Old Icons
12 hours ago
- #Apple
- #Mac history
- #icon design
- Discusses the historical design of early Mac application icons, which were 32×32 pixels and limited to black and white.
- Highlights the original MacWrite and MacPaint icons as examples, featuring tilted rectangles with hands to indicate action-oriented apps.
- Explains that document icons were upright rectangles with dog-eared corners and no hands, differentiating them from app icons.
- Mentions other Apple app icons like MacDraw and HyperCard, noting deviations such as HyperCard's stack of rectangles.
- Describes how third-party software (e.g., Aldus PageMaker, QuarkXPress) followed similar design patterns with variations.
- Notes the THINK Pascal editor/compiler icon innovated by using hands on a keyboard generating a flowchart.
- Observes that as users became more familiar with Macs, icon design constraints loosened, with Apple and others abandoning strict patterns.
- References the ResEdit icon as an example of Apple's whimsical design during that era.
- Connects modern complaints about 'squircle jail' to historical icon elements that 'stick out,' like hands from tilted rectangles.