Usability challenges of dark mode in educational apps : a user-centered design framework
Sandeepani, Rappitigala Jayasundara Widanalage Madushika (2025)
Lataukset:
Diplomityö
2025
School of Engineering Science, Tietotekniikka
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025063075586
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025063075586
Tiivistelmä
Even as dark mode grows in popularity among mobile apps, its effect on user experience in educational spaces is still unexplored. This research investigates the usability challenges of dark mode in five widely used educational mobile apps-Duolingo, Khan Academy, Quizlet, Brilliant, and edX through a User-Centered Design (UCD) framework. Researchers looked for interface problems that often appear with dark mode and analyzed how they affect user experience and the learning process.
Eight experts used Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics as the basis for their assessments. Evaluator feedback was studied with Braun and Clarke’s technique to see which usability patterns came up repeatedly. Six main themes were discovered: clear visuals and strong contrast, problems with different design elements, navigation challenges, not enough helpful messages for errors, too many visual tools in dark mode layouts and missing help resources.
The findings showed that many dark mode designs choose to provide attractive visuals first, at the expense of good usability, proper contrast and clear handling of errors. These issues go against the main UCD ideas, including being consistent, giving feedback, being easy to use and allowing users to control their actions. The study points out that designing a truly good dark mode for education means considering the needs of users, the environment and accessibility.
Thanks to this study, there are specific recommendations that can help developers create more usable dark mode designs by performing heuristic evaluation and staying focused on users.
Eight experts used Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics as the basis for their assessments. Evaluator feedback was studied with Braun and Clarke’s technique to see which usability patterns came up repeatedly. Six main themes were discovered: clear visuals and strong contrast, problems with different design elements, navigation challenges, not enough helpful messages for errors, too many visual tools in dark mode layouts and missing help resources.
The findings showed that many dark mode designs choose to provide attractive visuals first, at the expense of good usability, proper contrast and clear handling of errors. These issues go against the main UCD ideas, including being consistent, giving feedback, being easy to use and allowing users to control their actions. The study points out that designing a truly good dark mode for education means considering the needs of users, the environment and accessibility.
Thanks to this study, there are specific recommendations that can help developers create more usable dark mode designs by performing heuristic evaluation and staying focused on users.