Susan Kare made your computer fun 🍎 #tech #history @SecretlyIncrediblyFascinating

This is Susan Kerr, the person who single-handedly made technology and computers start to have good vibes. Because in 1982, Susan Kerr was a professional sculptor and fine artist who happened to live in the Bay Area. She also happened to go to high school with an early employee of Apple. As Apple worked on what became the Macintosh computer, this high school acquaintance asked Susan Kerr if she'd like to pick up some graphic design freelance work, making icons and fonts. Kerr accepted this very first job in tech, and she prepared for it by going to the Palo Alto Public Library. She used library books to learn enough typography to make fonts. Crucially, she reviewed other art forms like needlepoint and mosaics, because those are transferable skills for bitmap icon graphics. Then she used a graph paper notebook to sketch out all of the first versions of Mac icons, such as a computer cursor that turns into a fun hand. Also smiles, wastebaskets, paint buckets, paintbrushes. She even got this looping cross from a Scandinavian road sign element that means a point of interest. Her revolutionary work helped make the Macintosh computer the first Apple computer that lots and lots of people wanted to buy. Then she worked across the rest of tech. Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Pinterest. And Susan Kerr's legacy is so lasting, so massive, her initial graph paper notebook is now in the collection at MoMA.