Dark Theme: A Modern UI Design
Using black correctly in UI design
User Experience and User Interface are the fundamental concern of any successful software. Thus, developers have identified and adopted the dark themed interfaces (as an optional theme) to serve users and help them reduce eye strain, especially in low-light or in the dark.
Dim lights are known for de-stressing and saving energy. The dark mode is a low light interface using darker colors, usually black or a shade of grey, as its primary background color. It’s an inversion of the default white UI that designers have been using for ages.
Night mode and dark themes have become an emergence in modern UI design, and many big companies like WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, Facebook, and Apple have already adopted this new trend.
Why dark mode?
As software engineers, one of our main goals is to embrace customer satisfaction, which mostly depends on the end-users’ experience. This means the UI should be designed and implemented with simplicity and ease.
Why people prefer dark mode:
- Increased screen time
- Reduced eye strains, in low light/dark situations
- Increases visibility in low-ambient lighting
- Fewer eye strains mean fewer headaches and better work experience.
As much as high color contrasts can improve readability, pure black and white contrasts can take more time to read by the user.
Choosing the color palette
Pure black and pure white are not good. White is 100% and black is 0%. Therefore, such disparity creates an intense light level that overstimulates the eyes. This disturbance in the eyes provokes eye strains, and are disliked by many. Here are a few suggestions to consider when filling your color palette:
Avoid pure black
No books use pure black or white. This is because the direct contrast between black and white is too stark, and forces readers to squint, which eventually leads to the readers having a headache and a bad experience. Therefore, avoid using pure black as the background color.
