CASE STUDY
Designing Dark Mode at Scale for INDmoney
DURATION
6 Months
Context
INDmoney is a wealth management super app with a rapidly growing user base of over 17 million people. Among them, nearly 10 million are active investors and traders who rely on the platform to track markets, analyze portfolios, and make investment decisions.
On average, these users spend more than 7 hours a day engaging with the app. While this demonstrated strong user engagement, it also highlighted a growing problem: prolonged screen exposure was causing visual fatigue and discomfort, particularly during late-night trading sessions.
To address this, we identified Dark Mode as a critical UX upgrade — not only as a design trend, but as a functional solution to improve readability, reduce eye strain, and create a more comfortable experience for millions of long-term, high-frequency users.
Design Phase : Establishing the Foundation
STEP 1: CuInitiated the project by researching user needs and visual ergonomics, especially for prolonged app usage.
STEP 2: Created and tested 2–3 dark mode color palettes internally, prioritizing contrast, readability, and accessibility.
STEP 3: Conducted visual QA and design review sessions with the team to select the final palette that delivered optimal visual comfort across all devices and screen types.
Systematic Asset Mapping — Scalable
by Design
The app, built over 7 years, had 10,000+ legacy design assets (icons, illustrations, images) across multiple platforms. Manual conversion was impractical — I designed and developed a custom plugin to:
Step 1
Preview light-mode assets in dark mode context.
Step 2
Apply the new dark theme palette automatically.
Step 3
Export updated assets for seamless handoff to developers.
Collaboration & Handoff
Partnered closely with developers throughout to define edge cases, resolve rendering issues, and ensure pixel-perfect implementation.
Ran cross-functional QA sessions, conducted design validations, and iterated on user feedback.
Launch Strategy & Rollout
In March 2025, dark mode was released to 5% of the user base as part of a phased rollout strategy.
Monitored usage metrics and design performance to inform iterative improvements for full-scale deployment.
Key takeaways
Translated a complex design transformation into a scalable system using automation and strong design ops thinking.
Demonstrated ownership and collaboration across design, engineering, and product teams.
Delivered a high-impact feature aligned with user needs and product vision, improving comfort for millions of users.