PoseHack - Dark Mode
Have you joined the dark side?
Turning the lights off oozes coolness. Lately, there has been a lot of hype surrounding dark mode - a simple toggle that lets you change the background color of an app window to black. Recently, both iOS and Google have introduced dark modes in their updated design systems which allows user to instantly switch between light and dark modes. With all this hype around dark mode, the question remains - Are there any real benefits of joining the dark side and is there any truth to its purported benefits?
BENEFITS:
1) Makes your content pop : As colors pop up better on dark backgrounds, it usually provides great opportunities for presenting visual content such as graphs, dashboards and content-rich apps. Most pro apps for graphics and video editing are dark to draw your eyes to the work and not the user interface.
2) Reduces eye fatigue: Perhaps the biggest benefit of dark mode is that they emit less blue light and glare, which means your sleep cycle is less likely to be disrupted and your eyes get less tired. Coders have used black backgrounds for decades—presumably to keep from disrupting programming sessions that stretch well into the night.
3) Improves battery life: If your phone has an OLED display, turning on dark mode is like turning off a bunch of lights in your house, and the net power gains add up over time. At 100% screen brightness, the dark interface saves a whopping 60% of screen energy. OLED screens are mainly available for the Android phones. The iPhone XR, and all iPhones earlier than the X, have LCD screens. Please note that it won't save any battery power if the dark mode design uses any color other than pure black as the background.
MYTH:
1) Improves readability: According to HCI researcher Susanne Mayr, people could read faster & detect more errors when dark text was presented on a light background than under reversed conditions. Reading small fonts on a dark background is also a bigger challenge than it is on lighter backgrounds, meaning those who are reading long-form content are unlikely to find dark mode particularly valuable.
Have you switched to dark mode yet? Do you see it's benefits or do you regard it as no more than the latest fad? Share your thoughts below!