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 CDE Interface: Layer work windows centrally and keep the Front Panel and workspace switch along the lower edge
- Type
- Set in CDE Interface's manner (Use brief system type and labels that remain distinct at small sizes), and let Motif's lettering (A small sans at one fixed size, labels held to a single line, no letterspacing and no ornament inside the text) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in CDE Interface's material (Place a light top-left edge and dark bottom-right edge on mid-tone surfaces, reversing the bevel only on press); bring in exactly one thing from Motif (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
- Build on #B9B7A5, #5B7B7A, #252422 and admit one accent from #D3D3D3, #B4B4B4, #5F9EA0.
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.
Caution
- 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.
Image prompt
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.
Related entries
- CDE Interface 1993–2000s / Style / Platform Screen Languages
The Common Desktop Environment unified UNIX workstations through Motif-derived bevels, a persistent Front Panel, workspace switching and low-color icons, making different hardware feel like one workplace.
- Motif 1989– / Style / Platform Screen Languages
Motif is the interface language of UNIX workstations, maintained by The Open Group, standardized as IEEE 1295 and shipped on more than two hundred platforms. Its own data sheet calls the look a distinctive 3D beveled appearance, meaning every part sits on a gray face edged with one light line and one dark line.
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