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Why is Dark Mode so captivating?
And the reasons you should be already using it.
The Dark Mode is an epidemic that has swept across the globe and right into our smartphones. Also known as the light-on-dark-color scheme, night mode, or black mode, it is not new at all. Computers screens originally used what we now know as Dark Mode, because of the capacities of the cathode-ray tubes used in early devices. But in a bid to encourage people who weren’t programmers to use computers, interfaces were gradually adapted to resemble real paper — black over light-colored background.
How come Dark Mode is back?
As early as 1988, Dannemiller and Stephens showed that a 3 months old baby is more attracted to dark-on-light pictures than to light-on-dark. Several years later, a study conducted by An-Hsiang in 2003 found that displaying text against light background allowed participants to read and comprehend text faster than if it was displayed using a light-on-dark color scheme. This first suggested that dark text on a white background is more appropriate for everyday tasks, leaving the Dark Mode completely aside.
However, some years later, Deguang Li showed that due to the technologies used at the time, darker areas of the screen consume less electricity, allowing longer battery times on portable devices like phones. Ever since, the benefits of Dark Mode towards eye strain have been intensively studied. Even today, the science behind it is still quite shady. Yet, the scientific community seems certain to have arrived at some common conclusions: Using Dark Mode does help improving eyes strain in low-light environments.
But it was not until 2017 that the Dark Mode term became popular again. Sylvian Boyer began an artistic movement by the name “eco branding”, extending the Dark Mode to smartphones with OLED screens.
The idea behind Dark Mode is that it reduces the light emitted by device screens while maintaining the minimum colour contrast ratios required for readability. Thus reducing the strain experienced by human eyes while extending our smartphone battery. It all was achieved while boosting the UI experience with a minimalist and elegant design. Ever since this idea was back in our mindset, the world seems to have fallen for the charms…
