PocketMatrix

Hi everybody,
I'm trying to improve gui of my program that is on ppc platform.
In the client of my application, there is almost 20 progress bars.
Just imagine, what happen with progress bars.
I'm wondering if I could make them by myself.
I read some thing about directX (render, vertex, 3d...), but dose it really necessary for me?
I'm not creating a game but it’s like a 2D game, that may need an engine or....
Can anybody help on this matter? useful resources, books?
I will appreciate you.
Thx,

It sounds like to me custom-skinned controls ("improve gui")