Remembering Bill Atkinson: The Quiet Giant Behind the Way We Use Computers Today

Bill passed away a few days ago (5th of June 2025), and with him goes a piece of computing history that deserves far more recognition than it ever received. While figures like Jony Ive are celebrated for their contribution to hardware design, it was Atkinson who laid the groundwork for how we actually interact with computers today.

I consider him to be one of the forgotten fathers of user interface (UI) design.

He was the mind behind MacPaint, the creator of QuickDraw, and the visionary force behind HyperCard—an early hypermedia system that many see as a conceptual precursor to the World Wide Web.

If you’ve ever dragged a file, clicked a menu, selected text, or zoomed in pixel by pixel—you’ve used the language he helped invent.

And my favourite: the selection lasso with “marching ants” animation, which have become standard in user interface design.

Yet, unlike the sleek, minimal forms that dominate our design magazines and conferences, Atkinson’s legacy is one of function, intuition, and creative empowerment. He didn’t just design tools—he designed ways of thinking. He gave people permission to create, long before no-code platforms and user-friendly software were the norm.

It stings a little to know that in our design community, we often place the spotlight on those who package design into glossy icons or keynote-ready narratives. Meanwhile, the creators of the underlying experience—those who made the interface accessible, natural, even joyful—are left in the shadows.

Bill Atkinson was one of the quiet giants. A foundational figure. A true UX pioneer before the term even existed. If our profession has heroes, he should be one of them.

So here’s to Bill. May we remember him not just as a developer, but as a designer in the deepest, truest sense of the word.