diff --git a/Kanban/UI/ColorCombo.swift b/Kanban/UI/ColorCombo.swift
index 1972568..c354ac0 100644
--- a/Kanban/UI/ColorCombo.swift
+++ b/Kanban/UI/ColorCombo.swift
@@ -460,10 +460,15 @@ final class ColorComboControl: NSControl {
     /// control exists to draw: "a flat swatch occupying the control, a chevron trigger at the
     /// trailing edge."
     private static let triggerWidth: CGFloat = 16
-    /// The swatch zone's padding before its rounded rect — two points rather than a bare hairline,
-    /// so the control's own field (`drawField()`) reads as a visible ring around the colour instead
-    /// of being covered by it.
-    private static let swatchPadding: CGFloat = 2
+    /// The swatch's padding inside its zone, asymmetric and user-tuned: a wider berth at the sides
+    /// than above and below, so the colour reads as a bar sitting in the field rather than filling
+    /// it wall to wall. The space comes out of the swatch — the control's overall size is untouched.
+    private static let swatchPaddingH: CGFloat = 7
+    private static let swatchPaddingV: CGFloat = 4
+    /// The trigger square's own inset from the zone's height — kept at the old ring width rather
+    /// than the swatch's larger padding, so the indicator stays a legible ~10pt square instead of
+    /// shrinking with every padding tweak the swatch takes.
+    private static let triggerInset: CGFloat = 2
     private static let cornerRadius: CGFloat = 3
     /// The field's own radius — a point more than the swatch's, so the two rounded rects run
     /// concentric instead of pinching at the corners.
@@ -501,7 +506,8 @@ final class ColorComboControl: NSControl {
 
     /// The control's own field: a bordered, filled rounded rect over the whole bounds, under both
     /// zones — what makes the swatch and the trigger read as one control rather than two shapes
-    /// floating beside each other. Standard control materials: `controlBackgroundColor` fill,
+    /// floating beside each other. `controlColor` fill — the push-button neutral grey, not
+    /// `controlBackgroundColor`, whose near-black dark-mode reading drowned the padding ring —
     /// `separatorColor` hairline, the half-point inset keeping the stroke on whole pixels.
     private func drawField() {
         let path = NSBezierPath(
@@ -509,7 +515,7 @@ final class ColorComboControl: NSControl {
             xRadius: Self.fieldRadius,
             yRadius: Self.fieldRadius
         )
-        NSColor.controlBackgroundColor.setFill()
+        NSColor.controlColor.setFill()
         path.fill()
         NSColor.separatorColor.setStroke()
         path.lineWidth = 1
@@ -521,7 +527,7 @@ final class ColorComboControl: NSControl {
     /// resolved colour on top, a `separatorColor` hairline stroke last. `nil`/unresolvable value →
     /// underlay + stroke only, the same "there is no colour, so show none" rule.
     private func drawSwatch() {
-        let inset = swatchZone.insetBy(dx: Self.swatchPadding, dy: Self.swatchPadding)
+        let inset = swatchZone.insetBy(dx: Self.swatchPaddingH, dy: Self.swatchPaddingV)
         let path = NSBezierPath(roundedRect: inset, xRadius: Self.cornerRadius, yRadius: Self.cornerRadius)
         NSColor.textBackgroundColor.setFill()
         path.fill()
@@ -538,7 +544,7 @@ final class ColorComboControl: NSControl {
     /// a white `chevron.up.chevron.down` centred inside — the standard `NSPopUpButton` indicator's
     /// own look, redrawn here since this control has no bezel of its own to borrow one from.
     private func drawTrigger() {
-        let side = triggerRect.height - 2 * Self.swatchPadding
+        let side = triggerRect.height - 2 * Self.triggerInset
         let square = NSRect(
             x: triggerRect.midX - side / 2,
             y: triggerRect.midY - side / 2,