Origin of the CMD Symbol

Susan Kare spoke at the Layers conference this past week in San Francisco. During her presentation she showed the origin of the CMD symbol she designed for the original Mac. I had no idea it was so storied.

Here’s the CMD symbol as it looks today:

Through a book of obscure iconography, Susan Kare found this symbol used on Swedish road signs to indicate a landmark:

The Swedish symbol itself was inspired by an ancient castle on the island of Borgolm:

How cool is that?

|  11 Jun 2015