semitransparent grey panel (transparent black - glossy) 
made to look like a fictional interfact instrument 

text and stuff is white or silver 

this would look way better with like all white LEDS, or some other color maybe purple 

if that was the case there would need to be a third led row that indicates where you are in the current stage

or maybe one RGB LED that peeks out that is a color which shows what stage you're in 

like the 'stage indicator' led

I think white smd leds are probably cheaper and easier than the RGB strips I'm using currently

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pulsing leds at different rates etc. for cool effects

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naming the io something funny? like names of people or somethign? 
or maybe thats annoying like renaming board game mechanics when they're not actually new concepts 
ie input and output should only be called something else if they function dif from normally
could be good to call clock somethign else because it doens't function as a straight normal clock

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using very small LEDS but ones that stick out a bit, like in a hole in the panel 
maybe purple and white or something
with the one RGB status LED
although sometimes the small RGB LEDS are pretty hard to read 

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making the majority of the panel silver (exposed metal layer from pcb) 
with small black bits (silver and white could also be cool but hard to see) 

like the silver moon 

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try different shaped led pinholes/covers to see if it can illuminate in that shape 
like a star maybe 

mabye the panel fr4 cut outs for the leds could be stars too