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 BeOS Interface: The tab occupies only as much of the top edge as the name needs, and because tabs slide, window positions are chosen so overlapping windows line their tabs up in a row
- Type
- Set in BeOS Interface's manner (A small sans, one line of it, living inside the tab; names get cut short rather than trailing into an ellipsis), and let Metro's lettering (Headings five times body size, kept in a light weight) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in BeOS Interface's material (One light gray carries the whole surface; only the front window's tab is painted yellow and the rest stay gray, with no third color invited in); bring in exactly one thing from Metro (No shadows or borders, black or white ground, saturated flat panels).
- Colour
- Build on #FFCB00, #D8D8D8, #9D9D9D and admit one accent from #ffffff, #ffc211, #131314.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- BeOS Interface Spreading the yellow around as a general accent destroys its one job, marking the front window, and the tab drops to decoration.
- Metro Stripping every border and shadow erases the difference between a tappable tile and a plain heading, leaving people guessing where to touch.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from BeOS Interface (style, 1995–2001) and their accent from Metro (style, 2010–2015). ## What to make Make the kind of thing BeOS Interface exists for: A workspace where many windows stay open at once and every window's label must survive being overlapped, or making an interface that reads as clearly not-the-others through a single decision rather than more color. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from BeOS Interface - Only the front window's tab is yellow; every other window keeps a gray tab - The tab is as wide as the window's name, not as wide as the window - Holding Shift and dragging the tab slides it along the top edge of the window - The Deskbar stands in the upper right corner with running applications stacked below it Composition: The tab occupies only as much of the top edge as the name needs, and because tabs slide, window positions are chosen so overlapping windows line their tabs up in a row. Type and lettering: A small sans, one line of it, living inside the tab; names get cut short rather than trailing into an ellipsis. ## Accent comes from Metro, used sparingly - Type as the hero - Flat-color tiles - Compositions running off-screen - Chrome eliminated Let one material quality come from it: No shadows or borders, black or white ground, saturated flat panels. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #D8D8D8, carry the structure in #FFCB00 and #9D9D9D, and let a single accent come from #ffc211. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: technique, rebellion, futurity, trust. ## What goes wrong - BeOS Interface: Spreading the yellow around as a general accent destroys its one job, marking the front window, and the tab drops to decoration. - Metro: Stripping every border and shadow erases the difference between a tappable tile and a plain heading, leaving people guessing where to touch. ## 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
- BeOS Interface 1995–2001 / Style / Platform Screen Languages
Be's interface language threw away the full width title bar and put a short yellow tab on the top edge of each window instead. The user's guide calls sliding that tab a unique feature of Be windows: hold Shift and the tab travels sideways, so stacked windows leave a row of visible tabs rather than burying one another.
- Metro 2010–2015 / Style / Microsoft UI
Windows Phone's flat language, which cast type rather than icons in the lead role. Large typography, flat-color live tiles and layouts that run off the edge of the screen transplanted the clarity of transit signage into UI, opening the flat era ahead of iOS 7.
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