For the Mac OS8 interface, the objective was to not only maintain the familiar graphical style of the Apple interface, but to also enhance it's affordances. Jennifer's philosophy behind the design is that the computer interface is an extension of the keyboard, the mouse, etc. The Industrial Design of the Macintosh style has a soft, rounded, sculpted look. It made sense to carry this design style into the interface and develop the design language of the graphical interface to suggest it's functionality..

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Buttons were drawn to look more 3-dimensional and pushable. Grab areas and sliders were given a ribbed texture to look more sculpted with highlights and shadows. The ribs indicate that the textured area can be grabbed and dragged. To relieve some of the visual clutter the scroll bars were cleaned up. The arrows on the scroll bars were simplified. The scroll area became a channel to slide the thumb in, rather than a texture.

The menus, palettes, windows and dialog windows also were given a 3-D treatment. They became a light gray with a highlight and shadow. Lines look engraved. Scrolling areas or editing areas were recessed as if being revealed through a cut-out in the gray panel of the window.

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