Spice up UI with Black Text on White Background

Question

I've got a smaller banner ui (think 300 x 300px) which currently has solid black text on a white background. The text corresponds to new article titles, so it's really hard to place color on them that really applies to everything. The titles change every couple of seconds, so readability is a must. Black text on a white background makes it really easy to read, but it looks really boring and unprofessional. The entire square is just white with black words.

Is there anything I can do to spice it up, while maintaining the readability?

I tried changing the color to an off white, but it wasn't noticeable. I also tried adding a textured background of noise with a slight motion blur and then a texture of paper to make it seem more real, but it just was distracting and hard to read.

Here's an example:

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Answer 1

You've got the right idea on keeping your contrast strong with plain white and black. Textures and shadows can distract a bit. I would try yellow text on black, or deep red on white. Yellow, Red and Green are typically the attention-grabbing colors used in "new! sale! free! shiny thing!" type elements...and as long as that same color isn't repeated around the UI, it should stand out. Here are two images that might inspire you a bit where contrast is used. Good luck!