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Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

material.io

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Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#111

Post by TeMPOraL »

dragonwriter wrote: post #101
Mindwipe wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> UI/UX design as it is today is almost entirely about sacrificing utility to boost sales. I don't think this is true. Many undesirable qualities in modern design are due to a cult like belief in them by designers rather than just listening to users. Excessive use of white space in virtually all design being the most obvious one. That's not generally because it boosts sales. It's because they've really drunk the kool…

> Many undesirable qualities in modern design are due to a cult like belief in them by designers rather than just listening to users. Excessive use of white space in virtually all design being the most obvious one. IIRC, negative space is one of those things that lay users tend to think is unimportant or even undesirable as a design element, but every empirical study of usability/reasability shows that it is importan…

That's still just "looks prettier". Yes, there is a degree at which the design is so ugly it interferes with its intended function, but we've taken the opposite up to 11. Negative space in modern design constantly interferes with intended function. Take a listing on an on-line store. A design making copious use of negative space may look stunningly beautiful, but a design that just follows the Gestalt principles but otherwise crams in 5x the number of items on a screen will make it easier for the user to choose the right item to buy, and will consume less of their time.

(This is not an invented example; when I was building a PC recently, I wrote userstyles to remove most of the negative space in UI of a shop I was buying parts from, just to not be driven to madness when trying to compare prices and features among available components.)

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#112

Post by cloverich »

vince14 wrote: post #54
julienreszka wrote: post #48

Probalem with dark themes are reflection on the screen

Matte display

God I hope that the rising popularity of dark mode will in turn raise desires for resurrecting matte displays. I miss them so much. I"m not well read on the subject though -- I hope there are no technical limitations to making high quality matte displays that would limit them (technically).

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#113

Post by localhostdotdev »

glup wrote: post #96

Dark mode comment: in the last week of traveling, I have been asked twice by strangers in airports what programming language I am using. In both cases I was writing an email in OS X mail in dark mode.

you were programming in text, a very popular programming language that i'm using right now :)

here is a peg grammar:

    text = $.*
you can try it at https://pegjs.org/online :)

edit: sry to disappoint but this matches binary files too :(

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#114

Post by benatkin »

glup wrote: post #96

Dark mode comment: in the last week of traveling, I have been asked twice by strangers in airports what programming language I am using. In both cases I was writing an email in OS X mail in dark mode.

Are you a developer? If so, you may have unintentionally provided subtle hints to them that you're a developer. Everyone seems to be able to guess that I'm a developer regardless of what I'm doing and whether or not I'm wearing a tech-related t-shirt. If they think you're a developer, it's not surprising they would be quick to leap to the conclusion that you're writing code.

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#115

Post by sb636 »

titzer wrote: post #49
davidivadavid wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traditional graphic design cannot be "solved" and will always be ruled by more or less cyclical trends because graphic design is used (among other things) as a differentiating branding element for marketing and communication. And you can't differentiate a product when everyone has the same branding. Someone starts standing out. People start copying them. And then a new trend emerges, ad infinitum. Industrial design i…

I totally agree with you. Unfortunately this triggers my rant mode: When branding hits hammers, I think I might quit the human race. Designers fundamentally do not understand that software is a tool that people use to get things done. Constant reorganization and redesign for trends literally robs people of their skills in learning to use software to accomplish their goals. I've been using computers since the early 90…

I'm a UI designer titzer, do you hate me?

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#116

Post by Zak »

julienreszka wrote: post #48

Probalem with dark themes are reflection on the screen

That can be an issue. I think dark themes are primarily intended for environments with lower ambient light and fewer sources of glare, though matte displays make them more usable in other conditions.

What this means is there should be an easily accessible, systemwide toggle e.g. Android's quicksettings that asks apps and websites for the theme the user wants at that moment. This is something I've wanted for years, and I'm surprised I haven't seen more people calling for it.

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#117

Post by gdubs »

spectramax wrote: post #2

I have a deep rooted issue with design and designers. In 90’s, skeuomorphic trend was picking up steam reaching a climax in mid-2000’s. Web 2.0 design elements were springing up, taking advantage of css; while UI elements sought transparency and blur (Windows Vista). That trend passed and then we had the whole Material design boom in 2012-2015, the entire web was sabotaged by Bootstrap. Color themes and palettes were…

Dark Themes and features like Apple’s Night Shift are accessibility features. People need the option of working at night or in dark rooms (like a film editing bay) without being blasted by bright blue and white light; and they need the text to remain readable without causing eye-strain.

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#118

Post by titzer »

sb636 wrote: post #115
titzer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with you. Unfortunately this triggers my rant mode: When branding hits hammers, I think I might quit the human race. Designers fundamentally do not understand that software is a tool that people use to get things done. Constant reorganization and redesign for trends literally robs people of their skills in learning to use software to accomplish their goals. I've been using computers since the early 90…

I'm a UI designer titzer, do you hate me?

No, it's a rant, it's supposed to be over the top. But wait, are you planning on redesigning a tool I use every day? :)

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#119

Post by marcusjt »

soulofmischief wrote: post #50
Kamshak wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they say this specifically, grey is better to distinguish shadows but if you want to conserve energy you can go with true black. > UIs that require efficient battery usage can use true black. In these cases, some devices (such as wearables with OLED screens) can turn off any pixels that display black to conserve battery power.

...I feel like all UIs should require efficient battery usage, and UIs that don't are an anti-pattern.

Yes but whether dark is more efficient or not depends on screen technology, plus there's battery level, viewing conditions and user preferences to factor in, so ultimately it's up to the phone OS / supporting software to make smart decisions about what's the right theme to show at any given moment.

Re: Material Design Guidelines for Dark Mode

#120

Post by mattdeboard »

> Dark themes reduce the luminance emitted by device screens, while still meeting minimum color contrast ratios. They help improve visual ergonomics by reducing eye strain, adjusting brightness to current lighting conditions, and facilitating screen use in dark environments – all while conserving battery power. Devices with OLED screens benefit from the ability to turn off black pixels at any time of day.

Why is light UI the default if dark theme confers so many advantages?

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