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 Magic Cap: Make the whole screen one place. Chain the desk surface, the wall behind it, the hallway outside and the next room in that order
- Type
- Set in Magic Cap's manner (Treat type as a nameplate inside the drawing. Name the rooms and the objects briefly and do not fall back on list headings), and let Skeuomorphism's lettering (A humanist face suited to the purpose) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Magic Cap's material (Draw rather than photograph. Show each object from the front and give thickness and shadow only to the things that can be pressed); bring in exactly one thing from Skeuomorphism (Precision texture only where it serves function).
- Colour
- Build on #2B2F2B, #8F978C, #C6CBBE and admit one accent from #d6b47b, #7a4d2c, #39342e.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Magic Cap Every extra room and hallway pushes the tools further away, so count the round trips before committing to a spatial metaphor.
- Skeuomorphism Ornament must not bury the interaction. Expect generations who don't share the metaphor.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Magic Cap (aesthetic, 1994–1998) and their accent from Skeuomorphism (style, 2000s–2010s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Magic Cap exists for: designing a handheld for first time users where tools are handed out as rooms rather than as a list of features, or building period art for a mid 1990s handheld where the screen contents have to hold up on their own. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Magic Cap - An opening screen where a telephone, a Rolodex, a notepad and a calendar sit on a desk - A wall clock, in and out boxes and a filing cabinet drawn on the wall behind that desk - Movement between rooms goes through a hallway that is itself furnished and hung with pictures - Line drawings on a coarse grayscale display, touched directly with a stylus rather than a finger Composition: Make the whole screen one place. Chain the desk surface, the wall behind it, the hallway outside and the next room in that order. Type and lettering: Treat type as a nameplate inside the drawing. Name the rooms and the objects briefly and do not fall back on list headings. ## Accent comes from Skeuomorphism, used sparingly - Leather, metal, paper - Dimensional shadows - Real-world metaphors - Fine textures Let one material quality come from it: Precision texture only where it serves function. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #C6CBBE, carry the structure in #8F978C and #2B2F2B, and let a single accent come from #7a4d2c. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: intimacy, play, nostalgia, trust. ## What goes wrong - Magic Cap: Every extra room and hallway pushes the tools further away, so count the round trips before committing to a spatial metaphor. - Skeuomorphism: Ornament must not bury the interaction. Expect generations who don't share the metaphor. ## 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
- Magic Cap 1994–1998 / Aesthetic / Platform Screen Languages
The interface General Magic put on its communicating handhelds, running on the Motorola Envoy and the Sony Magic Link. Instead of imitating single objects it imitates a place, opening on an Office where a telephone, a Rolodex, a notepad and a calendar sit on a desk, with a wall clock, in and out boxes and a filing cabinet behind it. From there a Hallway, furnished and hung with pictures, leads to the Game Room, the Living Room, the Storeroom and the Control Room.
- Skeuomorphism 2000s–2010s / Style / UI Expression
Borrows cues from real materials and tools to make unknown interactions understandable. It names the principle, so Aqua and Brushed Metal are what the principle looked like when one company shipped it.
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