Design 26 March 2026
Color Systems That Survive Dark Mode
Your light palette is half a system. Here's how to design tokens that work in both modes — without doubling your work.
Sofia Reyes
The mistake everyone makes: design the light theme, then "do the dark version". You end up with two parallel palettes that drift over time.
The cleaner approach: design semantic tokens (surface, text-primary, border-subtle) and resolve them per theme. The component never knows which mode it's in.
Three things to watch
- Pure black is wrong. Use
#0a0a0cor similar. Pure black makes shadows disappear. - Brand colour usually shifts. What looks vivid on white can scream on dark. Test both.
- Keep contrast ratios in lockstep. If body text is 13:1 in light, aim for 13:1 in dark.
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