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 OPEN LOOK: Give each window four resize corners and gather commands into control areas outside the pane. Every pop-up window opens with a header that carries a pushpin.
- Type
- Set in OPEN LOOK's manner (Set every shared element in the same sans serif variable width face. Size in points rather than pixels, and scale through the 10, 12, 14 and 19 point steps the spec provides.), and let Terminal UI's lettering (One monospaced face where emphasis comes from weight and inversion alone) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in OPEN LOOK's material (Make the design work in black and white first. For the three dimensional version pick one background colour, derive the recessed shade by adding 10 to 15 percent black, and reserve white for lit edges.); bring in exactly one thing from Terminal UI (One phosphor hue on black with scanlines and bloom added sparingly).
- Colour
- Build on #000000, #808080, #FFFFFF 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
- OPEN LOOK Starting from the three dimensional colour scheme collapses the moment the design meets a monochrome display, where neither the raised edges nor the pushpin survive.
- Terminal UI Heavy scanlines and flicker cost legibility and the atmosphere ends up beating the speed that made the tool worth using.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from OPEN LOOK (Style, 1988–1990s) and its accent from Terminal UI (Style, 1970s–). Structural cues: A pushpin at the left end of a pop-up window's header, which pins the window to the workspace instead of dismissing it; Three dots after a label announce a window, an outlined triangle announces a menu; Scrollbars split into an elevator, a cable and top and bottom cable anchors, with the dark part of the cable showing how much is in view; The workspace is a 50 percent dither pattern and menu drop shadows are a 75 percent pattern. Accent cues, used sparingly: Single phosphor color on black; The monospace grid; A blinking cursor; Scanlines and glow. Composition: Give each window four resize corners and gather commands into control areas outside the pane. Every pop-up window opens with a header that carries a pushpin.. Type and lettering: Set every shared element in the same sans serif variable width face. Size in points rather than pixels, and scale through the 10, 12, 14 and 19 point steps the spec provides.. Let one material quality come from the second style: One phosphor hue on black with scanlines and bloom added sparingly. Mood: Technology, Trust, Rebellion, Calm. Color: build on #000000, #808080, #FFFFFF 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
- OPEN LOOK 1988–1990s / Style / Platform Screen Languages
A screen language for Unix workstations, specified by Sun Microsystems in a functional specification published by Addison-Wesley in 1989. The book defines two parallel designs, one black and white for monochrome displays and one three dimensional for grayscale and colour, sets a single sans serif variable width face for every common element, and tells implementers that restraint is the key to colour. Each pop-up window carries a pushpin at the left of its header, and pinning it leaves the window on the workspace.
- Terminal UI 1970s– / Style / UI Expression
The terminal look: monospaced phosphor characters on black. The VT100's green afterglow became the primal image of the computer's face, repeated from hacker cinema to modern CLI tools.
Share this pairing:https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=open-look+terminal-ui