Susan Kare: How I Designed the Original Apple Mac Icons

Joining the Macintosh Team [0:01:25]

• Susan Kare, an art major with a PhD in art history, was hired by her high school friend Andy Hertzfeld to create icons and typefaces for the Macintosh.
• Before joining Apple, she was welding a life-size razorback hog sculpture in a garage, finding the work lonely and craving a team environment.
• She prepared for her interview by bringing books on typography and examples of bitmap graphics she had drafted on graph paper.

  focus on making things meaningful and memorable and I think the heart of that is have a good idea and then the form will follow.

Designing for Constraints [0:04:45]

• The design team aimed to make the computer friendly and understandable, specifically avoiding the need for a manual.
• Kare worked within a strict 16x16 pixel grid, viewing these limitations as an invitation to be creative rather than a reason to be frustrated.
• Early icon concepts included a lasso tool for selecting irregular regions, a design that has since been borrowed by various street artists.

  usually I think you can be creative in any constraints you can make some pretty fun art with beach trash while you're walking around and this you can be creative but it's good to understand what the constraints are and then be excited about that

Developing System Fonts [0:06:17]

• The first font, Chicago, used a nine-pixel cap height and focused on tidy horizontals, verticals, and 45-degree angles to improve on jagged screen text.
• The team introduced proportionally spaced fonts, a significant advancement over squashed displays where letters like 'M' and 'I' were previously distorted.
• Font names were changed from local Philadelphia suburbs to "world-class cities" at the insistence of Steve Jobs.

  I still wince when I look at especially at that lowercase x but but the others I could pretty much fit into the system

The Icon Editor [0:09:40]

• Andy Hertzfeld created a custom icon editor that allowed Kare to toggle bits and see a greatly enlarged image alongside the 72 dpi result.
• The tool automatically generated hex code, allowing for rapid iteration without the need for an eraser or advanced digital tools.
• Kare frequently drew portraits of colleagues in 32x32 pixels to test the limits of the display and build rapport within the group.

  it's hard to overstate how great this was and it automatically generated the hex code for an icon which I could then type in and see the image on the screen

The Happy Mac [0:11:00]

• The "Happy Mac" icon was designed to reassure users while the computer performed its slow startup process.
• Kare drew inspiration from a button she owned as a teenager, aiming for a simple face that allowed users to project themselves onto the interface.
• She noted that simpler, less detailed faces are more universal, whereas high-detail faces risk looking like a specific, unrelated person.

  when a face in particular has a lot of detail it looks like somebody else but if you make it really simple everyone can project themselves onto it

Lessons from Mistakes [0:12:35]

• The "bomb" icon for system failure was intended as an irreverent, hidden joke that users would never encounter.
• The reality proved otherwise, leading to panicked calls from users who feared their computers were literally going to explode.
• This experience taught Kare the importance of considering how every element, even the obscure ones, would be perceived by the end user.

  unfortunately people did see this and one time I was working in the the software group with was a glass room the fish bowl and the receptionist from the front said a call had come through to apple from a person who really needed to talk to someone in the software group

Metaphors and Meaning [0:14:15]

• Kare focused on using verbs and nouns for icons, such as pairing a painting tool with a document icon to describe a process.
• She replaced the traditional hourglass with a watch cursor to modernize the interface for the 1980s.
• She cautioned against using specific product designs in icons, noting that the 3.5-inch floppy disk icon became dated as technology evolved.

  in general I think it's not good in icons to show pictures of a particular product design because like the three and a half inch floppy for save even though some there's still a few of those kicking around but obviously it it didn't age well

The Command Key [0:15:35]

• Steve Jobs rejected the use of the Apple logo on the command key, calling it an "apple farm" and insisting the logo remain precious.
• Kare discovered the "feature" symbol in a book, which resembled a four-leaf clover or a cloverleaf highway, making it an ideal, abstract command icon.
• Years later, she learned the symbol is actually based on the 1200 AD Borgholm Castle in Sweden, which features four turrets.

  our logo is precious and we have to respect it so you know we just can't have a bunch of apples

Working with Paul Rand [0:20:45]

• Kare hired design legend Paul Rand for the NeXT project after Steve Jobs initially pushed for a contest to find a logo designer.
• Rand demanded a $100,000 fee for a single logo, promising, "you will like it," and delivered exactly that.
• She adopted many of Rand's design principles, including the use of specific colors and the importance of making logos meaningful rather than random symbols.

  you will pay me a hundred thousand dollars I will do one logo and you will like it and that is actually what happened

Advice on Iteration [0:23:45]

• Andy Hertzfeld advised Kare never to show Steve Jobs only one option, as he would likely reject it to force further improvement.
• Presenting multiple options allowed Jobs to be involved in the process, critique the work, and ultimately select a direction.
• Kare emphasized that design is not an exact science and that placeholders or client requests often lead to unexpected, successful ideas.

  don't show him one thing because he'll say he doesn't like it because it maybe forces you to go try and do it again and be better

Final Reflections [0:25:30]

• Kare reflected on her time at Apple as a "pirate" culture where teams worked long hours with sleeping bags in their cubicles.
• She noted that while she was encouraged to move into management roles, she remained a "bit twiddler at heart" who preferred the hands-on creative work.
• She concluded by emphasizing that the ultimate goal of her work was to create metaphors and meaning that allowed users to feel smart and capable.

  I think the whole point of that project and the graphics was it isn't really just about a grid of pixels it's the metaphor and the idea and the meaning behind everything