In this week’s roundup, SFist pays tribute to Susan Kare, the groundbreaking designer of Mac’s early icons; Jorge Leon, the mastermind behind Oakland’s thriving sports scene; and Matthew Kraft, a social worker who received “Child Protector of the Year.”
In 1982, Susan Kare was a young artist and curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco when she was offered a unique project that turned out to be the gig of a lifetime — designing the original set of icons and fonts for Macintosh computers. With no experience in computer graphics — and long before user experience was a thing, Kare utilized her background in mosaics, needlepoint, and pointillism to hand-draw the now-familiar bitmap designs that helped define Apple’s early aesthetic.
Kare’s distinctive icons—like the ticking time bomb, floppy disk, and trash can—set the standard for modern tech symbols. The playful, human touch she brought to Apple’s brand continues to influence its design language to this day.
As the sole designer on the Apple team in those early days, Kare’s design philosophy, which focused on “meaning, memorability, and clarity,” gave Apple products a playful and approachable appeal at a time when computers were anything but user-friendly. Kare is also credited with pioneering Apple’s graphical user interface (GUI) computing, and she had a heavy presence in Apple’s early marketing campaigns.
In the years since Kare’s groundbreaking time at Apple, she’s had a long career working at other major tech companies while also running her own studio. Many of Kare’s iconic graphics can be purchased on her website.
Jorge Leon is a driving force behind Oakland’s current sports scene, helping launch the Oakland Roots, Oakland Soul, and Oakland Ballers—three community-first teams that are now packing stadiums and selling out games across the city. Before that, he spent years fighting to keep the A’s in Oakland, leading protests, organizing fans, and even chartering a plane to fly a banner over an MLB owners’ meeting that read “A’s belong in Oakland – #VoteNo.”
Leon’s love for the team began in the early ’90s, growing up near the Coliseum and going to games with his dad and older brother. A chance encounter with a teacher while cutting class led him to the Green Stampede, a tutoring program for Oakland students that met before and after A’s games. That experience showed him how sports could be a platform for community leadership.
He later co-founded the Oakland ’68s, a nonprofit fan group that pairs passion for the game with grassroots activism—from food drives and cleanups to stadium chants and policy advocacy. Today, Leon continues to be a leading voice for Oakland’s sports community, making sure the fans always have a seat at the table.
When Santa Clara County social worker Matthew Kraft raised early concerns about a newborn’s safety, his actions ultimately helped to expose significant shortcomings in the county’s child welfare system. Kraft sounded the alarm that baby Phoenix Castro would not be safe going home with her parents, who were struggling with addiction, issuing urgent warnings and writing a letter to his supervisors.
However, due to the county's policy at the time of prioritizing family preservation, Phoenix was sent home, and three months later, she tragically died of a fentanyl overdose.
Kraft’s efforts helped spark a series of investigations and reforms in the child welfare system, leading to top-level resignations and significant policy changes. Recently honored as “Child Protector of the Year,” Kraft continues to advocate for vulnerable youth aging out of foster care.
Images via kareprints.com
Previously: Interesting Humans: Arthur Dong, Pioneering Gay, Asian American Filmmaker
