Rainmeter

WHAT IS RAINMETER

Rainmeter is a desktop customization open source software for Windows that allows users to create and display various widgets, known as "skins," on their desktops. These skins can include clock displays, system monitors, weather updates, and other interactive or informative elements. It provides a platform for users to personalize their desktops by arranging and designing these skins according to their preferences and enhances the desktop experience by providing real-time information and visual enhancements.

GOAL

Overall, the goal of these rainmeter skins is to transform the boring desktop into a canvas of customizability and usability. Users are able to take advantage of this space to express their inner self and get calmer as they use their computer. Rainmeter is all about creating a out-of-the-norm environment through creativity and adjustability, and for me is crucial to follow this principle with a small touch of emotion in every skin.

DISTRIBUTION

Rainmeter skins are shared on DeviantArt under the alias “OffBalance Creative Team.” DeviantArt is a key platform for digital and handmade art, and it's where most Rainmeter skins are found.
“OffBalance” was born from my personal journey of creating skins. While made individually, they’re shaped by others’ work—through design, features, or shared code while Rainmeter’s open-source nature allows creators to build upon one another. This alias is a tribute to everyone whose work influenced mine, whether directly or unknowingly.

THE SKINS

CLOCKWORLD

ClockWorld is designed for those who want to see their desktop dynamically change throughout the day. Peaceful colors with smooth graphics and a "tropical" feeling provide comfort and calmness while working on your computer.

PUBLICITY STATS

based on deviantart.com

700k+

views

1k+

favorites

10+

badges

MEENIMAL

Meenimal was designed with the user in mind. Everything you will need is in front of your eyes. Meenimal is a simple skin for those who don't care so much about productivity but for elegance.

PUBLICITY STATS

based on deviantart.com

50k+

views

200+

favorites

5+

badges

SPARSE

Sparse is our simplest skin yet. Elegant design featuring Rainmeter's basic functions - Clock, Date - Time, Weather and Song display. All these accompanied with a user-friendly Settings menu and Over the Air updates!

PUBLICITY STATS

based on deviantart.com

60k+

views

150+

favorites

SETTINGS

The settings menu is the best example of a good user experience in every application. In clockworld, it enables the customization of the skin in various ways, split into categories. it manages to display a big amount of information organized in a very convenient way. Just like that, clockworld settings menu features consistency along with sleek and user friendly environment despite rainmeter’s restrictions. By using packages created by the community and with the advice of its people, this interface came to life and it’s praised as one of he best Rainmeter settings menus out there.

DESIGN LANGUAGE

The Settings menu is heavily inspired by he windows 10 Fluent design system which was a successful story when it came out. The design is simple and is focused on usability without compromising on design familiarity, creating a user friendly design. The view window is split into two parts, the settings categories and the settings options. Its way of usage is really simple as users are already accustomed with this type of design from their operating system. First, the categories are easily recognizable by the corresponding icon in front of the text for fast reading. The wallpaper color, described before, works as the main (accent) color declaring which category is selected. After navigating to one, users can access the Settings on the right side of the window. There, depending on the type, can users interact with all kinds of interface elements such as buttons, text fields and toggles, Each one of them follows common design rules as follows:

Action buttons: Filled with a light black color with rounded corners. Provide some kind of action when clicked.
Text boxes: Outlined boxes with the accent color as border. Enables clicking for entering information.
Toggles: Colored with the accent color when turned on, outlined with white when turned off.

Every skin has very similar style of Settings menu. This is done in order to effectively manage adaptability and scalability for the long term. Despite that, every skin has its own special settings and thus the Settings changes its content but with keeping the overall design parameters the same.

FEATURE: AUTOMATIC UPDATES

THE PROBLEM

Users have to check for skin updates manually every couple days or weeks, missing out on potential new features.

THE SOLUTION

Every skin is equipped with an update check system, where users can check if there is an available update and download it through the integrated skin installer just by pressing the Download button in the skin’s Settings menu.

HOW IT WORKS

To enable automatic updates, I stored new files in an online database—GitHub—since it manages version history and supports open source projects. I created a PowerShell script that downloads the GitHub repository as a .zip, extracts it, and replaces the old files in Rainmeter’s skin folder. An update checker in the settings compares the current skin version (from a local file) with the latest version (from an online file). If they differ, an update is available. When the “Check for updates” button is pressed, both versions are read, stripped of dots, converted to integers, and compared. This simple system was part of a broader exploration of Rainmeter’s features and scripting with languages like Lua.

THE FUTURE

The goal of this feature for the future is to create fully automatic updates that happen when users open their computer. This will make the user experience even more seamless, removing the need to check for updates manually. Due to some limitations of Rainmeter, progress is slow as I continue researching other ways to integrate this feature.

Another possible idea is to create a skin distribution platform (like the Google Play Store) where developers can upload their skins and be eligible for OTA updates. There has been a test in the past creating a platform like this, but it didn’t move forward due to its workload and platform limitations. Currently, I don’t have the appropriate knowledge to work around those challenges.

PREVIOUS PROJECT

HEXA

DesignFlows 2025 submission. App design for managing intelligent robots from an all-inclusive environment.