diff --git a/ghost/admin/helpers/gh-count-characters.js b/ghost/admin/helpers/gh-count-characters.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b5b22f626d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ghost/admin/helpers/gh-count-characters.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+var countCharacters = Ember.Handlebars.makeBoundHelper(function (content) {
+    var el = document.createElement('span'),
+        length = content ? content.length : 0;
+
+    el.className = 'word-count';
+    if (length > 180) {
+        el.style.color = '#E25440';
+    } else {
+        el.style.color = '#9E9D95';
+    }
+
+    el.innerHTML = 200 - length;
+
+    return new Ember.Handlebars.SafeString(el.outerHTML);
+});
+
+export default countCharacters;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ghost/admin/templates/settings/general.hbs b/ghost/admin/templates/settings/general.hbs
index 7d69486a08..37de9f57f2 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/templates/settings/general.hbs
+++ b/ghost/admin/templates/settings/general.hbs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
                 {{textarea id="blog-description" value=description}}
                 <p>
                     Describe what your blog is about
-                    <span class="word-count">{{gh-count-words description}}</span>
+                    {{gh-count-characters description}}
                 </p>
 
             </div>
diff --git a/ghost/admin/templates/settings/user.hbs b/ghost/admin/templates/settings/user.hbs
index bae5157d5f..6bdb515ed5 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/templates/settings/user.hbs
+++ b/ghost/admin/templates/settings/user.hbs
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
                 {{textarea id="user-bio" value=user.bio}}
                 <p>
                     Write about you, in 200 characters or less.
-                    <span class="word-count">{{gh-count-words user.bio}}</span>
+                    {{gh-count-characters user.bio}}
                 </p>
             </div>