We thought it was important for users to invoke every menu command directly from the keyboard, so we added a special key—just like our predecessor, Lisa—to trigger menu commands. We called it the "Apple key"; when pressed with another key, it selected the corresponding command. A small Apple logo appeared on the right side of every menu item with a keyboard shortcut, associating the key with its function.
Steve Jobs' Reaction
One afternoon, Steve Jobs burst into the software fishbowl in Bandley III, visibly upset. This was not unusual. He’d likely just seen MacDraw for the first time, which had longer menus than our other apps.
"There are too many Apples on-screen! It’s ridiculous! We’re taking the Apple logo in vain! We must stop this!"
After we explained that the logo was necessary to mark keyboard commands, he insisted we had better find an alternative. Because the change would affect manuals and keyboard hardware, we had days to decide.
The Search for a New Symbol
Designing a small "command" icon was tricky; we had no immediate ideas. Our bitmap artist, Susan Kare, consulted an international symbol dictionary, searching for a distinctive, attractive mark tied to the concept of a command.
A Swedish Inspiration
Finally, she found a floral symbol used in Sweden to mark points of interest in campsites. She created a 16x16-pixel version, and the team loved it. Even in OS X, the Mac retains a trace of that Swedish campsite.
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