Brushed Metal
ブラシドメタル / 1999–2007 / Style / Apple UI
The hairline-metal windows of iTunes and Safari: a skeuomorphic branch that speaks an app's purpose through material, bringing pro-gear trust to the desktop.



At a glance
Visual cues
- Hairline metal surfaces
- Rivet-like details
- Equipment metaphors
- Gray tonal ranges
Best used for
- Editing software for sound or video that should feel like desk hardware
- Instrument and control interfaces that must read as professional equipment
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Engraved-looking light letterforms with one bright edge beneath
- Composition
- Knobs and readouts ranked like a device front panel
- Material
- Horizontal hairlines, gray tonal steps, small shadows building thickness
- Caution
- Pasting the texture over every panel makes a live knob and a dead surface look like the same metal, so the controls vanish.
- Further study
- QuickTime 4, 1999 / the appliance feel of iTunes and Safari / the HIG debates over its use
Related entries
- Aqua (アクア)Same Apple UI lineage.Compare Brushed Metal and Aqua
- Skeuomorphism (スキューモーフィズム)Shared effects: Trust.Compare Brushed Metal and Skeuomorphism
More from Apple UI
Continue through styles in the same Apple UI family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Liquid Glass (リキッドガラス)Shared effects: Technique / Luxury.
- Platinum (プラチナ)Shared effects: Trust / Technique.
- Apple Desktop Interface (アップル・デスクトップ・インターフェース)Shared effects: Trust / Technique.
Cite this entry
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/brushed-metal
- Markdown
- [Brushed Metal — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/brushed-metal)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/brushed-metal">Brushed Metal — IndexStyle</a>