Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Metal (Java Look and Feel): Fix four bands inside the window: menu, tool strip, work area, status strip. Leave the host window frame alone and paint only what is inside it.
- Type
- Set in Metal (Java Look and Feel)'s manner (Run a single sans throughout and separate levels with weight and color only. Keep to two type sizes and leave headings undecorated.), and let Material Design's lettering (Build the hierarchy from one type family and separate levels by weight and size.) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Metal (Java Look and Feel)'s material (Combine three steps of blue violet, a pale field, a deep band, a darker border, with three steps of gray. Draw every boundary as a one pixel line and never blur it.); bring in exactly one thing from Material Design (Give surfaces elevation and show front and back by the density of the shadow.).
- Colour
- Build on #CCCCFF, #9999CC, #666699 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Metal (Java Look and Feel) Since Java SE 5 the default theme has been Ocean, which drains most of the blue violet away, so building on the assumption that Metal means blue violet will not match what actually runs.
- Material Design Do not add shadow as decoration. The moment the elevation rules break, the hierarchy is telling a lie.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Metal (Java Look and Feel) (Style, 1998–) and its accent from Material Design (Style, 2014–). Structural cues: Internal window title bars laid as a deep blue violet band over a pale blue violet field; A fine texture of dots and diagonal ticks stamped into title bars and dividers; Rectangular buttons with no corner radius, ringed by a one pixel deep blue violet line; The host system draws the outer window frame while everything inside it follows a different visual language. Accent cues, used sparingly: Hierarchy and shadow expressed by elevation; Surfaces overlapping like sheets of paper; Motion that shows cause and effect; A standardized unit of spacing. Composition: Fix four bands inside the window: menu, tool strip, work area, status strip. Leave the host window frame alone and paint only what is inside it.. Type and lettering: Run a single sans throughout and separate levels with weight and color only. Keep to two type sizes and leave headings undecorated.. Let one material quality come from the second style: Give surfaces elevation and show front and back by the density of the shadow.. Mood: Technology, Trust, Play. Color: build on #CCCCFF, #9999CC, #666699 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Metal (Java Look and Feel) 1998– / Style / Platform Screen Languages
Sun's default look and feel for Swing, built so that a program looks the same on every operating system. Metal was Sun's internal project name for it and stuck as the public one. Blue violet fills, thin straight borders, and a flat refusal to imitate the host platform are its signature.
- Material Design 2014– / Style / Google UI
A design system that reduces the physical metaphor of paper and ink to rules of shadow and overlap. Elements are given elevation, shadow states the hierarchy, and motion carries physical cause and effect. It became the model for UI design being distributed as a system.
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