Branding change
Changing your brand colour palette is not something you do without a great deal of thought. In order to help reduce our carbon footprint even further, and it’s already tiny, the virtco® brand is adopting an ecobranding philosophy.
Why dark mode?
Specialists in ecobranding have spent considerable time analysing many research papers on the pros and cons of dark mode. As we discovered during our research, there is not one fixed outcome that is applicable to everyone. We also tested fonts and colours so the ones we selected had sufficient contrast to be distinguishable against the background to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standard to AA.
In case you were wondering, dark mode is a user interface setting displaying a light coloured text (white or grey) showing up against a dark background on devices/screens.
Pros for dark mode:
- It’s better for low-light scenarios
- Less “blue light” emissions from the screen
- It can potentially reduce eye strain and dry eyes in low-light conditions
- Inclusivity guidance shows that dark mode helps people with light sensitivity or vision disabilities.
Cons against dark mode:
- Light-against-dark is not always better for eye strain
- Text can appear washed out, increasing eye fatigue
- It can and be challenging reading long pieces of content or text in dark mode
- Light text on a dark background can be difficult to read in a well-lit sunny room
Based on this we made the decision that dark mode would be the default for all our digital content and light mode the default for print. Light mode will be used for text-heavy pieces of collateral such as brochures, adverts and in some instances, video production. For some of our other deliverables we provide both modes, so the consumer can choose their preference.
So what is light mode?
A user interface setting of light mode displays dark coloured text showing up against a light screen. As an alternative to dark mode, light mode is ideal for printing as less ink is used. Formats such as Word documents are much easier to read online in light mode and the mode is also an alternative when considering users with vision disabilities (e.g astigmatism).
As a personal preference I don’t like reading white text on a dark background, what options are available for me?
We understand that dark mode isn’t suitable for everyone and all situations – even when we’re talking about digital. It is possible for visitors to toggle between dark and light mode so you can choose the mode you prefer, just click on the button on the right-hand side of our menu bar.
How are the colours of our new visual identity different?
We selected colours that used less ink and improved accessibility. We chose brighter colours with better colour contrast meaning users can reduce screen brightness with the same level of readability. Our colours allow for sufficient contrast in both digital and print and achieve good accessibility scores for dark mode according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) score: AA
Will the virtco® logo change?
The virtco® logo has been amended to reflect the shading we are now using. The trademark logotype has now lost its gradient and shadows. The colour of the coloured version of the logo has been set for accessibility on both black and white backgrounds.
Grey and dark blue editions of the logotype will be used where contrast is required.
We have now decommissioned the QR code as our secondary logo, here is our new secondary logo, representing a link in the blockchain, a building block for the future and containing the blue “V “of virtco® and “C” for Consulting.
