Rune Devuyst: The Dark Side of Bright Colours: The Impact of Your Colour Choices

Every day, billions of people unlock their phones, scroll through websites, check emails, watch videos — and every single pixel that lights up on those screens consumes energy.

We notice slow websites or bad contrast, but we don’t really see the drain that colour choices can have on a device’s energy use. With the rise of OLED displays in smartphones and laptops, this choice is starting to make an impact.

In this talk, we’ll dive deeper into the working of OLED and explore how the colours we choose affect more than just style. You’ll see why some colours require more energy than others, how this relates to accessibility and brand identity, and what practical steps designers and developers can take to create palettes that are both visually appealing and energy-efficient.

Rune Devuyst sis a designer and front-end developer with an accessibility-first focus.

Through her company Wild About Web, she helps clients as a digital partner in their online presence — think webdesign, web development, brand identity and infrastructure such as email and domain hosting.

She also loves to share all things related to webdesign, development and accessibility as a mentor, in workshops or in her clear and practical educational videos that help developers and designers alike create better, more inclusive websites.

Outside of the web world, Rune has a interest in all kinds of design, from folding origami, creating illustration art, to interior design. Her pets play a big part in her life, so you’ll often find her with a dog and a few cats surrounding her when at home.