Designing Emails for Dark Mode

Dark mode has become popular in both apps and email clients, offering a more comfortable viewing experience. However, it can impact your emails’ appearance if not optimized properly. Optimizing your emails for dark mode ensures your subscribers have a seamless and engaging experience, regardless of their chosen mode.
In this article, you'll learn the best practices to ensure your emails look great in both dark and light modes. You can go to the email campaign editor in Yotpo SMS & Email to adjust your email with the following best practices and create emails that are visually appealing and accessible across different modes.

Best practices for dark mode optimization

Use transparent backgrounds

Opt for transparent backgrounds for images to ensure they display correctly in dark mode. This helps the user view images with background colors. A good practice is to make sure your images are in PNG format.

Optimize logo and icons

Add a thin white border around your dark-colored logo and use contrasting social icons to improve visibility in dark mode. This ensures they stand out against dark backgrounds while appearing seamless in light mode. The Yotpo Email social block includes a variety of social icons optimized for dark backgrounds.

Increase padding around non-transparent images

To enhance the appearance of your emails in dark mode, consider adding padding to non-transparent images. This simple adjustment helps create a smooth transition between the image's background and the dark mode setting, ensuring your images remain visible and maintaining a consistent and appealing email layout.

Update individual email elements

This includes icons, buttons, and other design components. Colors that work well in light mode may not be as effective in dark mode, so consider adjusting saturation and using a more muted color palette. This attention to detail ensures that your email elements remain visually appealing and readable, regardless of the user's mode preference.

Prefer text over images

To ensure your message is clear in dark mode, use text instead of images of text. This enhances deliverability, accessibility, and overall rendering quality.

Use fewer colors

Using a limited color palette is a helpful strategy when designing for dark mode. The fewer colors you incorporate in your emails, the smoother the transition between light and dark modes. By simplifying your color choices, you enhance the consistency of your branding and reduce the risk of design discrepancies between the two modes, ultimately resulting in more visually cohesive and appealing emails.

Test across modes 

Always test your emails to ensure they render correctly in both dark and light modes. Send preview emails to yourself and test them on various devices and inbox providers.

Follow these simple best practices to ensure visually appealing and accessible emails across different modes.