Tried to design a dark theme based on my store's emergency exit signs. Big mistake.

I was making a dark mode for a hobby app and thought the green on black from exit signs would work great. So I set the background to pure black and the text to that bright emergency green. After using it for a bit, my eyes started to ache and everything looked weirdly intense. It was like the app was shouting at me in a dark room, which is the opposite of what dark mode should do. I'm really confused why some designers pick colors that seem clear but end up hurting your eyes. Is there a trick to picking colors that are easy to read without being too harsh? Now I'm rethinking the whole color palette from scratch.

2 comments

2 Comments

foster.ruby22h ago

Tried that once with a terminal theme. Feels less like a dark mode and more like your app is having a constant, quiet panic attack. Maybe save that palette for actual emergency alerts.

jenny_young20h ago

But what if the problem isn't the colors themselves but where you use them? That emergency green on black is super clear for a reason, it grabs your eye instantly. Maybe @foster.ruby is right for most apps, but for a coding terminal or a system monitor, that high-contrast vibe can actually work because you're scanning for details. It just fails for reading lots of text or relaxing. The trick is knowing if your app needs to whisper information or shout specific data points.