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 NeXTSTEP Interface: Fix a vertical menu column at the upper left and a vertical icon strip at the right edge, and give the space between them to the work. Windows are meant to overlap, so a black title bar is the only marker of the one in hand
- Type
- Set in NeXTSTEP Interface's manner (Run one Helvetica style face throughout and build hierarchy from weight and size alone. Leave unavailable commands in place in dark gray instead of removing them), and let Swiss's lettering (Neutral sans-serif; be bold with size contrast) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in NeXTSTEP Interface's material (Work in four steps from white to black and admit no hue. Assume one light source above, and keep every bevel consistent with it); bring in exactly one thing from Swiss (White space and objective photographs; almost no ornament).
- Colour
- Build on #AAAAAA, #555555, #000000 and admit one accent from #f1efe8, #ed3b22, #121210.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- NeXTSTEP Interface Reproduce the grays and then add one saturated accent, and the premise that value carries hierarchy fails, taking the reading order of the whole screen with it.
- Swiss Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from NeXTSTEP Interface (style, 1988–1997) and their accent from Swiss (style, 1950s–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing NeXTSTEP Interface exists for: building a developer tool whose entire hierarchy is carried by gray values and shading, with no accent hue, or showing where the visual language of today's Apple desktop came from, in a talk or an exhibit. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from NeXTSTEP Interface - A menu standing as a vertical column at the upper left, submenus attaching to its right - Square application icons docked in a vertical strip along the right edge of the screen - Thick bevels carved entirely from gray values, with no hue anywhere in them - A black title bar on the window taking keystrokes, dark gray on a window that is merely frontmost Composition: Fix a vertical menu column at the upper left and a vertical icon strip at the right edge, and give the space between them to the work. Windows are meant to overlap, so a black title bar is the only marker of the one in hand. Type and lettering: Run one Helvetica style face throughout and build hierarchy from weight and size alone. Leave unavailable commands in place in dark gray instead of removing them. ## Accent comes from Swiss, used sparingly - Strict grid - Sans-serif type - Asymmetry - Objective photography Let one material quality come from it: White space and objective photographs; almost no ornament. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #AAAAAA, carry the structure in #555555 and #000000, and let a single accent come from #ed3b22. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: technique, calm, luxury, trust. ## What goes wrong - NeXTSTEP Interface: Reproduce the grays and then add one saturated accent, and the premise that value carries hierarchy fails, taking the reading order of the whole screen with it. - Swiss: Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale. ## 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
- NeXTSTEP Interface 1988–1997 / Style / Platform Screen Languages
The screen language NeXT laid down in its 1993 interface guidelines. The document states the goal outright: a color scheme based on black, white, and gray, and a simple appearance that uses shading for a three dimensional effect. The main menu stands as a vertical column at the upper left, and docked application icons run down the right edge.
- Swiss 1950s– / Style / Functionalism
Puts order front and center and makes the information itself the protagonist.
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