'Its not red, its magenta': How ThinkPad designers gaslit IBM to save the iconic TrackPoint

Date:
Thu, 30 Jul 2026 21:05:00 +0000

Description:
The great lie that protected the ThinkPads signature red dot from IBMs strict corporate safety guidelines.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Its not red, IBMs design center manager patiently explained. Its magenta.

The safety function officer wasnt buying it. Between his fingers, he held up
a small, rubbery disc that looked like a pencil eraser. You know its red and
I know its red, he said. The design manager didnt back down. He insisted that what the man held was indeed magenta. The safety officer called his boss. The boss called Tom Hardy, Design Program Director at IBM. Hardy didn't flinch. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

Its not red. Its magenta.

It was one of the boldest lies ever told in tech. And it made the ThinkPad iconic. You may like The quiet comeback of boring computing: why ports, keyboards, and repairability matter again 'Music is an art of time. Time
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Years later, Hardy relayed the incident in an interview with Laptop Retrospective, detailing the design origins of the TrackPoint, the input
stick resting in a central position of the ThinkPad keyboard since 1992. Instantly recognizable today, the little red nub remains core to the
ThinkPads identity. For anyone working in design, its history serves as a lesson on creative control and innovation. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me
with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Every designer knows red on black is a classic combination. So, for Hardys team, it was a no-brainer choice when first tasked with adding the TrackPoint to the system.

However, at the time, IBM instituted a strict color-code. For control systems like the TrackPoint, the standard was blue. Playing by the rules, the team toyed with that. According to Hardy, it just didnt sing like red did.

They switched back to red. But there was a major problem with that. What to read next PC makers are chasing 'creatives'. But who are they? I spoke to
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Red was reserved for emergency power shutdowns. Its the kill-switch color. Hardy knew, even then, the safety team had to approve the color scheme. There was no way theyd let it ship with a red cursor control. That simply wasnt the way it was done.

Rather than fight and inevitably lose that battle, the designers got
creative.

They scrapped every trace of red in the documentation. They replaced it with magenta.

The safety guys, Hardy explained, They may not know what magenta is, but theyll know its not red. Think Design Stories: TrackPoint Origins, The story of how it became red (ft. Tom Hardy) - YouTube Watch On

They may not know what magenta is, but theyll know its not red. Soon, the parts came in, labeled as magenta. No-one looked twice at them until the safety official snooped on a box of TrackPoints and demanded to know who approved the color for non-power related functions. He didnt get an answer he liked. He threatened to shut down the whole production line.

Hardy got involved shortly after. Corporate on corporate combat ensued, arguing over the subjective difference between magenta and red. The next stop in the line, Hardy reminded them, It goes to the CEO.

Fighting his corner, he tells them, will be famed industrial designer Richard Sapper who created the classic ThinkPad design, as well as corporate graphic design consultant Paul Rand, the man behind the IBM logo. Both are color experts.

Even as the back and forth continued, Hardys team had linked up with the advertising team. The ad agency had poured millions of dollars into a
campaign that was ready to launch. So hot, the adverts said with a close-up
on the new TrackPoint, We had to make it red.

It was enough to make the safety team think twice. Later that day, an email was sent. It said: Make them red.

Theyve been the same iconic color ever since. It's no secret I'm a massive ThinkPad fan ever since I got my paws on a T431s, but check out the best business laptops my team and I have tested.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/its-not-red-its-magenta-how-thinkpad-designers-g aslit-ibm-to-save-the-iconic-trackpoint


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