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 Platinum's lettering (One small sans serif carries both body text and controls. Hierarchy comes from surface height rather than type size, and bold is reserved for titles and the current selection) 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 Platinum (Keep three grays (a light face, a base, a dark edge). Build the bevel from a one pixel light line at the top left and a one pixel dark line at the bottom right. For the disabled state, delete both lines and fill with the base gray).
- Colour
- Build on #ececec, #6aaff0, #264788 and admit one accent from #D6D6D6, #EBEBEB, #606060.
Where they fight
- Aqua and Platinum share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
- Aqua and Platinum both belong to Apple UI, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Aqua Gloss and shadow applied evenly to every component hides what is actually pressable, leaving texture where hierarchy should be.
- Platinum Hand drawn custom controls do not participate in the system appearance, so they stay stuck in the previous generation's look while everything around them changes.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Aqua (style, 2000–2014) and their accent from Platinum (style, 1997–2001). ## 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 Platinum, used sparingly - Windows and controls built entirely from desaturated grays - Live controls carry a bevel and stand up, while disabled ones go flat and sink into the same gray as the background - Thick molded window frames sitting next to modal dialogs that have almost no frame at all - A collapse box at the right end of the title bar, and pop up menus raised into buttons with a double triangle Let one material quality come from it: Keep three grays (a light face, a base, a dark edge). Build the bevel from a one pixel light line at the top left and a one pixel dark line at the bottom right. For the disabled state, delete both lines and fill with the base gray. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #ececec, carry the structure in #6aaff0 and #264788, and let a single accent come from #D6D6D6. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: futurity, play, intimacy, trust, technique, nostalgia. ## Where they fight - Aqua and Platinum share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over. - Aqua and Platinum both belong to Apple UI, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. ## What goes wrong - Aqua: Gloss and shadow applied evenly to every component hides what is actually pressable, leaving texture where hierarchy should be. - Platinum: Hand drawn custom controls do not participate in the system appearance, so they stay stuck in the previous generation's look while everything around them changes. ## 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.
- Platinum 1997–2001 / Style / Apple UI
Apple's own name for the default appearance of Mac OS 8, shipped alongside the Appearance Manager, a framework built so the entire look could later be swapped for another. It drains the color out of the interface and works in grays alone, embossing whatever can be pressed and flattening whatever cannot until it merges with the background. The newly thickened window frame was a signal that the window could now be dragged by any edge.
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