I found a company logo that looks almost illuminated when viewed on certain screens, especially against a black background. It does not resemble a normal drop shadow or obvious neon effect—the white mark simply appears much brighter than standard white. Is this caused by pure white on pure black, an HDR or wide-gamut color space, a particular image format, display behavior, or a subtle design treatment? I'd like to reproduce a similar high-contrast look for my own logo and would appreciate advice on the design process, color settings, export format, and software techniques involved.
4 Answers
It may be using HDR or a wide-gamut color space rather than ordinary sRGB. Some image formats and color profiles allow highlights to be displayed brighter than normal #FFFFFF on compatible phones, laptops, and browsers. That would explain why it looks bright on some devices but ordinary on others, and why the effect may not appear in a screen recording.
The loading behavior is a useful clue: if the background starts gray and then darkens while the logo becomes stark white, the browser may be switching from a normal preview to an HDR or wide-color version. Try checking the image metadata and color profile, then compare sRGB, Display P3, and an HDR-capable export on different displays.
For a dependable version of the look, start with a clean white vector logo on a near-black or pure-black background and test it without any glow. If you want a controlled halo, add a very low-opacity, heavily blurred duplicate behind the logo, but keep the main mark crisp. Export a standard sRGB version for broad compatibility, and only use HDR or wide-gamut output when the target platform and displays support it.
The logo itself may just be solid white on solid black, with no glow added. Bright white next to black can create a perceived halo because of visual contrast, and the effect can also come from the display. Local-dimming LCDs may produce blooming around bright areas, while OLED screens can make the contrast look especially intense.
That also explains why the effect can appear on an HDR phone but not on every desktop display. The same file may look completely different depending on the screen and browser.