Susan Kare: Macintosh Icon Prints to Buy

Susan Kare smiling, with wavy shoulder-length hair, pearl earrings and a grey sweatshirt with embroidered flowers — Susan Kare. Photo courtesy of the Computer History Museum. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration.

Last updated: 26 October 2026

Susan Kare is the designer who drew the original Macintosh icons, from the Happy Mac to the trash can, one pixel at a time. Here you will find our take on her work, her honours, and the signed icon prints you can buy from about £197.

Our take on Susan Kare

Kare joined Apple in 1982 as the only person making screen graphics for the Macintosh. Her icons, typefaces and Clarus the Dogcow shipped with the Mac in 1984, and many people still know them by sight.

She saw the grid as an old craft, not a new one. “Bitmap graphics are like mosaics and needlepoint and other pseudo-digital art forms, all of which I had practiced before going to Apple,” she said in a 2000 Stanford oral history. She is also careful with credit: of the trash can, “I didn’t invent that, Lisa had one, though I refined it to make it our trash can.”

Her own shop, Kare Prints, sells signed and numbered giclée prints of the icons. Of the Happy Mac she writes that “the idea was to let the user know that everything was fine.”

Susan Kare: the essentials

Born in 1954; lives in San Francisco, according to Kare Prints.
Graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1975 and earned a PhD in fine arts from New York University.
Joined Apple in 1982, followed Steve Jobs to NeXT in 1986, and founded Susan Kare Design in 1989.
Also drew the card deck for Windows 3.0 Solitaire, according to The Henry Ford.
Won the AIGA Medal in 2018 and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019.
Her work is in the collections of MoMA and SFMOMA, and was shown at the Design Museum in London.

Susan Kare exhibitions

Esc Keys, with Alastair Walker, Asprey Studio, Bruton Street, London, opening 8 October 2024 during Frieze Week.
Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design, MoMA, New York, 2023.
No new show has been announced.

Where to buy a Susan Kare print

Kare Prints, her own shop in the US, sells signed, numbered giclée prints in five sizes. It ships free worldwide, but UK buyers pay import duty and taxes on delivery:

Happy Macintosh on Bright Yellow, from about £197 ($259): giclée on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, from 8.5 x 11 in (21.6 x 27.9 cm) up to 30 x 40 in (76.2 x 101.6 cm), editions of 200 or 100 by size, from Kare Prints. See our Happy Macintosh page.
Other icon prints, $259 to $669: including Trash on Blue and Moof the Dogcow, at Kare Prints.
Hand-painted pieces: unique watercolour-painted prints from $949, and a hand-painted re-creation of the Macintosh team’s pirate flag at $23,500.

Susan Kare prints and editions on CoolCuration

Happy Macintosh art print by Susan Kare on bright yellow background

Susan Kare Happy Macintosh Print – from £197

Susan Kare FAQs

What did Susan Kare design?

The original Macintosh icons, typefaces and screen graphics, including the Happy Mac, the file folder and Clarus the Dogcow. She refined the trash can from one on Apple’s Lisa.

Can I buy a Susan Kare print in the UK?

Yes, from Kare Prints in the US. Shipping is free worldwide, but you pay import duty and taxes on delivery.

How much is a Susan Kare print?

Signed icon prints run from $259 (about £197) to $669, depending on size.

Did Susan Kare design the Mac trash can?

She refined it. In her words: “I didn’t invent that, Lisa had one, though I refined it to make it our trash can.”

Susan Kare