It's a pretty common design meme to "not use pure black" (e.g., https://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/ https://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-nev

It's a pretty common design meme to "not use pure black" (e.g., https://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/ https://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/) or "not use pure white". What these designers appear not to realize, is that you are going to be viewing these designs on a light-emitting device, or at least a light-reflecting surface. None of these can actually produce a "pure black" (which would be no light at all) or "pure white". Even NASA only gets close: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/super-black-material.html https://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/super-black-... So designers can say that #000 is too dark, or that #fff is too light, but calling them pure black or pure white, is just inaccurate.