# CDE Interface × Motif — composed image prompt
# IndexStyle — https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=cde-interface+motif
# CDE Interface carries the structure and Motif appears as the accent.
# Style descriptors only. This prompt names no artist, studio, brand or work.

Produce four original images that take their structure from CDE Interface (style, 1993–2000s) and their accent from Motif (style, 1989–).

## What to make

Make the kind of thing CDE Interface exists for: shipping one desktop and business application language across UNIX workstations, or reconstructing a 1990s technical terminal with its operating structure intact. Choose one subject and hold it across all four.

## Structure comes from CDE Interface

- Box-like Front Panel along the lower edge
- Raised buttons and recessed fields made from paired light and dark borders
- Low-color pixel icons with dark outlines
- Persistent buttons for switching among workspaces

Composition: Layer work windows centrally and keep the Front Panel and workspace switch along the lower edge. Type and lettering: Use brief system type and labels that remain distinct at small sizes.

## Accent comes from Motif, used sparingly

- A gray face lit along its top and left edges and darkened along its bottom and right, so every part appears raised
- While a control is held down the two edge colors swap and the part sinks
- A thin rectangular ring is drawn around whichever control currently takes keyboard input
- Scroll bars are square cornered rectangles with a triangular arrow button at each end

Let one material quality come from it: Pick one face color, derive a light edge and a dark edge from it, and paint them on opposite sides; swap the two while pressed, and never round a corner.

## Colour and feeling

Build the ground on #B9B7A5, carry the structure in #5B7B7A and #252422, and let a single accent come from #B4B4B4. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette.
Feeling to carry: technique, trust, nostalgia.

## Where they fight

- CDE Interface and Motif both belong to Platform Screen Languages, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.

## What goes wrong

- CDE Interface: Gray bevels alone are not CDE. Front Panel, workspaces and Motif state rules must work as one environment.
- Motif: Replacing the two hard edge colors with a soft drop shadow kills the flip that signals a press, leaving decoration that merely looks raised.

## Across the four

Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture.

## Constraints

- Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work.
- Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work.
- Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.

Design specs for each entry: https://indexstyle.org/styles/cde-interface/design.md · https://indexstyle.org/styles/motif/design.md