Jeff Raskin

Jef Raskin, born in New York City in 1943, was an American computer interface designer, writer, musician, composer, educator, inventor, and visual artist. He studied mathematics and philosophy at the State University of New York and later earned a master’s degree in computer science from Pennsylvania State University. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he taught computer science, art, and photography at the University of California in San Diego while also working as a professional musician and conductor in the San Francisco Bay Area. He later founded the technical publishing company Bannister & Crun before joining Apple Computer in 1978 as employee number 31, where he wrote the Apple II manual and initiated the Macintosh project.

While studying computer science, Raskin developed early computer graphics systems intended for artists, musicians, architects, and other creative users. His 1967 thesis, A Hardware-Independent Computer Drawing System Using List-Structured Modeling: The Quick-Draw Graphics System, proposed graphics-based computing at a time when most computer systems relied on text and character generators. Working with computer drawing, animation, typography, and music notation, he created systems capable of perspective graphics, custom fonts, and computer-generated musical scores. He also produced experimental films and machine drawings using computers and plotting systems, including works connected to the 1968 Museum of Modern Art exhibition The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age. His early graphics research reflected a broader interest in how computers could support visual thinking, artistic production, and human creativity.

Raskin argued that technology should adapt to human behavior rather than force people to adapt to machines. His work focused on interface design, accessibility, and the relationship between attention, memory, habit, and perception in everyday computer use. In 1979, he initiated the Macintosh project at Apple, envisioning an affordable graphics-based computer designed for people without technical training. He helped shape ideas that became central to modern graphical computing, including click and drag interaction, bitmap graphics, menu driven interfaces, and the one button mouse. Drawing from earlier work in computer graphics and human usability, he argued that computers should support concentration, reduce memorization, and respond fluidly to the user. His ideas influenced the development of graphical user interfaces and helped shift personal computing toward visual, screen-based interaction designed for a broad public audience. After leaving Apple in 1982, he continued developing interface concepts through projects such as the Canon Cat and The Humane Environment, systems that explored faster and more continuous ways of interacting with digital information. In his 2000 book The Humane Interface, Raskin proposed interface principles grounded in cognitive psychology and human behavior, arguing for systems designed around clarity, habit, and continuity of attention. 

Raskin continued to shape conversations around computing and interface design through his writing, research, lectures, and later projects focused on human-centered technology. He founded the company Information Appliance and later established the Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces, continuing his work on interaction design and usability. His ideas and projects have been discussed in publications including IEEE Spectrum, Wired, The New York Times, and MIT Press histories of computer art and interface design. Raskin passed away in 2005.