When it comes to user experience, dark mode is the new “cool kid” on the block. It’s been around for years now, but more and more apps are starting to incorporate a dark mode interface making this mode the latest design trend.
Dark mode is sleek, cool, and elegant, almost like your favorite classy black sports car. This is part of the reason why 91.8% of users in an Android Authority study use some form of dark mode. App designers are meeting user demand by creating ways to switch to dark mode. This is key for social media apps, where users spend countless hours scrolling. Twitter released that their users spend more time browsing in dark mode. This is due to personal preferences but also the fact that many users scroll through Twitter at night close to bedtime.
Let’s take a look at other ways dark mode has benefited users:
Decreases Eye Strain
Dark mode users find reading easier in low light with less eye strain. In light mode, screens emit a large amount of brightness causing eye strain. However, in dark mode there is less brightness since a large portion of the screen is actually off. In dark mode there is also less blue light that is emitted. White screens emit this light and it disrupts the secretion of melatonin.
Boosts Sleep
Apple has started to provide a dark mode setting and users can make their phones automatically switch to this at night, before bed. This setting lowers screen brightness, and makes your screen have a more warm tone. Too much exposure to blue light at night can disrupt your circadian rhythm and impact the quality of your sleep.
Increases Battery Life
Dark mode is able to increase battery life because the pixels on your screen require less juice when displaying black than lighter colors. Dark mode can actually save up to 60% of a device’s power.
Better Contrast With Light Colors
A black screen allows for different colors to stand out. Some colors also look more impressive standing out on a dark background. For example, light colors on a light background require a greater effort to be read by users, whereas, on a dark background the colors stand out much more making it easy to see/read.
Helps You Stay Focused And Engaged For Longer
Users on dark mode are likely to spend more time engaged for a few reasons. First, a black background eliminates the presence of flickering (light pulses), which eliminates subconscious static. Further, in an interview conducted by Salesforce, users said that dark mode helped them make faster and more accurate decisions with graphics. This is due to dark mode helping users focus on the data that is being presented and eliminating what is not relevant, sort of like a visual filter.
Like Dark Mode?
At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference. It’s become popular due to the fact that most apps provide a dark mode option to toggle back and forth with and users prefer to use it at night to reduce eyestrain. It’s important to provide the option to have a dark mode setting for apps and websites since that is the preferred interface for many consumers.
At IMOS we are always on the lookout for the latest design trends that will impact our customers' websites. Let’s talk about how we can make sure your site is set up to make the most of the dark mode interface!