6 ms·

The Woman Who Gave the Macintosh a Smile (2018)

151 points by superfunny 5y ago

Animats 5y ago
Of course. Everyone should know who Susan Kare is. She's made most of the famous user interface icons - Apple's, Microsoft's, Facebook's. http://kare.com/ http://kare.com/
- ronyeh 5y ago
  Wow. Also did Windows solitaire graphics? How many times have those pixels been displayed around the world? (It's like how the Windows XP bliss wallpaper is one of the world's most viewed photos.)
- celim307 5y ago
  Probably just nostalgia but man those icons remind me of how fun the internet and computing seemed in the mid late 90’s. Nowadays everything Seems sterile
  - cli_shall 5y ago
    You aren't alone in that. It's actually prompted me to sit here and reflect on that very thing. Things are definitely too slick and sterile compared to those earlier days of pioneering wonder.
  - amyjess 5y ago
    Honestly a lot of people talk about how much they hate skeumorphism, but in the early '10s when most of the existing vendors abandoned it, it broke my heart and basically destroyed any love I still had for GUIs. First Microsoft abandoning skeumorphism with Windows Phone 7 (and later Windows 8), then Apple going to war against skeumorphism in iOS 7. That one-two punch just broke me, and it especially hurt when Apple did it specifically because of Susan Kare's history with the company. I've always despised Jony Ive's entire design aesthetic ever since the original iPod came out, but when he neutered iOS my dislike of him became intensely personal. I still say that if I ever win the lottery and become a billionaire, I'll hire a team to make a proprietary mobile OS just for my personal use that's built around skeumorphism and trying to imitate either iOS 6 or maybe even translate '80s and '90s Mac styles to a touch-first platform.
    - underwater 5y ago
      I quite liked parts of the Windows Phone 7 take on UI. Some bits were just old school UI switched out for blocky rectangles. But other parts were great. It had a beautiful hotizontal scrolling pattern [1] that replaced patterns like Windows tabs and the iOS style navigation bars. The background had a parralax scrolling effect that tied it all together. When the design used animation and motion well you could see a glimpse of something that was both unique and good. Even 11 years later, those designs look modern and usable. Unfortunately Windows 10 has gone exclusively down the old-school UI with blocky boxes route. 1: https://youtu.be/8dM4X-KveSs?t=1m23s https://youtu.be/8dM4X-KveSs?t=1m23s
    - ido 5y ago
      You can probably just make a custom UI for Android for less than a billion $!
    - HotDogLinux 5y ago
      I also share your enthusiasm for the old GUI's, I used to love everything Apple did, but at this point I don't see myself ever buying anything from Apple ever again. For me it wasn't just the old iOS, it was also Objective-C that I loved, it's still my favorite programming language to use. When they went to Swift, that was the nail in the coffin. But I actually prefer iOS 5 over iOS 6. I bought a couple of old iPhone 4's (not the 4S, the 4) because it's possible to downgrade them to iOS 5 (or iOS 6 actually). I think the 4S is no longer able to downgrade. I am writing an X window manager that imitates the old Mac Classic GUI to some degree and parts of the old iOS interface (as well as other classic GUI's), if you're interested you can take a look at hotdoglinux.com. I've been thinking of putting together some kind of Raspberry Pi distribution with a touchscreen interface, but we'll see. You wouldn't need to become a billionaire to do that though, it's not that hard
      - xattt 5y ago
        Where have you found refuge from abstract UIs in a mobile device?
        5y ago
dang 5y ago
Past related threads: The Story Behind Susan Kare’s Iconic Design Work for Apple - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17290055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17290055 - June 2018 (48 comments) Susan Kare designed the suite of icons that made the Macintosh revolutionary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16883633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16883633 - April 2018 (74 comments) Behind the Icons: An interview with Susan Kare - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12258469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12258469 - Aug 2016 (19 comments) MoMA Recognizes Susan Kare, the Designer of the Macintosh's Original Icons - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9159021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9159021 - March 2015 (2 comments) The Sketchbook of Susan Kare, the Artist Who Gave Computing a Human Face - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7864129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7864129 - June 2014 (10 comments) Classic Mac icon designer Susan Kare takes the stand: live from Apple v. Samsung - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4352627 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4352627 - Aug 2012 (1 comment) The Sketchbook of Susan Kare, the Artist Who Gave Computing a Human Face - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3266499 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3266499 - Nov 2011 (1 comment) I think there have been others as well...
dorkwood 5y ago
I love this video of Kare giving an introduction to the Mac interface on "Computer Chronicles" back in 1984 [1]. At first it seems quaint to see how slowly and carefully she explains what we now consider to be basic UI features. But then you realize that for many people in the world, a desktop computer is just as strange and confusing to them now as it was to most people back then. I think some of us (me included) would do well to keep this video in mind when explaining technology to non-technical people. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4
- matsemann 5y ago
  Wow, she even explains you have to let go of the mouse button for it to be a click. Interesting watch.
  - amatecha 5y ago
    Suddenly remembering my first encounter with this important distinction via the "mouseUp" event in HyperCard. I remember discovering that it's usually better to act on a mouseUp. On mouseDown feels too fast, and if you act on mouseDown you prevent the user from being able to move the cursor away to "cancel" the click. There are probably other reasons I can't recall at the moment, too :)
  - _joel 5y ago
    Years ago, a friend had to visit an old lady who had just got her first computer as she said it wasn't working properly. They discovered that she was using the mouse as a pedal (like you get with sowing machines).
  - juliendorra 5y ago
    The paper manual of the original Macintosh in 1984 explained carefully and in details how to use the mouse (starting at page 13). https://archive.org/details/1984macintoshmanual/page/n14/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/1984macintoshmanual/page/n14/mod...
    - 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
AlexCoventry 5y ago
I always wondered who came up with that slowly pulsing light on sleeping first generation ibooks. It seemed like someone had put a lot of thought into that: It was very calming.
- josh_s 5y ago
  Very calming as it mimics slow, relaxed breathing. Patented by Apple in 2002. https://patents.google.com/patent/US6658577 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6658577
  - AlexCoventry 5y ago
    Thanks.
KozmoNau7 5y ago
That whimsical and idealistic nature is just completely gone from Apple, it died sometime in the 90s.
- BrissyCoder 5y ago
  Do (or have) you work(ed) for Apple?
BrissyCoder 5y ago
> Every fifteen minutes or so, as I wrote this story, I moved my cursor northward to click on the disk in the Microsoft Word toolbar that indicates “Save.” I guarantee the author did not use MS Word but rather some cloud platform to author this.
- kzrdude 5y ago
  Word is available on office's cloud platform, too.
  - BrissyCoder 5y ago
    Yeah I realise that... I just assumed it doesn't have a save button. Am I wrong? Let me go check I guess... EDIT: Yep - no save button.
    - kzrdude 5y ago
      You're right. If I go about to find the "Save As.." action it's illustrated with a floppy disk with a pencil on top in the sharepoint/office cloud version of Word I have access to.
      - BrissyCoder 5y ago
        Funny we both seem to have a lot of licenses for software we never use. I just went and checked the desktop version of Word (which I haven't used in years)... https://imgur.com/8POWvrq https://imgur.com/8POWvrq Has a save button but superimposed with a refresh glyph along with accompanying mult-user text.
- paulcole 5y ago
  Why do you guarantee this?
  - BrissyCoder 5y ago
    Because I believe it is most likely true.
danybittel 5y ago
She gave a great talk recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lx9Wtd2P48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lx9Wtd2P48
- tomcam 5y ago
  It’s beautiful, thank you
aasasd 5y ago
Kare's art is full of character. The Solitaire cards are different from everything else in Windows. I recognize the Chicago font immediately upon seeing like three words for a split second (it's still used a lot in headings on videos and presentations, and sometimes even physical lettering). This is despite never having used the classic Mac or iPod. Every time I need a good icon for my personal interfaces, I mourn that the art of 16x16 icons seems to be lost. In image search, ‘icon’ now means something like 256x256.
rmetzler 5y ago
> Through their work, and now hers, one can see a legacy of personal touch that one hopes will continue into our digital future on a deeper level than fingerprint readers. She gave the Mac a smile—where’s the smile now? I‘m not really sure how literally this question is meant. The finder icon on macOS still has a smile.

151 points by superfunny 5y ago

Of course. Everyone should know who Susan Kare is. She's made most of the famous user interface icons - Apple's, Microsoft's, Facebook's. http://kare.com/ http://kare.com/

ronyeh 5y ago
Wow. Also did Windows solitaire graphics? How many times have those pixels been displayed around the world? (It's like how the Windows XP bliss wallpaper is one of the world's most viewed photos.)
celim307 5y ago
Probably just nostalgia but man those icons remind me of how fun the internet and computing seemed in the mid late 90’s. Nowadays everything Seems sterile
- cli_shall 5y ago
  You aren't alone in that. It's actually prompted me to sit here and reflect on that very thing. Things are definitely too slick and sterile compared to those earlier days of pioneering wonder.
- amyjess 5y ago
  Honestly a lot of people talk about how much they hate skeumorphism, but in the early '10s when most of the existing vendors abandoned it, it broke my heart and basically destroyed any love I still had for GUIs. First Microsoft abandoning skeumorphism with Windows Phone 7 (and later Windows 8), then Apple going to war against skeumorphism in iOS 7. That one-two punch just broke me, and it especially hurt when Apple did it specifically because of Susan Kare's history with the company. I've always despised Jony Ive's entire design aesthetic ever since the original iPod came out, but when he neutered iOS my dislike of him became intensely personal. I still say that if I ever win the lottery and become a billionaire, I'll hire a team to make a proprietary mobile OS just for my personal use that's built around skeumorphism and trying to imitate either iOS 6 or maybe even translate '80s and '90s Mac styles to a touch-first platform.
  - underwater 5y ago
    I quite liked parts of the Windows Phone 7 take on UI. Some bits were just old school UI switched out for blocky rectangles. But other parts were great. It had a beautiful hotizontal scrolling pattern [1] that replaced patterns like Windows tabs and the iOS style navigation bars. The background had a parralax scrolling effect that tied it all together. When the design used animation and motion well you could see a glimpse of something that was both unique and good. Even 11 years later, those designs look modern and usable. Unfortunately Windows 10 has gone exclusively down the old-school UI with blocky boxes route. 1: https://youtu.be/8dM4X-KveSs?t=1m23s https://youtu.be/8dM4X-KveSs?t=1m23s
  - ido 5y ago
    You can probably just make a custom UI for Android for less than a billion $!
  - HotDogLinux 5y ago
    I also share your enthusiasm for the old GUI's, I used to love everything Apple did, but at this point I don't see myself ever buying anything from Apple ever again. For me it wasn't just the old iOS, it was also Objective-C that I loved, it's still my favorite programming language to use. When they went to Swift, that was the nail in the coffin. But I actually prefer iOS 5 over iOS 6. I bought a couple of old iPhone 4's (not the 4S, the 4) because it's possible to downgrade them to iOS 5 (or iOS 6 actually). I think the 4S is no longer able to downgrade. I am writing an X window manager that imitates the old Mac Classic GUI to some degree and parts of the old iOS interface (as well as other classic GUI's), if you're interested you can take a look at hotdoglinux.com. I've been thinking of putting together some kind of Raspberry Pi distribution with a touchscreen interface, but we'll see. You wouldn't need to become a billionaire to do that though, it's not that hard
    - xattt 5y ago
      Where have you found refuge from abstract UIs in a mobile device?
      - 5y ago

dang 5y ago

Past related threads: The Story Behind Susan Kare’s Iconic Design Work for Apple - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17290055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17290055 - June 2018 (48 comments) Susan Kare designed the suite of icons that made the Macintosh revolutionary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16883633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16883633 - April 2018 (74 comments) Behind the Icons: An interview with Susan Kare - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12258469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12258469 - Aug 2016 (19 comments) MoMA Recognizes Susan Kare, the Designer of the Macintosh's Original Icons - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9159021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9159021 - March 2015 (2 comments) The Sketchbook of Susan Kare, the Artist Who Gave Computing a Human Face - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7864129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7864129 - June 2014 (10 comments) Classic Mac icon designer Susan Kare takes the stand: live from Apple v. Samsung - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4352627 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4352627 - Aug 2012 (1 comment) The Sketchbook of Susan Kare, the Artist Who Gave Computing a Human Face - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3266499 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3266499 - Nov 2011 (1 comment) I think there have been others as well...

dorkwood 5y ago

I love this video of Kare giving an introduction to the Mac interface on "Computer Chronicles" back in 1984 [1]. At first it seems quaint to see how slowly and carefully she explains what we now consider to be basic UI features. But then you realize that for many people in the world, a desktop computer is just as strange and confusing to them now as it was to most people back then. I think some of us (me included) would do well to keep this video in mind when explaining technology to non-technical people. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4

matsemann 5y ago
Wow, she even explains you have to let go of the mouse button for it to be a click. Interesting watch.
- amatecha 5y ago
  Suddenly remembering my first encounter with this important distinction via the "mouseUp" event in HyperCard. I remember discovering that it's usually better to act on a mouseUp. On mouseDown feels too fast, and if you act on mouseDown you prevent the user from being able to move the cursor away to "cancel" the click. There are probably other reasons I can't recall at the moment, too :)
- _joel 5y ago
  Years ago, a friend had to visit an old lady who had just got her first computer as she said it wasn't working properly. They discovered that she was using the mouse as a pedal (like you get with sowing machines).
- juliendorra 5y ago
  The paper manual of the original Macintosh in 1984 explained carefully and in details how to use the mouse (starting at page 13). https://archive.org/details/1984macintoshmanual/page/n14/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/1984macintoshmanual/page/n14/mod...
  - 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

AlexCoventry 5y ago

I always wondered who came up with that slowly pulsing light on sleeping first generation ibooks. It seemed like someone had put a lot of thought into that: It was very calming.

josh_s 5y ago
Very calming as it mimics slow, relaxed breathing. Patented by Apple in 2002. https://patents.google.com/patent/US6658577 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6658577
- AlexCoventry 5y ago
  Thanks.

KozmoNau7 5y ago

That whimsical and idealistic nature is just completely gone from Apple, it died sometime in the 90s.

BrissyCoder 5y ago
Do (or have) you work(ed) for Apple?

BrissyCoder 5y ago

> Every fifteen minutes or so, as I wrote this story, I moved my cursor northward to click on the disk in the Microsoft Word toolbar that indicates “Save.” I guarantee the author did not use MS Word but rather some cloud platform to author this.

kzrdude 5y ago
Word is available on office's cloud platform, too.
- BrissyCoder 5y ago
  Yeah I realise that... I just assumed it doesn't have a save button. Am I wrong? Let me go check I guess... EDIT: Yep - no save button.
  - kzrdude 5y ago
    You're right. If I go about to find the "Save As.." action it's illustrated with a floppy disk with a pencil on top in the sharepoint/office cloud version of Word I have access to.
    - BrissyCoder 5y ago
      Funny we both seem to have a lot of licenses for software we never use. I just went and checked the desktop version of Word (which I haven't used in years)... https://imgur.com/8POWvrq https://imgur.com/8POWvrq Has a save button but superimposed with a refresh glyph along with accompanying mult-user text.
paulcole 5y ago
Why do you guarantee this?
- BrissyCoder 5y ago
  Because I believe it is most likely true.

danybittel 5y ago

She gave a great talk recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lx9Wtd2P48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lx9Wtd2P48

tomcam 5y ago
It’s beautiful, thank you

aasasd 5y ago

Kare's art is full of character. The Solitaire cards are different from everything else in Windows. I recognize the Chicago font immediately upon seeing like three words for a split second (it's still used a lot in headings on videos and presentations, and sometimes even physical lettering). This is despite never having used the classic Mac or iPod. Every time I need a good icon for my personal interfaces, I mourn that the art of 16x16 icons seems to be lost. In image search, ‘icon’ now means something like 256x256.

rmetzler 5y ago

> Through their work, and now hers, one can see a legacy of personal touch that one hopes will continue into our digital future on a deeper level than fingerprint readers. She gave the Mac a smile—where’s the smile now? I‘m not really sure how literally this question is meant. The finder icon on macOS still has a smile.