There are two primary color schemes in design: light and dark. Each color scheme has its own design elements that work for one, but not always the other. It has been debated many times before as to which scheme was better.
I’ll tell you right now, that there is no real winner in that debate. The way you choose to color your blog depends on a lot of factors. The type of site you’re running, how you want to display your content, and it even can be determined based off of your own personal preference.
In today’s design versus, I want to put the two up to the test and list the advantages and disadvantages of both. There will not be a winner today, but I want the information in this post to help you decide if the scheme you chose for your blog is the best you could have picked.
Light vs. Dark Blog Designs
Is it best to brand your blog with a light color scheme, or a dark one? There is never an easy answer to that question, but maybe the below information will help you choose for your own blog.
Light Blog Designs
A lightly colored blog is perhaps the most commonly seen of the two color schemes. A light blog design usually uses some sort of white/light gray with one to three extra colors.
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Often the easiest to read
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Easier to design
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Often more professional
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The use of whitespace
Light colors in web design are easiest to read. If you have a white background with dark gray text, then you have perfect readability. With light designs, the issue of easy readability is almost never a problem. Unless of course, you have poor site structure (which probably means a color scheme is the least of your worries).
Almost always, it will be easier to come up with a light colored design. There are many elements of design that work easiest with this method of design, and it takes less creativity to make a light color scheme work (compared to darker designs).
A light colored design usually has a more professional look to it. Smooth colors combined with a gray or white almost never go wrong for making your site look as professional as you want it to.
Whitespace is easily achieved with light designs because of how flexible you can format the design. Minimalist designs have a lot of whitespace in them, and when combined with some creatively formatted text and images – can look very nice.
Since readability is simplest on a light design, you can focus on how well your text is displayed without worrying too much about complicated layouts and formatting.
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Less emphasis on main content
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Designs aren’t always as unique
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Too bright
Unless you combine a light design with some dark colors, there isn’t always an easy way to put emphasis on your main content area.
If you look on Blogussion, we are able to distinguish the main content area from the sidebar content by putting a white background on top of a dark colored background. Then, if you were to look at a site like Asnio, the contrast isn’t there, and less focus is put onto the main content of the site.
Because light designs are easy to make, designers are often less innovative when coming up with features for them. It’s not always because something is too hard to pull off, as many different elements work well in a light design. Because of that simplicity, I think many light designs can really come out with the same sort of structures.
I have seen designs like this that use colors that are too bright. It could be the display of my computer that brightens them up, but that’s always a risk for anyone using a light colored theme for their site.
Dark Blog Designs
Dark blog designs aren’t as common as light ones and usually take more time and creativity to make. Some sort of black, or other dark colors are used to style this type of color scheme.
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Create a more unique experience
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Easier to highlight content
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More creative typography
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Whitespace
Dark designs are generally more creative than a light colored one. Because there are fewer elements that work well together on a dark layout, it requires more creativity and time to really come out with an excellent dark design.
A good dark design with lengthy content will be able to distinguish that from the rest of the site better.
As a best readability practice, a designer would have to figure out a way to incorporate a light background color onto a dark color background color so text could be the ideal black/dark gray color. Of course, this would create a huge amount of contrast between your content and the rest of the site, which is just what any blogger would want.
Light color schemes do allow for some very impressive typography, but when it comes to type on dark designs, I think it’s more creative.
I was personally more amazed with this list of typography on dark designs than this list of light typography. But this may just be a personal preference. What are your thoughts?
Just like a light design, dark designs can use whitespace quite efficiently. Whitespace doesn’t literally mean “space that is white,” but it’s just space that has nothing in it.
Believe it or not, whitespace designs can be a little tricky to come up with, and this is especially true with a dark design. However, the element still works and it looks pretty damn good.
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Harder to read
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Harder to design
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Harder to market
Sometimes a dark design is a little harder to read than a light one. Trying to read text when there’s a lot of dark colors around can be straining on some of your readers, and this is probably one of the trickiest things a designer can work out when it comes to designing with dark colors.
Dark designs are harder to come up with than lighter ones. It usually requires a designer to think outside the box more, because there are a lot less things that work on darker designs that work with lighter ones.
A dark color scheme generally makes marketing your brand harder. It has been proven that a lighter color scheme is better than a dark color scheme in terms of click-through rates. That is why any sensible marketer will make their sales page a light color scheme, because it is just easier to market.
Unfortunately for Blogussion, the worst color scheme possible for marketing is in place. Dark gray and red aren’t the best choices for a marketer, but it’s important to try and make up for those poor color choices by having a good layout structure and good overall organization of content.
My Verdict: Undecided
As I said previously, the way you choose to color your blog is completely up to your niche and your own personality. If you can make a dark design work in a niche that is predominantly lightly colored blogs, than by all means – go for it! As long as you and your community are happy with the design, then it doesn’t matter if you choose to use light colors or dark colors. What are your opinions?
Tomorrow on Design versus
I hope you have enjoyed day two! Tomorrow, I am going to put 2 column and 3 column blog layouts to the test. That has been a long lasting debate between many bloggers, and I hope to share some of my own thoughts on it as well tomorrow.
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?Hey Alex! Still cool! I prefer light designs. I remember showing Blogussion to my sister when I first found your site and her initial reaction was that it was really dark – which surprised me. Because I love your design and I was showing it to her so she could confirm my love for your design.
My conclusion: Light designs are like Randy Jackson on American Idol. They appeal to a lot of people but no one really has strong feelings either way. Dark designs, on the other hand, are like Simon Cowell…
Lots of people love Simon Cowell.
.-= Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Maroko, From $0 to $100K in 5 Months =-.
Lots of people hate Simon Cowell too!
I agree, though. Light designs are easy to look good, but hard to look great. Dark designs are easy to look bad, but have the potential to look amazing. Like Blogussion
Overall I would go with the design that I know I can make look good. If you can’t design well and don’t want to hire a good designer, stick with a simple light design. If you want to spend quite a few hours on your design and know what you want, you sure could go with a dark design.
Its all about preference, the vibe you want to put out, and your own ability in designing.
.-= Patrick Toerner´s last blog ..Single Greatest Tip For Success Online =-.
I tried to do the dark on light design, but I still think it turned out alright.
At least one of you is sensible and likes the design. Only joking of course. 
Haha, for a minute I thought you were going to bring race into this debate Nick.
But I understand your comparison between the two man, that’s actually a smart way of putting it.
Too bright? Are there any colors that are too bright?
Very good analysis. I much prefer light background, dark text. Like a billion to one.
.-= Alison Moore Smith´s last blog ..WordPress Backup: A Two-Step Process =-.
A monitor with jacked up settings can definitely make a color seem too bright.
It all depends on the theme and design of the website, there are some occasions where light will be better and there are some where dark will be better. Overall, i prefer light.
Thanks.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..You have to read this =-.
Really, if you can make the design work, then the niche shouldn’t matter.
Even in this niche, the blogging tips niche, I think light colors are the predominant color scheme. So what the hell happened here? Even though the niche is mostly light colors, I still made a dark design, and the best part is that it works. Maybe it just depends more on the designer than anything else?
I like the light ones.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..Gretchen Baretto on Metro April 2010 =-.
Alex dude, you need to stop freaking me out with all this awesomeness. I mean look at post image of this post – IT’S WOW!
Wooh! Anyways, I think it really depends on the content. Often designers think that design is design and content is content but they are integral part of designs.
If your blog/website is about food and mechanism and stuff like that then it makes sense to use light design.
So IMHO light designs go where you don’t have to take readers to a specific midset or mood.
In contrast (pun intended) dark designs are used and are really successful where you have to show strong personality and get them into it. Sort of like it’s my personal blog, spiritual, philosohpy, artisitc fields – photography, music, movies.
So if it’s light personality then it’s light design. If it’s strong personality then it’s dark design. But there is no assertion as such.
That’s my 20 cents. Steal EM!
And I need a breather to prepare for tomorrow’s freak-out.
Let’s be awesome.
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Blogging and the Law of Attraction =-.
I was amazed when I found the post image too.
It’s kind of now hitting me that it depends on the designer more than the content of the blog. I think I made a dark design work out fairly well on Blogussion (which is in a niche full of light colors). So yes, it could rely on the content to determine a color scheme, but I think in the end it will be the designer who makes it work.
Wow! That makes more sense. Is it just me or our interactions really bring out new ideas!! CooL!
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Truth about Enlightenment & How to Attain It =-.
I think have to say light designs go good with informative websites. So if you have a website and your talking about business then you might not want to have it with a dark background. Dark backgrounds, in most cases usually indicates dark, elegant, edgy type designs. Don’t get me wrong I like designing in creating websites with a dark background but I prefer light colored website
What you are saying is very true, Alex. The theme of your site is a major part of what decides what the colour scheme of your site will be, be it light or dark.
.-= Shirley´s last blog ..This Happens To Me All The Time – Funny And Interesting Geek Picture =-.
This directly affects me. My co-blogger and I, when we started our first blog choose a dark scheme for a dark theme, Violence. But we’ll be starting a lighter blog this summer, and we’re using the same CSS, but lightening up the color scheme.
good post.
.-= Eric C´s last blog ..Mistaking Goats for the Taliban =-.
Another good point about light designs is that they are the ideal designs for people with limited vision. A light background and dark text makes it easy for these Internet users to read and find information.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..A Day in the Life of a Person with a Cognitive Disability =-.
That’s definitely the ideal choice for best readability. Then there are blogs who have a dark background and light text, which isn’t really smart…
Although I do like your site design – I prefer a light colour scheme. My own blog design is light, I just find it easier on the eyes.
.-= Shannon O | Confessions of a Loving Wife´s last blog ..Privacy in Marriage, How Much is Too Much Information? =-.
More often that none, light designs are probably the easiest to read. Of course, a lot of factors can change how easy something is ready. For instance, the lighting in the room, how close a reader is to their computer, their level of vision, etc. etc.
I think King nailed it. It all depends on the content. Content creates mood and theme. Every topic and niche is different. No matter what, I believe simplicity is the key. Simple to read, simple to navigate. I like both light and dark sites for their own reasons. I will say it’s much easier to read black text on a white background than the other way around. I’m used to reading newspapers and books, I like the contrast. The other way just seems odd.
I think reading colored text, like yellow on black, is even worse. Then you get people who make the text almost the same color as the background and you have to strain to read it. Can’t stand it.
The use of colors on your site is wonderful, I’ve showed it off to a lot of people. It looks cool, it pops, the side bar gets noticed, it’s easy to read, you did a great job designing this site. Professional Eye-candy!
Dark sites to me are more creative. Light sites are more business. I like to mix them. It’s all about the content and how you want to present it. Great post!
It also depends on how much text you actually have too. Like, if it’s just a simple line (like on a header), than a dark background with darkish text wouldn’t be too bad. Of course, other things come into play, like font size, style, the family, etc. But I think you get my point…
I agree that dark sites are more creative. Of course it’s not always true, I just think that since they are much harder to make than a light design – it forces a designer to be more creative. And wow, are there some pretty dark designs out there!
I think that ultimately what matters is that the Content is distinguished. Whether it’s a dark design or a light design, if the blogger knows what to look for when choosing designs for their blog, and they pick a design that is reader friendly or that leads the reader’s eyes to the content, then that’s what’s important.
You do a great job here a blogussion, Alex, in guiding the reader’s eye to the content because it’s the only place on the page that has white space. Such as that of a book, white page, dark lettering.
Great post Alex! Very intuitive.
.-= Jarrod@ Optimistic Journey´s last blog ..You Know You’re Favored by God When… =-.
I really think that lighter designed blogs have less distinguishable content than a dark design, and that’s one big negative I see about light designs. That’s why I like the theme here so much, and why it works for me…it emphasizes content well.
Appreciate the comments Jarrod! Thanks for stopping by.
I prefer the light blog design. However, i think the blog design color should depend on the niche of the blog. The health-related blog should have light color. The game-related blog may have dark color. Thanks for your sharing! I learnt a lot of design concept from this article.
.-= Kok Siong Chen´s last blog ..Tamoxifen – Breast Cancer Treatment =-.
Some niches, I think, should definitely always be the same. I couldn’t imagine seeing a health related site be dark, or a magazine site being dark even.
Thanks for stopping by bud.
Here’s the way I see it. Fangoria.com is dark and should be for obvious reasons. They pull it off in spades. 9 outa 10 blogs, not having the design mojo you do Alex, need to stick with light.
Interestingly, commenters above are equating things to Simon Cowell; some LOVE, some HATE…the thing is, BOTH sides watch him EVERY WEEK.
Isn’t that what you ultimately want?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.
If a site like that was light, I think anyone viewing it would laugh as they closed the tab. Definitely a good point man, some sites just cannot pull off some color schemes just because of the niche they’re in.
Great point about his viewership man, as long as it’s interesting, it will get the views it deserves.
I am personallly fan of Dark themes (not very dark). I like themes which are more colorful. They should not be too dark. There should be at least one primary Dark color.
Anyways Alex – What type of Design is my Blog. I think it is Dark but with some light touch. What do you say?
.-= Agent Deepak | Blogging. Marketing & Success´s last blog ..The Secrets of Success – Desire =-.
I would say you have a more light colored design than it is dark.
For a very long time, even before reading this great article, I have weighed up both the advantages and the disadvantages of different colours schemes and I realized this. I think choosing a light or dark color scheme really depends on your niche. Now I’m not just saying that blogs about Gothic culture are going ot have black backgrounds and blogs about childcare have yellow or white ones but I have noticed some very clear patterns. For example most blogs about blogging use grey or white in their palletes. When choosing a colour scheme, look at what the big blogs in your niche are doing and then try to improve upon it. If it works for them then it can sure as heck work for the rest of us!
.-= Jasmine Henry from System Fail News´s last blog ..Hands-On : First Play (The New Interactive Service for PS3) =-.
Blog with a lot of text should use light colors, and blog that lot with images are preferred to use the dark colors.
.-= Reza Winandar´s last blog ..This is blog is now Do Follow =-.
Getting the perfect balance is a thing of beauty!
.-= Brad´s last blog ..Surfing Angourie Back In The Day =-.
Hello everyone. Interesting subject for a blog. I have been searching the Internet for fun and came upon your website. Fabulous post. Thanks a ton for sharing your experience! It is nice to see that some people still put in an effort into managing their websites. I’ll be sure to check back again real soon.
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For me it was simple. My site is on lavenders so I wanted that colour plus a deep purple and lighter hue all in my logo. Got my Gen Y niece who is doing graphic design at college to sort it and then I got her to design my business cards the same. Worked for me but it does depend on your niche and as a newbie to blogging if the logo is distinctive I’ll remember the blog better and probably revisit and ask more questions if it is a blog like blogussion. I love your logo and when I saw how young you guys are I thought how amazing that you are so entrepreneurial and just like some of the “big” names out there who started young with an idea and went on to much success in the business world, I will be able to say you taught me heaps about blogging before you became “famous” lol
Patricia Perth Australia
If you want to create a dark blog, make sure you know something about the color theory, which I need to study. But now, I am more comfortable with light blog design. Great post.
i just love this blog because of informative content.
Dark blog designs is suitable for entertainment niche. For niche like internet marketing, blogging related stuff where readers have to read a lot, light design is suitable for such niche.
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