Shining The Light On Dark Mode

In the digital marketing world, the only constant is change. And one of the biggest changes of late is the arrival of dark mode. No passing fad, some 92 apps now support some form of this visual feature, including Gmail, Android, Windows 10 and Facebook. And the list is bound to grow as dark mode continues to rise in popularity among users.

So what is dark mode anyway?

If you’re still in the dark (pun intended) about all of this, dark mode is a new supplemental display mode for both desktop and handheld devices that swaps the typical white background and black text (light mode/traditional view) for a predominantly dark background with contrasting text and graphics. The aesthetic promises less light emission, better battery conservation, and increased comfort when viewing devices at night.

Why marketers should care…

While dark mode’s novelty offers advantages, it also presents challenges to developers and designers, particularly email marketers. Dark mode initially impacted non-HTML/text emails only. But with its rising prominence, the new feature now affects all emails, posing design and legibility issues for emails that weren’t designed to have their backgrounds arbitrarily switched in the first place.

And with most organizations engaged in some form of email marketing, even the biggest brands are struggling with dark mode right now:

Comparing Light Mode vs. Dark Mode

Let’s take a look at a standard HTML email. On a white background, the email looks just fine.

Now look at the same email, with dark mode applied.

Generally, when email marketers haven’t anticipated dark mode, things like images, text, and button colors may shift, which can result in weird formatting. The changes can be inconvenient at best and illegible at worst.

Rhythm Can Help

As with any new technology, the solutions are lagging behind the challenges. But the good news is that there are work-arounds to dark mode and tactical fixes are currently being explored.

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution yet, Rhythm can help you navigate the challenges with dark mode and plan emails around them. When you’re ready to take your email marketing to the next level, let’s talk!