Design and Appearance
YucDu's look is made up of several settings you can mix and match freely. They're all in the Design and Appearance sections of the Settings tab, and changes apply immediately.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Design | Fonts, layout, heading style and Home composition across the whole app. |
| Color Palette | Overall colors: background, text, buttons, links and more. |
| Theme Color | The color of highlights such as the progress bar and category labels. |
| Appearance Mode | Light, Dark or Auto. |
| Display Style | How article lists look. |
| Font Size | Text size. |
Design
In Settings > Design, tap one of the following:
| Design | Character |
|---|---|
| Calm Reading (default, marked "Recommended") | Focused reading: Mincho body text, continue reading and text-first lists. No featured image on Home. |
| Editorial | A newspaper and magazine feel: bold Mincho headlines, rules and numbered lists. |
| Lifestyle | Soft rounded type, large rounded cards and warm colors; Home greets you based on the time of day. |
| Indigo | Indigo bands, bold Gothic type and English kickers for a striking look. |
Your design applies to every screen; your theme color and display style are kept as they are. Typographic details such as line spacing are set by the design, so there's no separate line-spacing setting.
Color Palette
In Settings > Appearance > Color Palette, choose:
- Design default — the original colors of your current design.
- One of 10 palettes — grouped by design (for example "Palettes for “Calm Reading”"), with the palettes recommended for your current design listed first: Minimal Mono, Midnight Reading, YucDu Original, Tecchan Style, JIN:R Blogcamp Style, Sakura Ivory, Oinavi Style, Kyoto Classic, Japanese Indigo and Matcha Natural.
Any palette works with any design. Midnight Reading is dark only (marked "Dark only"); when you choose it, Appearance Mode is locked to Dark.
Theme Color
In Settings > Appearance > Theme Color, pick one of six Japanese-inspired colors. The theme color is used only for highlights — for example the reading progress bar, category labels, section labels, the favorite heart and the numbers in the Magazine style. Buttons and links follow your design and color palette.
| Theme Color | Description |
|---|---|
| Vermillion (default) | Traditional Japanese vermillion seal |
| Navy | Deep, calm navy blue |
| Ink | Minimal, elegant ink black |
| Matcha | Natural, fresh matcha green |
| Sakura | Soft, romantic cherry blossom |
| Kincha | Warm, elegant golden tea |
Appearance Mode
In Settings > Appearance > Appearance Mode, choose:
- Light
- Dark
- Auto — follows the iOS Light/Dark setting (default).
The actual background and text colors come from your design and color palette. Appearance Mode can't be changed while the Midnight Reading palette is selected.
Display Style
In Settings > Appearance > Display Style, change how article lists look (see also Home and Reading Articles):
- C Card (default) — cards with cover images; with Calm Reading, a text-first list.
- B Magazine — bold Mincho headlines with large numbers.
- A Minimal — hairline dividers, no images.
Font Size
In Settings > Appearance > Font Size, choose S Small, M Medium or L Large (M Medium by default). You can also tap Aa at the top right while reading an article — it does the same thing. The preview sentence is shown in Japanese.
Text also scales with your iOS text size (Dynamic Type) setting.
Your appearance preferences (design, color palette, theme color, appearance mode, display style and font size) are saved on your device and used again the next time you open the app.