Light Mode vs. Dark Mode: The Clash of Two Worlds

At some point during the design process of any given application, platform or visual service, a choice must be made by the designer regarding its color. In the past, this decision would largely be arbitrary, so much so that this decision was often made for them: in the cases where color hardly matters, a simple white background palette would suffice, and in other cases, the branding of their platform guides the color direction.

The decision today is no longer as simple as it once was. An entirely new paradigm of color choice has embedded itself into the modern web: the almighty “dark mode.” In memes, dark mode is often presented as the savior for the ills of the light theme, which scorches the eyes of all in its path.

Some benefits of dark mode over light mode have been discovered. Its users cite reduced eye strain due to a calmer lighting environment, as well as a more comfortable reading experience in the dark, such as at night in bed. Additionally, on mobile devices, in particular, dark mode tends to reduce battery consumption significantly on OLED screens. These are, of course, some of the most popular reasons for users to adopt the alternative new color palette, as outlined in a 2019 article by TechAhead on the subject, and are most often the ones cited when prompted to reason about dark mode users' preferences.

While dark mode may be seen as the “trendy alternative,” it can also be considered a return to our roots as a digital society, with the buzzing green monochrome monitors that succeeded the paper teletype terminals as the “original dark mode.” Since being popularized by the first Apple Macintosh, black text on a white background became the standard until recently, where we’ve begun to return to the darkness.

The transition of design trends from light mode to dark is not clean, and the two “clans” are often at odds with one another. For many whose preference leans one way or the other, simply calling it a “preference” is reductive of what many treat as its own religion. For dark mode users, light mode is a harmful sin, while light mode users see dark mode as an offense to virtue.

Preferences by Platform

Social media platforms have begun to adopt dark mode as an alternative option more frequently, with Facebook making dark mode available for all users in April 2020, and Twitter having a primitive version of dark mode as early as 2016.

However, certain platforms take a stronger lead in the adoption of dark mode; in particular, Discord has not only had dark mode as an option for the majority of its existence, but the app is presented in dark mode by default. According to an official Reddit post, their decision to adopt a dark theme by default resulted in a whopping 97 percent of its users selecting it, likely leading to its signature look and feel.

In contrast, its more professional, office-friendly counterpart, Slack, only recently adopted dark mode as an option for its desktop client in 2019. These preferences can often be seen as an alignment to demographics, as well. Discord, for example, tends to market itself to gamers (or, at least, it used to), a demographic which largely tends to prefer dark mode over light mode, whereas Slack is targeted toward professionals and workplaces, as many professionals have found that productivity and focus tends to be better using lighter backgrounds (outside of low-light environments) and are generally better in terms of accessbility.

The reality is that the preference between dark mode and light mode is just that, a preference, each with its own pros and cons, many of which are specific to certain situations, demographics and platforms. That being said, the war between the two sides and their zealous devotion to either mode will continue producing a slew of snarky memes.

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