dark UI leads to bad color judgement

[tvalleau]

As a photographer whose images are in museums, color judgement is critical to me. I have a 10-bit path showing 100% of ARGB. In order to do this accurately, one needs an environment that is LIGHT (such as the light grays of this very forum). I realize you're aesthetically fond of the dark environment, but any photographer worth his salt will tell you it screws up color and luminosity perception.

 

If you doubt me, please see the attached image from:  http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html.

 

Look at the light surrounds of the A square and the dark surrounds of the B square. Humans are not wired to see A and B as the same tone, as this example makes stunningly clear.

 

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE allow us to select a light UI with black text. (Yes: as a retired programmer, I -do- realize that this will take some effort on your part, as all your icons are white; the font is white... I get it.)

 

But this is a fundamental and nearly crippling mistake in your UI. Please fix it.

 

[MEB]

Hi tvalleau,

Thank you for your feedback and Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

The UI will be reviewed/improved later. As you mentioned it requires quite some effort and there's already several other features planned/in development until then.

Andy is already sharing a few bits...

[Bikerbudmatt]

+1 to this feature request. And a big –1 to users who argue that everyone should just get used to a black-on-black UI because it's what they think is "correct." 

 

On my screen, the icons are very small and nearly indistinguishable when rendered white-on-black, as they are now. The inky void swallows up the details that would otherwise make them easy to identify.

 

And thanks MEB for highlighting Andy's video bit, which seems to show…yes, an adjustable UI!

[heavyboots]

Oh man, this is HUGE! Adobe and their Steadily Darken Interface has gotten on my nerves immensely over the years. So glad to see you guys giving an option to use a light colored GUI again!

[verysame]

 

But this is a fundamental and nearly crippling mistake in your UI. Please fix it.

 

illusion.jpg

 

Yes, what that image proves is that our perception changes based on the surrounding light and that neither A or B are right.

It tells us that our perception is being tricked by the surrounding values, and it is important to know this because we can make better choices when it comes to color our work.

 

That said, I could completely screw up my whole color correction if I would work in a bright environment, hence gravitating toward an idea of dark square A.

And by environment, we also have to take into account the nearest values to the very work we are doing, i.e. the GUI.

 

The ideal is to work in a muted environment, not too bright, not too dark. Any values above or below can deceit our eyes.

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/09/complete-guide-setting-up-home-color-grading-suite

http://www.provideocoalition.com/the-color-grading-environment-and-ideal-lume-bias-lights/

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/the-basics-of-building-a-color-correction-suite/

 

On top of that, a bright interface will strain the user's eyes.

Anyhow, I respect the request made by many and I'm glad Affinity is taking action in order to please everyone.

[thomasp]

Oh man, this is HUGE! Adobe and their Steadily Darken Interface has gotten on my nerves immensely over the years. So glad to see you guys giving an option to use a light colored GUI again!

 

in case you're referring to photoshop - they do let you pick from a range of UI brightness levels in there. default is a dark grey but you can set it to a very light one, too.

just checked and my stoneage version of lightroom lets you choose light grey for the elements surrounding the image, apparently not for the toolchests though.

 

choice is good, but i for one amd very glad affinity started out dark. :ph34r: