Macintosh Icon Designer Reflects On Her Work at Apple

MacRumors · Apr 18, 2013

Susan Kare, who created many of the original interface elements for the Apple Macintosh in the mid-1980s, today reflected on her work at Apple in an interview with Path (via AppleInsider). Kare first joined Apple with the title "Macintosh Artist" through software programmer Andy Hertzfeld, who she knew from high school.

When asked about her design influences and her time at Apple, she had this to say:

I was so lucky to get to work in the Macintosh group with great colleagues and talented programmers. That experience introduced me to interface design development and how I might be able to contribute as a graphic designer to the overall user experience. It also gave me practice in aiming to communicate big concepts in small spaces.

At Apple, Kare was responsible for most of the typefaces and the icons of the original Macintosh, along with much of the marketing material. She is best known for the Chicago sans-serif typeface and the "Happy Mac" icon that welcomed early Mac users on startup.

Kare now works as an independent artist and created a set of "stickers" for social networking app Path.

Article Link: Macintosh Icon Designer Reflects On Her Work at Apple

komodrone · Apr 18, 2013

too lazy to download Path again to check out the stickers.

theheadguy · Apr 18, 2013

I knew I saw her on here before, but she didn't get much attention then. I guess if it's posted on a competing site, it becomes worthy of the front page. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1303584/

tekboi · Apr 18, 2013

So there is a person at Apple, who's only job is to design LOGO's???

FREAKIN AWESOME!!!

Squilly · Apr 18, 2013

tekboi said:
So there is a person at Apple, who's only job is to design LOGO's???

FREAKIN AWESOME!!!

Would get boring VERY quickly imo.

mrsir2009 · Apr 18, 2013

Those icons remind me of my childhood

JayCee842 · Apr 18, 2013

That's really neat!

ArtOfWarfare · Apr 18, 2013

Squilly said:
Would get boring VERY quickly imo.

I disagree but to each his own.

I'm a programmer instead of an artist because I realized I was talented at one and sucked as the other... and I'm not trumpeting my drawing skills right now... also because I saw fortune in one and poverty in the other.

notabadname · Apr 18, 2013

Man, hard admitting that I am old enough to recognize (and have used) all of those.

Dr McKay · Apr 18, 2013

notabadname said:
Man, hard admitting that I am old enough to recognize (and have used) all of those.

It's easy enough, it's just 5 letters and a symbol.

"I'm Old"

GoCubsGo · Apr 18, 2013

mrsir2009 said:
Those icons remind me of my childhood

Was thinking the same thing. Well, I'm old, but still.

I'd love her job.

nylonsteel · Apr 18, 2013

re original article

ah - i remember the black cherry bomb icon well

supremedesigner · Apr 18, 2013

Looks like her site crashed only with 9 users visiting her site?

turtlez · Apr 18, 2013

Squilly said:
Would get boring VERY quickly imo.

er no, you are obviously not a designer so just because it doesn't interest you doesn't mean it doesn't interest others.

http://dribbble.com/ <- all these people are icon designers and have a lot of fundamental knowledge under their belt.

Xavier · Apr 18, 2013

I wonder if she helped with the "Oscar the Grouch" trash can. My favorite thing about the old days of Macintosh. That and Hypercard.

HMI · Apr 18, 2013

"That experience introduced me to interface design development and how I might be able to contribute as a graphic designer to the overall user experience. It also gave me practice in aiming to communicate big concepts in small spaces."

That was back when one could get a job without 5+ years of professional experience doing the same exact thing they were applying for and without having advanced degrees in that specific field.

If she were trying that now, I wonder if any company would give her the time of day, even with her obvious talent.

Art is so undervalued!

turtlez · Apr 18, 2013

ArtOfWarfare said:
I disagree but to each his own.

I'm a programmer instead of an artist because I realized I was talented at one and sucked as the other... and I'm not trumpeting my drawing skills right now... also because I saw fortune in one and poverty in the other.

Art is not poverty, check out Feng Zhu, he is on a 7 figure salary as a concept artist. It is a specialised field just as brain surgeon is. Not many people can do it so you can name your price.

I am on a high pay cheque for my graphic talent. It is easy to decline people who don't want to pay much because they have to settle with lower quality work or pay for what they desire.

RolyPolyBird · Apr 18, 2013

notabadname said:
Man, hard admitting that I am old enough to recognize (and have used) all of those.

Quite to the contrary I feel privileged that I got to see and live the mac os evolution. Great times.

laurim · Apr 18, 2013

Kinda makes me wish there was a "classic" theme to OSX. Anyone remember changing the sounds of functions like emptying the trash? In the early '90s, I had Oscar the Grouch singing "I LOOOOOVE trash". For another, can't remember if it was the error noise or new mail, I had Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "Your clothes, give them to me, now!". So much fun!

turtlez · Apr 18, 2013

laurim said:
Kinda makes me wish there was a "classic" theme to OSX. Anyone remember changing the sounds of functions like emptying the trash? In the early '90s, I had Oscar the Grouch singing "I LOOOOOVE trash". For another, can't remember if it was the error noise or new mail, I had Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "Your clothes, give them to me, now!". So much fun!

I used to make documents just to trash them for Oscar hahaha

mrsir2009 · Apr 18, 2013

jessica. said:
Was thinking the same thing. Well, I'm old, but still.

I'd love her job.

The use of those sort of icons spanned almost 20 years, so they’d be remembered by quite a few generations

Squilly · Apr 18, 2013

turtlez said:
er no, you are obviously not a designer so just because it doesn't interest you doesn't mean it doesn't interest others.

http://dribbble.com/ <- all these people are icon designers and have a lot of fundamental knowledge under their belt.

I am a designer. It gets tedious after a while, plus the fact of doing it alone makes it worse.

macse30 · Apr 18, 2013

so awesome

velocityg4 · Apr 18, 2013

The funny thing is those icons were better than the ones now. Given the size of the icons these old black and white icons would be perfect for the iPhone.

laurim said:
Kinda makes me wish there was a "classic" theme to OSX. Anyone remember changing the sounds of functions like emptying the trash? In the early '90s, I had Oscar the Grouch singing "I LOOOOOVE trash". For another, can't remember if it was the error noise or new mail, I had Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "Your clothes, give them to me, now!". So much fun!

I loved doing that. Plus constantly screwing around with control panel settings, editing the system file and juggling extensions. Does anyone remember the name of that program for editing system files? The icon was a jack in the box popping out of a mac.

Casiotone · Apr 18, 2013

No mention of Clarus the Dogcow?

main-qimg-95695a206ee7a5f1aaa42a9fb180b5f7

Moof!
http://clarus.chez-alice.fr/ENGLISH/history.html

Macintosh Icon Designer Reflects On Her Work at Apple

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