Black and Gold — Designing for Focus

Design as The One Thing Too

One of the first things I thought about during planning was color.

Most productivity apps go with a white base and blue or green accents. Clean, safe, inoffensive. But I wanted First Domino to feel different from those apps.

First Domino is about focus. Shutting out the noise and concentrating on one thing. I needed colors that embodied that feeling.

Black came to mind.

Why Black

Dark backgrounds have a deep connection to concentration. Why movie theaters are dark, why we close our eyes to meditate. Cutting out external stimuli helps you focus inward.

When you open the app and see a deep dark background, it signals: it's time to focus now. Unlike bright apps where everything competes for attention, only your goal is visible.

Why Gold

Black alone could feel too heavy. An accent was needed.

Two reasons for gold:

First, it symbolizes achievement. Gold medals, trophies, awards — the highest recognition is always gold. In an app built around achieving goals, marking moments of completion with gold felt natural.

Second, it signals priority. When the most important thing is highlighted in gold, users intuitively understand it's the core. No explanation needed.

Black background, gold accent. This combination became First Domino's identity.

Simplicity as Design Principle

The UI was designed by applying The One Thing principle. Only the most important thing on each screen should be visible.

Today's one thing appears large and centered. Other goals sit below it in a supporting role. No matter which screen you open, "what I need to do right now" is what you see first.

Making something simple is much harder than making it complex. This project reminded me of that again.