Hi everyone!
We (the Identity team at DFINITY) just released the latest update to Internet Identity. As you indubitably can see, the color scheme was changed to a flat dark theme. We are currently working on other significant improvements to the UX and UI of II, so in the future we will have actual dark/light modes.
Not bad, but I think NNS dark theme would look really good on the II login page as well.
Speaking as the developer of Juno and sharing my personal opinion here if I may: I kind of believe that the II sign-in flow (not the administration part) shouldnât follow a light or dark theme at all. Design-wise, it should remain as unopinionated and neutral as possible, since the branding identity of the dapps using it matters more than the branding of II itself.
So Iâm curious, have you ever considered going in the opposite direction? That is, reducing design friction in the sign-in flow by keeping the styling minimal?
That said, Iâm not a UX expert and havenât conducted any studies, so this might not be state-of-the-art. Happy to be proven wrong.
And again, Iâm only referring to the sign-in flow, not the administration interface.
P.S. In the new dark theme, isnât the grey background color a bit off?
Thereâs certainly a lot to agree with there. As mentioned we are currently working on significant UI/UX improvements which will include a much more minimal UI, though it will have dark mode.
Question, out of interest: what is a âneutralâ and âunopinionatedâ design to you?
Maybe less so nowadays, but for a long time - Googleâs sign-in screen, for example - had a very minimal design. It almost felt like plain HTML: just a few components, a simple color palette with maybe one accent color alongside black and white, and the Google logo wasnât too in-your-face. Some of those design choices still hold up today.
A barebone color palette is especially helpful when the consumerâs logo is visible, to avoid that âXmas lightsâ effect from clashing colors.
Iâd say the initial sign-in flow with Internet Identity isnât too far off from that minimal approach. The returning user flow is a bit less.
Again, Iâm no designer or UX expert, just my unsolicited personal take. And thanks! Glad to hear that a minimal UI is the goal, coolio.
I like the old one, two reasons: 1) I donât think dark color is good for my eyes, why you say that? 2) As per my use experience, after changing, the login process is getting slower.
Youâre right, thatâs an unproven assumption. Removed it. The login process should be unaffected by these changes, however there can of course be other reasons for slower load times.
For what itâs worth, I just quickly tried Google, GitHub, and X for social login. They all seem to follow the OS preference.
Nowadays, I believe theme should default to match system⌠but youâre right about minimalism.
I am indifferent, I generally prefer dark themes.
Im sure there is a large crowd that instantly will be lost if they perceive the UI to be âickyâ or whatever. Curious if theres any data that supports what is preferable to random users over large samples.
Great refresh! For the next steps I would autoâdetect the userâs OS settings, but still offer a persistent dark/light toggle. Also make sure text and buttons hit WCAG AA contrast. And im not sure the key emoji is the right one to be there. congrats great job!
I believe Dark mode is overwhelmingly preferred last study, dunno if it changed or if trends shifted but next shift is matching system preference⌠also first impressions judged in under 50ms⌠and to be frank the NNS and II UI is very jarring. Great to see improvements on UI being made, looking forward to see the progress. 
Actually, I didnât notice it the other day, but Iâm not that pleased with the outcome of this change in terms of Junoâs branding. The logo lacks contrast.
Since II uses the same metadata as the portal, which renders the logo somewhat in a light mode, I canât just provide a white version instead of black.
What are your plans to overcome those kind of issues?
Thanks @peterparker - working on a fix as we speak. As I mentioned, this is temporary though, as we are working on a major redesign.
