My wife surprised me at Christmas with an original Happy Macintosh icon print by Susan Kare.
Susan was the artist who created the icons for the original Mac interface. Her icons literally brought a smiling face to a computer. At a time with only bland PCs with no graphics, DOS interfaces, and in-line commands, her icons made computers approachable.
Many of her icons were whimsical, such as the tortoise and the rabbit icons to represent speed settings in the control panel. This was such a radical change from the design of computer interfaces at the time, which was a pure geek consider-function-only mentality.
My Introduction to the Mac
I was introduced to the Mac in late 1984 when I went into a computer store in Minot ND (where I was stationed in the US Air Force) and sat in front of a Mac. It was an attractive computer and had a beautiful, intuitive, graphical user interface.
Back then, having a graphical interface was absolutely amazing. Earlier that year I’d struggled to produce a prospectus for a Doctor of Ministry program I was enrolled in. I used a friend’s PC and spent 90% of my time trying to figure out the arcane formatting commands I needed to insert in the DOS program to make it produce an acceptable printed document.
Without any instruction, within minutes I was writing and producing beautifully formatted text on the Mac word processing program called Write and drawing diagrams in Paint. Formatting was as easy as pointing to choices on the menu bar at the program’s top and selecting buttons and drop-down menus with a pointer controlled by a mouse.
I bought an original 128K Mac that day and used it at work for years to create brochures, flyers, outlines, and informational sheets.
My original Mac started a love affair with the Mac that has lasted many years. That love affair has since expanded to the iPhone, iPad, AirPods, HomePods, etc. I’m writing this on a Mac Studio, M1 Max, and still love it.
Where to Purchase an Icon Print
I love my Happy Macintosh print and have it hanging on the wall over my desk. I see it every day. It brings me joy. It reminds me of my “Original Mac Guy” roots.
If you’re interested in purchasing one of Susan Kare’s Mac Icon Prints, visit her website. You can buy a Happy Macintosh like mine, or a Moof the Dogcow, Control Panel, Bomb icon, Trash icon, Floppy Disk icon, MacPain icon, or the Japanese Woodcut that was on the cover of the MacPaint box.