audits kept failing. We were about to lose a big contract."

What it could look like:

Passed. Contract secured. Costs recovered.

Scenario

"Checkout was failing. Users couldn't tell errors from success. Conversion was a guess."

What it could look like:

Intent-driven palette. Clear feedback. Conversions improved.

Ideas that spread, win. These scenarios show what's possible. Your results will vary. But the people who act? They're the ones who find out.

How we work together

Start free. No commitment. Just clarity.

Start free

Audit

15 minutes. No pitch. The truth about what color is costing you.

  • Free 15-min call
  • Cost-of-confusion snapshot
  • Next-step recommendations
Accessibility

Color Blindness Audit

Test your palette for color blindness compliance. Know what 8% of users actually see.

  • Simulation across types
  • Contrast & distinction report
  • Remediation recommendations
Primary

Strategy & Design Systems

One system. Everyone trusts it. Design and engineering aligned.

  • Intent mapping
  • Token architecture
  • Design system build
Scale

Implementation & Enterprise

Scale without the chaos. Validation. Implementation. Ongoing alignment.

  • Product validation
  • Code/token support
  • Ongoing alignment

What's your color system score?

5 questions. 2 minutes. A number that tells the truth. 0 = critical, 10 = exceptional.

Do you have a single source of truth for colors?

Have you passed WCAG accessibility audits for color?

Do design and engineering agree on color usage?

Color-related support tickets or rework?

Do your colors communicate intent (trust, urgency, success)?

How much is it costing you?

You probably don't know. Adjust the sliders. See the number.

Your Current Situation

50
30
75

Revenue Impact

10,000
2%
$5,000

Support Ticket Costs

Monthly:$1,875
Annual:$22,500

Lost Revenue Opportunity

If clearer color increased conversion by just 1%

Monthly:$500,000
Annual:$6,000,000

Total Annual Cost

$6,022,500

This is what a broken color system costs you every year. And this is a conservative estimate.

Note: This calculator uses industry averages. Your actual costs may be higher when factoring in developer time fighting color tokens, failed color accessibility audits, and lost contracts.

That number? It's real. The fix? It's real too. The Intent-Driven Color Model™ doesn't paper over the problem. It eliminates it.

Ideas worth spreading

Stories that stick. Ideas that spread.

Who are you?

The story. The why. The permission to be different.

I'm the person who stands in a botanical garden and studies the petals. Not because they're pretty. Because they're precise. Color isn't decoration. It's a signal. It's the first thing we notice, the shortcut our brain uses to decide: safe or risky, clear or confusing, trustworthy or not.

In products, color debt is real. It shows up as errors, support tickets, rework, and quiet lost conversions. It shows up when “success” feels like “warning” and users hesitate instead of act. I help product leaders replace color debt with color intent. Because when a product doesn't hide when it communicates clearly, people feel seen. They trust you. And trust is a growth strategy.

Real color systems build real trust. Start with why. Be real. Build for the people who notice. Everyone else will feel it too.

The Intent-Driven Color Model™. It works. Because it's built for people like us, the ones who notice.