Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Adobe Spectrum: Keep the canvas central and tools at the edges; change every element through the same density scale
- Type
- Set in Adobe Spectrum's manner (Use a sans that survives small labels; optimize for identifying actions, not dramatic headings), and let GitHub Primer's lettering (Use one plain sans for body and labels; build hierarchy through weight and color) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Adobe Spectrum's material (Build with steps of neutral color and assign vivid color only to selection, focus and warning); bring in exactly one thing from GitHub Primer (Start from neutrals; reserve blue for links and semantic colors for success, warning and danger).
- Colour
- Build on #F8F8F8, #1473E6, #323232 and admit one accent from #F6F8FA, #0969DA, #24292F.
Where they fight
- Adobe Spectrum and GitHub Primer both belong to Platform Screen Languages, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Adobe Spectrum A dark panel does not make a creative tool. Mixed density scales blur the line between an action and a readout.
- GitHub Primer Adding borders and tiny controls to look like GitHub only creates a cramped admin screen when the work has no clear priority.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Adobe Spectrum (style, 2013–) and their accent from GitHub Primer (style, 2017–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Adobe Spectrum exists for: creative tools for image, video or documents where controls should recede, or moving one product between desktop and mobile with a systematic density change. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Adobe Spectrum - Neutral surfaces with vivid color reserved for selection - Icons, type and borders scaling together - Toolbars and property panels joined by fine divisions - The creative work stays stronger than the interface Composition: Keep the canvas central and tools at the edges; change every element through the same density scale. Type and lettering: Use a sans that survives small labels; optimize for identifying actions, not dramatic headings. ## Accent comes from GitHub Primer, used sparingly - Neutral surfaces with blue links and restrained status colors - Octicons paired with short action labels - Thin borders separating lists, tabs and sidebars - Consistent steps of type and spacing even at high density Let one material quality come from it: Start from neutrals; reserve blue for links and semantic colors for success, warning and danger. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #F8F8F8, carry the structure in #1473E6 and #323232, and let a single accent come from #0969DA. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: technique, trust, calm. ## Where they fight - Adobe Spectrum and GitHub Primer both belong to Platform Screen Languages, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. ## What goes wrong - Adobe Spectrum: A dark panel does not make a creative tool. Mixed density scales blur the line between an action and a readout. - GitHub Primer: Adding borders and tiny controls to look like GitHub only creates a cramped admin screen when the work has no clear priority. ## 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.
Related entries
- Adobe Spectrum 2013– / Style / Platform Screen Languages
Adobe's cross-application design system. Under the principles Rational, Human and Focused, it changes density between desktop and mobile while keeping tool-heavy interfaces from pulling attention away from the work itself.
- GitHub Primer 2017– / Style / Platform Screen Languages
GitHub's design system for turning dense development workflows into shared rules for color, type, icons, spacing and components. It favors flow over decoration, keeping many states and actions in a small area without giving up accessibility or responsive behavior.
Share this composition:https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=adobe-spectrum+github-primer