March 28, 2024

Stunning Examples of Light On Dark Web Design

Deciding when to use light text on a dark background in web design should always be about enhancing the content and the user experience. Here are some stunning examples of light on dark designs where the designers achieved this while maintaining excellent contrast and readability.

Tapbots

Tapbots

Black Estate Vineyard

Black Estate Vineyard

Jan Sochor Photography

Jan Sochor Photography

Mark Dearman

Mark Dearman

tictoc family

tictoc family

mediocore

mediocore

auditude

auditude

Inca un calator

Inca un calator

Edit Studios

Edit Studios

Lucas Hirata

Lucas Hirata

Krista’s Creations

Krista's Creations

Take The Walk

Take The Walk

SpaceCollective

SpaceCollective

Aten Design Group

Aten Design Group

nclud

nclud

Dan Tobolic

Dan Tobolic

sroown

sroown

Giant Creative

Giant Creative

Nine Lion

Nine Lion

Revyver Labs

Revyver Labs

Brand Storm

Brand Storm

Elysium Burns

Elysium Burns

Kanchi

Kanchi

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Henry Jones is a web developer, designer, and entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience. He is the founder of WDL and ThemeTrust.

26 Comments

  1. Timothy Reply

    Very good list. Much appreciated.

    It’s good to see this trend becoming more serious. Any computer-based design (application, website, etc) in the past was not dark. This was because older CRT displays often do not display dark screen correctly. The light colors do not mix well, text is hard to read and colors (include the darks and grays) do not appear the right colors. This is why Vista developers opted for the classic Windows colors as the default scheme. They wanted, originally, to use the dark / black theme as the default.

    But now we are at the point that most users are using LCD or newer CRTs, so this isn’t much of a problem. I love to see people moving towards mediums that make designing easier, better and allows for greater creativity.

  2. NetOperator Wibby Reply

    This is a nice collection. I’ve known about Revvyer for a while [and, they have nice resources for download]. I came across Brand Storm by accident a few weeks ago.

    @ Leroy: Your site looks pretty good man!

  3. Anna Reply

    It’s interesting that most of the best looking light on dark websites are those of the designers themselves (whether they be portfolio or studio sites). I wonder whether this is an indication that generally, the consumers find them difficult to use?

  4. Ramona Reply

    My web designer used it to terrific advantage on my website, even though I was a bit afraid for readability. With the jewelry and the photos, it looks great. (www.WristRocks.com)

  5. photofolio Reply

    Nice to see some other approaches. Main reason I followed this on my own photography site is to give the pix a bit more punch then if they were on a white background. The dark tones make it mostly look a bit somber though.

  6. whut Reply

    Do you notice this website is light bg with dark text? lol

    Light on dark is NOT good for blogs or sites with extensive content as the strain on the eyes is just too much. It IS ok for small word content or photo sites as reading is not a major point of the site.

  7. skippy Reply

    There are polls all over the net about light on dark vs dark on light, but whenever the question is asked about preference, people automatically start talking about white on black vs black on white, which isn’t the same thing.

    White and black are complete opposites. I find the contrast high for me either way and can never read either one for very long.

    Light on dark, however, say white on a dark gray – or dark on light with say, black on a soft taupe or something – I have no trouble reading all day long.

    I think people should also talk about other factors like the font size and style. I think that matters even more than the colors in terms of readability.

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