I thought high contrast text was always the right call until I tried a softer combo on a client project

Last month I used a dark navy background with off-white type on a landing page and the client said it felt way more readable than pure black on white. Has anyone else found that super high contrast can actually hurt legibility in some cases?

2 comments

2 Comments

miller.paul6d ago

Yeah, pure black on white can actually hurt your eyes. It's like staring into a lightbulb. I tried a dark charcoal background with cream text on my own website last year. Way easier on the eyes for reading long paragraphs. High contrast works for headlines but not for body copy. Sometimes less is more.

lily_sullivan826d ago

28 point type on a soft cream background is my go-to now for any site with more than a paragraph of text. I actually use a dark slate gray instead of pure black for body copy because my own eyes started hurting after reading on a bright white screen all day. My cousin is a graphic designer and she told me about this study where people with migraines actually read faster on low contrast backgrounds. It was a total game changer for me on a reading heavy blog I did for a local book club.