Dark Mode

Dark Mode Design

"Not just inverted colors. A carefully constructed hierarchy of light on dark."

When to Use

Use this sub-style when the user's request matches the aesthetic described above. This is a child reference of the design-it skill and is not meant to be triggered directly.

Core Principles

1. Never Pure Black: True #000000 causes smearing on OLED screens and extreme eye strain with white text. Use dark greys (e.g., #121212 or #0A0A0A).
2. Elevation via Lightness: In light mode, shadows show elevation. In dark mode, shadows are invisible, so elevated surfaces must be lighter than the background.
3. Desaturated Accents: Saturated colors vibrate painfully against dark backgrounds. Tone down the saturation of brand colors.

Visual DNA

• Colors: Midnight Luxury or Minimalist Slate (inverted). Background #121212. Elevated cards #1E1E1E, #252525. Primary text #E1E1E1 (not #FFFFFF).
• Typography: Standard highly readable sans-serifs, but often dropped down one font weight compared to light mode, as light text on dark backgrounds appears optically thicker.
• Shadows: Pure black shadows, but with much lower opacity, mostly to separate slightly different shades of grey.

Web Implementation

• CSS Example:

:root {
  --bg-base: #121212;
  --bg-elevated-1: #1E1E1E;
  --bg-elevated-2: #242424;
  --text-high-emphasis: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.87);
  --text-medium-emphasis: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.60);
  
  /* Accent color: Desaturated purple instead of bright purple */
  --accent-color: #BB86FC; 
}

body {
  background-color: var(--bg-base);
  color: var(--text-high-emphasis);
  font-weight: 300; /* Thinner weight for dark mode */
}

.dark-card {
  background-color: var(--bg-elevated-1);
  border-radius: 8px;
  padding: 24px;
  
  /* Very subtle border can help separate dark surfaces */
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05);
}

.dark-card:hover {
  /* On hover, the element moves closer to the user, so it gets lighter */
  background-color: var(--bg-elevated-2);
}

.dark-btn {
  background-color: var(--accent-color);
  color: #000; /* Dark text on light accent is highly readable */
  font-weight: 600;
  border: none;
  padding: 12px 24px;
  border-radius: 4px;
}

App Implementation

SwiftUI

struct DarkModeView: View {
    // Force Dark Mode on this specific view (or use system settings)
    @Environment(\.colorScheme) var colorScheme
    
    var body: some View {
        ScrollView {
            VStack(spacing: 20) {
                // Primary elevated card
                VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 12) {
                    Text("Elevation via Lightness")
                        .font(.headline)
                        .foregroundColor(.primary) // Auto-adapts
                    Text("In dark mode, elevated surfaces are lighter grey, not shadowed.")
                        .font(.subheadline)
                        .foregroundColor(.secondary) // Auto-adapts
                }
                .padding()
                .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
                // Use native semantic colors. .secondarySystemBackground is lighter than .systemBackground
                .background(Color(UIColor.secondarySystemBackground))
                .cornerRadius(12)
                
                // Desaturated Accent Button
                Button(action: {}) {
                    Text("Desaturated Accent")
                        .fontWeight(.semibold)
                        .foregroundColor(.black) // Dark text on light accent
                        .padding()
                        .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
                        .background(Color(red: 0.73, green: 0.52, blue: 0.98)) // #BB86FC (Desaturated purple)
                        .cornerRadius(8)
                }
            }
            .padding()
        }
        // #121212 is the standard dark mode background, which systemBackground maps to closely
        .background(Color(UIColor.systemBackground))
    }
}
// .preferredColorScheme(.dark) to force

• Rely on Semantics: SwiftUI's Color.primary, Color.secondary, Color(UIColor.systemBackground) and Color(UIColor.secondarySystemBackground) handle perfect dark mode transitions automatically.
• Avoid forcing explicit hex codes for backgrounds unless you are building a custom-themed app.

Flutter

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

class DarkModeApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      // Configure the Dark Theme
      themeMode: ThemeMode.dark,
      darkTheme: ThemeData.dark().copyWith(
        scaffoldBackgroundColor: const Color(0xFF121212), // Standard dark background
        cardColor: const Color(0xFF1E1E1E), // Elevated surface
        colorScheme: const ColorScheme.dark().copyWith(
          primary: const Color(0xFFBB86FC), // Desaturated accent
          onPrima