Designing a comfortable dark theme

A lot of people do dark mode as #000 background and #fff text, then wonder why their eyes protest.

Pure black isn’t your friend

Pure black with pure white is too high contrast and harsh. I lean on a near-black like #080a0f and a soft #e8ebf2 for text.

Use hierarchy instead of borders

Heavy borders look dirty on dark. Rather than drawing boxes, float the card up with a subtle brightness difference.

A touch of blue

Sneak a little blue into the accent and it’s easier on the eyes late at night. It’s unscientific, but you’ll feel it once you try.