The Agency Lie We All Fell For

For years, the design industry preached "more" - more animations, more gradients, more "delightful" micro-interactions. Then in 2021, something strange happened. Our simplest client site , a fintech dashboard with just black text, white space, and 1px borders, outperformed every award-winning "beautiful" site in their portfolio.

The Turning Point

Client: Early-stage SaaS (pre-Series A)

Before:

• 3.8s load time

• 12% signup conversion

• "Modern" gradient buttons

After 30 Days of Brutalist Redesign:

• 0.6s load (Cloudflare metrics)

• 17% signup conversion (42% lift)

• Only #000/#FFF, system fonts

Why This Works

1. Decision Fatigue
   Harvard Business Review study (2020) showed reducing choices from 6→3 options increased conversions 28%. Our implementation:

   • Never more than 2 CTAs per screen

   • 3 max navigation items

2. Speed = Trust
   That fintech client saw:

   • 22% fewer support tickets about "is this site secure?"

   • 15% more returning visitors

3. The Framework

   • Color: Only #000/#FFF (Pantone 11-0601 TCX if printing)

   • Typography: System fonts sized 24px/16px/12px

   • Assets: SVG under 3KB, compressed to 1-color

Who Should Avoid This

• Fashion brands needing mood boards

• Agencies selling "brand experiences"

• Clients who say "make it pop"