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Dark Background Web Designs - All You Need to Know

Choosing a dark background for a website is a bold decision that involves several considerations regarding user experience. Dark backgrounds make websites look richer and help draw attention to certain elements. Due to the certain colour associations, black is a great choice for brands that want to emphasise their seriousness, prestige and power.

Choosing a dark background for a website is a bold decision that involves several considerations regarding user experience. Dark backgrounds make websites look richer and help draw attention to certain elements. Due to the certain colour associations, black is a great choice for brands that want to emphasise their seriousness, prestige and power.

On the other hand when not used properly, dark backgrounds can seriously impact a website’s readability. It is also important to keep in mind that this approach caters to quite specific audiences. These aspects will be discussed in greater detail below. So, what aspects should you consider before choosing a dark background for a website?

Is it suitable for the website’s purpose?

Dark colour schemes work perfectly for grungy, modern or minimalistic and elegant websites. Generally, websites within creative, fashion, technology and entertainment industries are ideal places to experiment with darker designs and themes. If you are creating an informative blog or news page where users are supposed to spend a lot of time reading, white background is the way to go. In contrast, black will work better if you want to draw users’ attention to certain pieces of information or design elements of your products. 

Who is your target audience?

It is generally considered that the majority of adult users would prefer light website backgrounds due to their readability. Younger eyes would, in turn, be attracted by darker backgrounds due to its uniqueness or even sophistication. Regardless of who your target audience is, it is important to conduct preliminary research to find their preferred style and usability preferences.

Does the design match your brand logo and image?

Does a black website background align with the company’s branding? Darker designs are often used to make the website look more attractive and stylish, but this adds little value if the branding colours and logo do not coordinate with the website’s image. In our recent website development for the tattoo salon Victims of Ink, the dark and moody theme perfectly matches their logo and branding, including the colours used in their Chapel Street location.

Some tips from our design wizards on how to use dark backgrounds effectively
  • Use a lot of white space (or would it be more appropriate to say “black space”?) – do not clutter a website with images, fonts and other elements. Less is more in this case.
  • Use bigger and bolder fonts – light font-weight combined with a dark background can seriously impact the website’s readability and increase the bounce rate.
  • Avoid rich colours – to create a clean and uncluttered look, opt for a minimalistic colour scheme. Combinations like black and white or black and red will work great with rich backgrounds.
  • Find the right contrast of the font and the background to achieve greater readability. Too much or too little contrast can cause eyestrain, so you will need to experiment with different shades for a better result. It is generally agreed, that as the background gets lighter, so does the text.

 

If you're ready to refresh or design your website to perfectly match your brand story, the coffee's on us.

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