Hello everyone,
As a beginner, Which of these two should I focus on learning to achieve this specific design on a Pi Zero?
I'm starting my first Raspberry Pi project, which involves making a smart clock. I'm going to use a Pi Zero 2W and a 5-inch DSI display for this. I want to design a user interface based on the image below. It has a retro, pixelated font and custom-created weather and air quality graphs.
My Research So Far:
I have spent the last few days researching Python GUI libraries. I started using Tkinter as my first tool, but I found it too limited because it only creates standard interface designs. These designs don't match the custom UI I want. My research showed me two options: Pygame and PySide6 Qt.
Pygame: It seems like a simple way to get this exact look because I can just draw text and shapes wherever I want. But is it a bad idea to use a game engine for a simple alarm clock?
PySide6 (or PyQt): I read that this is the "proper" way to make desktop apps. But since I'm new to this, I'm worried it will be way too hard to change the standard, boring windows to get this specific retro/pixel look.
If you have built custom, full-screen interfaces like this: Am I making the right choice by choosing Pygame for this kind of 'dedicated appliance' UI, or am I underestimating how difficult it is to build everything from scratch? Should I rather invest the time to learn PySide6?
Thanks for any insights from your own projects!
As a beginner, Which of these two should I focus on learning to achieve this specific design on a Pi Zero?
I'm starting my first Raspberry Pi project, which involves making a smart clock. I'm going to use a Pi Zero 2W and a 5-inch DSI display for this. I want to design a user interface based on the image below. It has a retro, pixelated font and custom-created weather and air quality graphs.
My Research So Far:
I have spent the last few days researching Python GUI libraries. I started using Tkinter as my first tool, but I found it too limited because it only creates standard interface designs. These designs don't match the custom UI I want. My research showed me two options: Pygame and PySide6 Qt.
Pygame: It seems like a simple way to get this exact look because I can just draw text and shapes wherever I want. But is it a bad idea to use a game engine for a simple alarm clock?
PySide6 (or PyQt): I read that this is the "proper" way to make desktop apps. But since I'm new to this, I'm worried it will be way too hard to change the standard, boring windows to get this specific retro/pixel look.
If you have built custom, full-screen interfaces like this: Am I making the right choice by choosing Pygame for this kind of 'dedicated appliance' UI, or am I underestimating how difficult it is to build everything from scratch? Should I rather invest the time to learn PySide6?
Thanks for any insights from your own projects!
Statistics: Posted by Evilgood — Sun Feb 22, 2026 1:00 pm