Someplace alongside the best way, darkish mode stopped being a considerate accessibility possibility and have become a design faith. The truth is our obsession with darkish mode may be UX poison disguised as person choice.
Just a few years in the past, it was a nifty little toggle buried in your app’s settings menu. Now? It’s the default in half the net’s stylish merchandise, a advertising bullet level, and—let’s be sincere—the tech world’s equal of slapping a distressed font in your espresso store chalkboard to sign you’re “cool.”
However right here’s the issue: darkish mode may be doing extra hurt than good—not only for customers’ eyes, however in your product’s UX. And like Comedian Sans within the late 90s, it’s being pushed far past the area of interest it was meant to serve.
The Fable of “Higher for Your Eyes”
Certainly one of darkish mode’s most persistent promoting factors is the declare that it’s simpler on the eyes. And sure—in sure contexts (low mild, AMOLED screens, particular eye circumstances), that’s true. However the blanket assertion that “darkish mode reduces eye pressure” is about as scientifically hermetic as “Comedian Sans improves literacy.”
The truth is, mild textual content on darkish backgrounds can truly improve visible fatigue for long-form studying. Your pupils dilate to absorb the darker background, which reduces depth of discipline and makes textual content edges blurrier. That’s why studying a novel in darkish mode typically looks like staring right into a foggy fish tank.
In case you’ve ever discovered your self switching again to mild mode midway by means of an article, you’ve already skilled this. The irony? Designers maintain implementing it as a result of it’s “person pleasant,” with out contemplating that the majority customers’ eyeballs don’t care about your aesthetic moodboard.
Accessibility ≠ Development
Right here’s the kicker: darkish mode was initially about accessibility—serving to customers with photophobia, sure migraines, or imaginative and prescient impairments. It wasn’t meant to be a blanket type assertion.
Now, we’ve flipped the script. Merchandise launch solely in darkish mode as a result of “it seems to be cooler,” which is like constructing a wheelchair ramp after which forcing everybody to make use of it, even when they will take the steps quicker and extra comfortably. The individuals who truly want darkish mode find yourself with a UX cluttered by designers making an attempt to make it “vibe.”
And don’t even get me began on the “midnight navy” backgrounds that look glossy in your Figma file however take a look at like rubbish for distinction accessibility.
The Aesthetic Entice
Let’s be actual: darkish mode sells as a result of it seems to be like the longer term. Your touchdown web page immediately feels extra premium. Screenshots within the App Retailer pop. That deep charcoal backdrop says “we care about design” in a method white backgrounds by no means will.
The issue? The aesthetic halo blinds us to sensible flaws:
- Shade-coded states (success = inexperienced, error = crimson) lose readability when saturation drops towards darkish backgrounds.
- Typography changes typically get uncared for, so your “mild mode” sort scale seems to be cramped and muddy in darkish mode.
- Gradients and shadows—two of probably the most abused design tendencies—are more durable to manage on darkish canvases with out creating visible noise.
It’s the identical lure Comedian Sans fell into. It was enjoyable, completely different, and charming—till we noticed it slapped on each PowerPoint, funeral program, and dentist’s signal. Overuse turns novelty into noise.
When Darkish Mode Turns into Design Tyranny
Right here’s the place it will get harmful: the possibility to decide on between mild and darkish has, in lots of merchandise, been changed by a design decree. There’s a rising crop of apps and web sites that ship solely with darkish mode.
This isn’t innovation—it’s design monoculture. And monocultures are fragile. They ignore edge circumstances, alienate segments of your viewers, and take away the very flexibility that made the function interesting within the first place.
After we drive a visible type within the title of “progress,” we cease designing for people and begin designing for Dribbble likes.
Keep away from the Darkish Mode Loss of life Spiral
In case you’re a designer or PM studying this, right here’s your actuality verify:
- Cease assuming choice equals efficiency. Simply because customers say they like darkish mode doesn’t imply they useit successfully.
- Check for precise usability, not simply aesthetics. Meaning measuring studying pace, error charges, and comprehension—mild vs. darkish.
- Provide each modes—and make the toggle apparent. Don’t bury it in Settings > Superior > Look > Show.
- Design every mode deliberately. Don’t simply invert colours and name it a day. Typography, iconography, and shade hierarchies want tailor-made changes.
In any other case, you’re not providing an accessibility function. You’re simply chasing a development.
The Uncomfortable Reality
The worship of darkish mode is beginning to really feel eerily acquainted. Like Comedian Sans, it started with good intentions, supplied real worth in the suitable contexts, after which spiraled into overuse and misuse.
The actual drawback isn’t darkish mode itself—it’s our tendency to deal with design tendencies like faith. As soon as a function will get an aura of “that is the proper option to design,” we cease questioning it. We cease testing. And worst of all, we cease listening to the customers whose wants don’t align with the aesthetic du jour.
Darkish mode isn’t the villain. Neither was Comedian Sans. However whenever you make a software right into a default, you’re not designing for the person—you’re designing for your self. And that’s step one towards UX poison.
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