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 Aqua: Components evenly spaced, gaps left for shadows to fall into
- Type
- Set in Aqua's manner (No shadow on text, weighted to stay legible over gloss), and let elementary OS's lettering (Use brief everyday language and explicit verbs; never label an action merely OK) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Aqua's material (A hard white highlight above, reflection and deep shadow below); bring in exactly one thing from elementary OS (Build from white and pale gray, fine shadows and blue suggested actions; give icons unique silhouettes and a dark one-pixel edge).
- Colour
- Build on #ececec, #6aaff0, #264788 and admit one accent from #FAFAFA, #3689E6, #333333.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Aqua Gloss and shadow applied evenly to every component hides what is actually pressable, leaving texture where hierarchy should be.
- elementary OS macOS-like wallpaper and rounded icons miss the point. The concise writing and one-window-one-purpose model must travel with the look.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Aqua (style, 2000–2014) and their accent from elementary OS (style, 2011–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Aqua exists for: recreating 2000s digital culture with the texture it actually had, or making what is clickable read at once as a pressable object. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Aqua - Gel-gloss buttons - Pinstriped grounds - Deep drop shadows - Metaphors of water and light Composition: Components evenly spaced, gaps left for shadows to fall into. Type and lettering: No shadow on text, weighted to stay legible over gloss. ## Accent comes from elementary OS, used sparingly - A few primary actions in the top toolbar - Short copy built from concrete verbs - Multicolor app icons with distinctive silhouettes and a dark one-pixel outline - White work surfaces, pale chrome and blue suggested actions Let one material quality come from it: Build from white and pale gray, fine shadows and blue suggested actions; give icons unique silhouettes and a dark one-pixel edge. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #ececec, carry the structure in #6aaff0 and #264788, and let a single accent come from #3689E6. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: futurity, play, intimacy, calm, technique. ## What goes wrong - Aqua: Gloss and shadow applied evenly to every component hides what is actually pressable, leaving texture where hierarchy should be. - elementary OS: macOS-like wallpaper and rounded icons miss the point. The concise writing and one-window-one-purpose model must travel with the look. ## 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
- Aqua 2000–2014 / Style / Apple UI
Mac OS X's design language of buttons you want to lick. Jelly gloss, pinstripes, deep shadows and the genie effect staged digital components as objects you could touch, and set the terms for UI throughout the 2000s. What the web made of it with images is Web 2.0 Gloss.
- elementary OS 2011– / Style / Platform Screen Languages
elementary OS builds a consistently beautiful, immediately understandable desktop from concise language, single-purpose windows, distinctive app icons and restrained depth.
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