Ask HN: Why does every B2B SaaS have to look like Linear/Stripe?

3•PaulShin•3h ago

I'm a founder (and ex-architect) building a logistics OS. Recently, I received feedback that my site looks "cheap and ugly" because I used Serif fonts and an engraving style aesthetic instead of the standard Sans-Serif "Clean Tech" look.

My intent was to evoke the "Age of Exploration" vibe, since the AI era feels like charting unknown territories. But users seem conditioned to trust only "Standard Blue SaaS UI."

My question to HN: Does a B2B tool have to follow the "Standard Modern UI" to be taken seriously? Or is there room for distinctive, maybe even polarizing, aesthetics in enterprise software?

I'm debating whether to cave in and redesign to "boring but safe" or double down on our soul. Would love to hear your thoughts on "Brand Distinctiveness vs. UI Familiarity."

Comments

akerl_•3h ago

I think the boring answer is that the people who are looking to procure B2B SaaS solutions aren't looking for artistic sites that "evoke" a feeling. They're looking for a product that meets their needs, and one of those needs is "when I tell my superiors / peers / users about this product, and they Google it, it looks crisp and professional, like giving this SaaS a big stack of money will be worth it."

stephenlf•3h ago

The answer to your question is ShadCN

sema4hacker•1h ago

Evoking a vibe is what artists try to do. Visually enticing buyers of your product is what graphic designers do. Either use a designer or copy from the millions of expertly designed sites that already exist. You'll have to change it all anyway in a decade or two when styles and fashions change.

KellyCriterion•1h ago

Orienting according to look & feel patterns that people are already familiar with are always a good thing to follow: Like "X" for closing some object usually on the upper right etc.

People actually decide if they like to use an app if the adaption to the usage of that app is as low as possible, so copying existing patterns is good practice.

The Wild West of Post-POSIX IO Interfaces

Internet Archive is experiencing service disruptions

Amiga Mouse Cursor: The impossible hot spot

Show HN: I built MyuiKits to ditch rebuilding the same components

The Game Industry of Poland: Report 2025 [pdf]

Find the words that move you

Six New Tips for Better Coding with Agents

The Starmer Government Crisis

The biggest scammer on YouTube is YouTube [video]

An AI Brain with Only One Neuron Could Surpass Humans

Russia's Africa Corps fights in Mali, witnesses describe beheadings, rapes

My Thoughts on Claude Opus 4.5

Compressed view of current events – video blog

Full Haskell-Like Type Class Resolution in Java

Hacking '' to track any WhatsApp or Signal User [video]

Sinterklaas Likes Playing on the Game Boy

Show HN: S3 compatible store with 1M IOPS(4K-R,p99~5ms), BYOC in 5min with rust

Noperthedron is not Rupert (can't fit through itself) [video]

Show HN: Ogblocks – Build Beautiful React Animations in Minutes

Open-source proxy that lets the Claude Code CLI run on Databricks Model Serving

My Working Thoughts

Ask HN: Best tricks to make a PWA feel more native?

Hey Students, Considering Majoring in Sociology?

Life, Work, Death and the Peasant

Super Mario Tune as a Fidget Toy

FunKey is a Mac app that adds mechanical keyboard sounds to your MacBook

The online index of mathematical databases

Think First, AI Second

Apple Bleeding Talent to OpenAI

Show HN: A Markdown document manager in Rust