Susan Kare joined Apple as an art history PhD who barely knew anything about computers. She went on to design many of the icons, typefaces, and symbols that helped make the original Macintosh feel understandable and human, defining a visual language for personal computing that still influences software today.
At Startup School 2026, Susan shares the stories behind the Happy Mac, Command key, Chicago font, and more, along with the design lessons she learned from Steve Jobs, Paul Rand, and the original Mac team: make things meaningful and memorable, embrace constraints, iterate constantly, and use just enough detail to make an idea instantly clear.
Transcript: https://www.ycrootaccess.com/p/susan-kare-on-designing-the-original
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Chapters:
00:00 — Making Things Meaningful and Memorable
01:51 — How Susan Joined Apple
05:01 — Designing the Original Macintosh
06:35 — A Computer Anyone Could Use
08:26 — Creating Chicago and the Mac Typefaces
11:47 — MacPaint and the First Icons
14:45 — The Story Behind the Happy Mac
17:08 — Why Simple Icons Work Better
18:25 — The Icons That Didn’t Work
21:23 — Designing Symbols That Last
22:44 — How the Command Key Got Its Symbol
25:20 — What Ancient Symbols Can Teach Designers
30:18 — Designing After Apple
36:32 — Lessons From Steve Jobs, Paul Rand, and More
