William Gallagher
Susan Kare's work on the icons for the original Mac in the 1980s is now the subject of a macOS Sequoia screensaver and wallpaper.
As expected, macOS Sequoia has added at least one wallpaper that harkens back to old favorites. In a wallpaper called just "Macintosh," the famous icons that so made the original Mac appear approachable, are now shown on screen.
They're shown dramatically larger than they were. Originally drawn as 32 pixels by 32 pixels, now they fill the screen.
As a wallpaper, the icons slide in from the corners, with animation showing a cursor clicking, or the once-dreaded image of a floppy disk with a question mark, showing that a drive was missing. The equally famous bomb icon is here, as is "the crazy ones" text from an Apple Think Different ad.
The wallpaper is offered in light and dark versions, and also eight colors, plus Spectrum, Random, and Accent. There's no control over which Macintosh icons get displayed.
That's the same with the screen saver version, which otherwise offers the same range of color options.
Susan Kare is one of the original Mac team who was recently featured on the Steve Jobs Archive. Her initial smiling Mac icon is still in use in a much-evolved form for the Finder, and in a "scary" rendition was the centerpiece of Apple's Halloween-themed launch of the M3 MacBook Pro.
Kare sells artwork based on her icons, on her official website.
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
Christine McKee
6 Comments
Moof!
Timeless.
Cool!
Her icons are truly timeless and they convey the message so well.
I have original prints of her Moof and the Happy Mac icons - I still smile every time they catch my eye!