Why did the National Bank of Kuwait implement the Dark Mode?

We have implemented Dark Mode in the National Bank of Kuwait mobile banking application to improve user experience.

Problem

Both NBK and FINANTEQ sought to implement new functionality that would reflect two important aspects of the NBK’s strategy —sustainable development of mobile banking and social responsibility of the business.

In an effort to provide a comprehensive and convenient banking experience to our customers and to maintain our leadership position in the sector, we continue our effort to offer comfort to our customers ensuring they benefit from our digital solutions and banking services aligned with our Digital Transformation Strategy. For that purpose, we closely follow up latest innovation trends and provide new innovative services to our customers. — says Mohammed Al-Othman, General Manager, Consumer Banking Group at the National Bank of Kuwait.

 

Solution

At FINANTEQ we made every effort to provide the bank’s customers with innovative technology for both Android and iOS platforms, which they could enjoy ahead of others.

The introduction of the Dark Mode in the NBK app was an intensive and very creative time — says Inga Rokicka, Customer Relationship Manager at FINANTEQ. — At every stage of the project we were in touch with the bank and received the necessary support to secure a swift and trouble-free deployment. We are extremely proud of the effect, but first of all, of the cooperation with the bank, whose priority is to deliver the highest quality and exceptional user experience to its customers. These are also the key points of FINANTEQ’s mission. 

We designed an elegant interface where all features of the application remain fully coherent and automatically adjust to the currently selected mode. This is particularly important to the users, as they do not have to change their habits and learn the application anew. Moreover, they can choose freely the preferred view (switching between bright, dark, and automatic).

Dark Mode for banking

The implementation of the Dark Mode in the NBK app brings two substantial benefits. 

• First, the use of a dark interface decreases the power consumption of the display by 10 to 50% on average, compared to applications with a bright user interface.
• The second big benefit of the Dark Mode is significantly less eye fatigue when using this application in the evening and at night. Dark Mode reduces the contrast between the dark background and the bright screen of the smartphone and decreases the emission of blue light. The content displayed is therefore more legible, which significantly improves the comfort of prolonged screen use in low light conditions. It is worth adding that blue light has a negative effect on the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that causes sleepiness. Limiting blue light exposure is important for people who experience difficulties with falling asleep.

The Dark Mode has an impact on UX as well. It just looks more elegant. While the majority of applications have a similar white display mode, the dark mode offers a more toned down and exclusive look.