I flash-banged myself at 2 a.m. (never again)

A love letter to dark mode and late night gaming. Here's why I'm never going back to glow-stick white.

Author

Tim Hanson
May 23, 2025

One gigantic THANK-YOU (and a bribe)

Yesterday I asked if I should keep cranking these emails after Day 100.

You flooded my inbox with “Don’t stop, Tim!” notes.
I read every single one. (Even the one that just said “👍”.)
So yeah - I’m listening. And here’s to another ███ days

The “I-Actually-Read-These” Giveaway

I can see who opens these emails. The database doesn’t lie.
So let’s have some fun with it.

How to enter:

  1. No forms. No hoops. If you’ve been opening, you’re already in.

  2. Want bonus tickets? Hit reply and tell me your favourite line from any of the last 100 issues.
    Each quotable memory = +1 ticket (max 5).

I’ll draw winners live on Day 107 and publish the receipts - because transparency is the new black.

Thanks for riding shotgun on this nerd-rocket.

Day 94/100

 

Hey—It's Tim. 

It’s 2:07 a.m.
Steam says I’ve been trading head-shots on CS for three hours straight.

I tab out to Google something and 💥 BAM 💥 my laptop flash-bangs me like a rookie on Dust II.

That’s the moment I pledged allegiance to dark mode.

No more bleach-white monitor at vampire-hours.
Just a comfy glow that whispers, “Carry on, night-owl — I got you.”

 

I love dark mode

  1. Eyes stay in the game
    Light mode at midnight feels like someone duct-taped a ring light to your corneas.

  2. Feels like home
    Coders, gamers, nocturnal founders — we grew up on command lines and LAN parties. Black background, neon syntax. Turn the lights off and the brain goes, “Ah yes, my people.”

  3. Tech-savvy signal
    “Most folks I know who cling to light mode still need help exporting a PDF.”
    Spicy, but… if the shoe fits. Jus’ sayin’

  4. Battery life? Meh.
    OLED savings are nice, but nobody flips to dark mode for the milliamp-hours. It’s 95 % vibe, 5 % virtue signal.

 

Why you must design for dark mode

“Your technique should be: think about it from day one.”

Me, on an interview I did a couple weeks back.

1. Don’t retrofit - architect

Ship a dual-theme design system at Hour Zero and future-you will buy present-you a beer.

2. Chill base, bright pops

Dark ≠ drab. You still want colour - just dial the opacity so buttons pop without looking radioactive.

Element

Light Hex

Dark RGBA

🔴 Brand Red

#FF4136

rgba(255,65,54,0.85)

🔵 Info Blue

#0074D9

rgba(0,116,217,0.80)

✅ Success Green

#2ECC40

rgba(46,204,64,0.80)

3. Respect the late shift

If users spend 30-plus minutes per session (docs, IDEs, AI chats), dark mode is no longer a nice-to-have - it’s ergonomics. Don’t flash-bang your power users.

4. Use a real toolkit

I’m partial to Radix UI (React). One theme toggle, instant dual palettes - done.

5. Avoid the Muddy Middle

Copy-pasting light colours onto black turns fire-engine red into dried-blood maroon. Test contrast (WCAG 2.1) and tweak until hex codes sing.

 

Common dark-mode face-plants

  • Treating it as “extra.” (It’s table-stakes.)

  • Forgetting contrast ratios — grey on charcoal is not “minimalist,” it’s unreadable.

  • Leaving images with white halos. Crop or invert.

  • Announcing “Dark mode is live!” …then hard-coding light modals, emails, exports. Consistency or bust.

 

Penfriend confession

Yes, I know - Penfriend is still stuck in light mode.
I’ll take the L on that one.

  • I’m sorry, 2 a.m. writers - I see you.

  • I literally use Dark Reader to keep from getting flash-banged by my own product. It feels like cheating.

Good news: we’re migrating the whole UI to Radix so we can flip the switch properly.
No half-baked CSS hacks - real, native dark mode. It’s coming, and I can’t wait.

This is 100% not the end product.
But, I like you and I’ll happily share the WIPs.

Hold me to it.

“Inspiration might strike at 2 a.m. You don’t want to get flash-banged by your laptop.”

Design for the people who keep your app open the longest.
Give them a place that feels like late-night home.

See you tomorrow.

 

✌️ Tim "The blog post is dead, long live the blog post" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. Next person who emails me “But light mode is brighter!” will receive a care package containing:

1.a 500-watt photo studio lamp,
2. duct tape, and
3. instructions to strap it to their forehead for the rest of 2025.

Call it “immersive research.” 🔦

 

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.
 

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