January 27, 2026
Is the friendly interface no longer “inter”?
1995
2025
The Mac’s Finder icon has, for me, always been an artistic depiction of the phrase “friendly interface.” It’s been like that since 1995, but with its latest iteration in Tahoe, the face has lost its inter.
Let me explain.
I see the icon as a play on the word “interface” — Susan Kare’s idea of what a face would look like if it was “inter”. The icon, I believe, is meant to show two faces brought together as one, just as humans and computers are brought together in a real-life interface.
The earliest version showed an obvious split between the two halves of the face, with the lines extending outward on the top and bottom. Gradually, the line disappeared and the only way to differentiate was the colours.
The Tahoe version breaks with that tradition. It looks like a blue face with a partial white mask placed on part of the right side. It retains the friendly smile, but it’s no longer inter.
Given that many people don't like the changes to the interface introduced by Tahoe, an interface that in some ways makes the interface more difficult, this version of the Finder icon stands as a reminder that a friendly interface may no longer be the goal at Apple.