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 Ribbon: Fix the band to the top and keep core tabs to seven or fewer. Make the first tab Home and gather the frequent commands there, then cut the band into labelled groups
- Type
- Set in Ribbon's manner (Label every command. Icons stand alone only where the commands are ones everybody already knows), and let Windows 95 Interface's lettering (Set a bitmap sans at its native size with antialiasing off. Use one size, reserve bold for emphasis, and underline the single shortcut letter) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Ribbon's material (Draw each icon at both 32 by 32 and 16 by 16, giving the large size to the frequent commands. Size in ribbon gallery thumbnails to fit inside the 48 pixel band); bring in exactly one thing from Windows 95 Interface (Carve everything from four values: the gray face, a white highlight, a mid gray shadow, a black outline. Build relief from an outer and an inner line, and swap light for dark on press).
- Colour
- Build on #D6E4F5, #2E5C99, #F5F4F2 and admit one accent from #C0C0C0, #000080, #008080.
Where they fight
- Ribbon and Windows 95 Interface both belong to Microsoft UI, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Ribbon Merely refactoring existing menus and toolbars into the band costs the extra space without gaining the results oriented commands that justify it.
- Windows 95 Interface Copy the gray and the doubled line but add rounded corners or soft shadows, and the direction of the carving stops reading, taking the hardness that defined the original with it.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Ribbon (layout, 2007–) and their accent from Windows 95 Interface (style, 1995–2001). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Ribbon exists for: consolidating menus and toolbars into a single surface for a business application with dozens of commands, or designing a surface where users pick by seeing the result first, through galleries and live preview. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Ribbon - A tabbed band sits permanently at the top of the window, fixed at 48 pixels high - The band is cut into labelled groups, with each group name running along its lower edge - Command icons come in two sizes, 32 by 32 and 16 by 16, and the frequent ones take the large size and lead the group - Coloured contextual tabs appear when an object type is selected, and their tab set labels end in Tools Composition: Fix the band to the top and keep core tabs to seven or fewer. Make the first tab Home and gather the frequent commands there, then cut the band into labelled groups. Type and lettering: Label every command. Icons stand alone only where the commands are ones everybody already knows. ## Accent comes from Windows 95 Interface, used sparingly - Gray panels framed by a doubled edge, one light line and one dark line, outside and inside - A bar pinned to the bottom of the screen with a single square button at its left end - A flat navy title bar with three small squares grouped at its right end - Small bitmap text with no antialiasing, one letter underlined to mark the keyboard shortcut Let one material quality come from it: Carve everything from four values: the gray face, a white highlight, a mid gray shadow, a black outline. Build relief from an outer and an inner line, and swap light for dark on press. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #F5F4F2, carry the structure in #D6E4F5 and #2E5C99, and let a single accent come from #008080. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: trust, technique, nostalgia. ## Where they fight - Ribbon and Windows 95 Interface both belong to Microsoft UI, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. ## What goes wrong - Ribbon: Merely refactoring existing menus and toolbars into the band costs the extra space without gaining the results oriented commands that justify it. - Windows 95 Interface: Copy the gray and the doubled line but add rounded corners or soft shadows, and the direction of the carving stops reading, taking the hardness that defined the original with it. ## 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
- Ribbon 2007– / Layout / Microsoft UI
A command bar that organises a program's features into a series of tabs at the top of a window, replacing both the menu bar and the toolbars. Microsoft introduced it with Office 2007 and named its parts in the Windows guidelines: core tabs, groups, contextual tabs, galleries, the Application button and the Quick Access Toolbar. Every command carries a label, and its size follows how often it is used.
- Windows 95 Interface 1995–2001 / Style / Microsoft UI
The screen language Microsoft set down in its 1995 handbook for software design. Gray panels are carved with a doubled outer and inner edge, so the direction of the shadow alone says what can be pressed. A bar sits permanently along the bottom, and every application is assembled from the same system parts.
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