Susan Kare: User interface graphic designer Apr 05 2007
17 comments Latest by Richard
Kare.com is the site of famed iconographer Susan Kare.
My work has continued to be motivated by respect for, and empathy with, users of software. I believe that good icons are more akin to road signs rather than illustrations, and ideally should present an idea in a clear, concise, and memorable way. I try to optimize for clarity and simplicity even as palette and resolution options have increased.
Some of her work from the 80’s:
Icon designer strives for simplicity is a 1995 profile of Kare.
When Kare worked on the original Macintosh, which was shipped in 1984, her work was denounced by computer geeks as too cute and “a crib toy” for its whimsical graphics…
“Some icons are easy because they’re nouns — a calender, for example,’’ Kare said. “But verbs are hard to do. Undo is especially hard. I struggle year in and year out about undo.’‘
Execute, she said, is another difficult one. “Some people have guns for execute, which doesn’t seem good. I had dominoes falling over and have tried running shoes.’’...
“I feel much happier that people are looking at my icons every day than having my sculptures in five living rooms across the country,” Kare said.
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17 comments so far
Richard 05 Apr 07
She’s been a hero of mine (along with Atkinson and Hertzfeld) since 1984. She was an integral part of the original Macintosh team and her visual design was one of the most appealing aspects of that early user interface.
Rob Goodlatte 05 Apr 07
It’s pretty amazing we’re still using many of the images and metaphors for icons she helped establish 20 years ago.
Erika 05 Apr 07
That background is beautiful. It looks like a tapestry.
Lakshimni 05 Apr 07
You can get Susan’s pixel based fonts – I love them. http://atomicmedia.net/
Phil Dokas 05 Apr 07
Don’t forget her fonts! Monaco is still my code-writin’ font of choice and Geneva 9 will forever hold a place in my heart. But of course there’s also New York, Toronto, Chicago, Venice, Cairo, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For 1984 they were something very special. Here’s a reference image
Phil Dokas 05 Apr 07
...and the URL of course:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Original_Mac_fonts.png
Peter Cooper 05 Apr 07
She is almost up there with Edward Tufte for her contributions to the visual arts. A wonderful person.
Torley 05 Apr 07
I asked Susan a few weeks ago about her most recent creations, as her portfolio hadn’t been updated in awhile. She graciously let me know her new website should be up in a month, which at present works out to ~a couple weeks.
I can’t wait!
Ben Darlow 05 Apr 07
How can you possibly profile Susan Kare without mentioning the enigmatic Dogcow?
Seth Aldridge 05 Apr 07
Amazing how instantly recognizable they are. Looking through her portfolio is like opening a time capsule to the early 80’s.
Really cool work
Josh Williams 05 Apr 07
More recently, Kare has finished work on a handful of virtual gift icons for Facebook. I think it’s remarkable to see how her style has evolved towards the modern, but has still maintained a solid sense of simplicity. She keeps the main thing the main thing.
Dave P 05 Apr 07
Re: the audio mixer… Can anyone say Winamp? The similarities are striking.
Is there a background story between that design and the eventual winamp product?
Edward O'Connor 05 Apr 07
She’s working with Chumby these days.
Karl N 05 Apr 07
Yeah, she really nails the “dick in a box” icon.
Rastin Mehr 05 Apr 07
She is a sweetheart! I have read several of Susan’s interviews, and she has always been a source of inspiration. I specially like the separation of nouns and verbs icons that she describes.
She is indeed the Queen of digital icon design.
Andy Atkinson 05 Apr 07
@richard – who Atkinson? I’m curious.
@Karl N – LOL . I was trying to figure out how that meeting went down. Zuckerberg: yeah, uhh, we need an icon that looks like a box with a hole in it. Kare: what is the hole for, how big is the box? Zuckerberg: umm yeah, well, uhh, you have a sense of humor right? Can’t explain, try watching this video.
Richard 06 Apr 07
Andy A. Bill Atkinson was one of the lead engineers on the original Macintosh development team at Apple. Andy Hertzfeld was another one and he knew Susan Kare and asked her to join them at Apple.
http://www.billatkinson.com/aboutTheArtist.html
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