Artist Profile: Susan Kare

In the early days of computing, Susan Kare was instrumental in shaping the look and feel of the graphical user interface. She designed many of the icons and fonts that we take for granted today and has worked on projects for Apple, Microsoft, and others. Her work is timeless and chic – a perfect fit for the modern graphic designer. 

Kare is a graphic designer who worked for some of the biggest companies in the world, and millions have seen her work. Kare's work is everywhere, from the digital icons on our iPhones to the dizzyingly detailed typefaces on our computers.

 In this artist profile, we'll look at her career and some of her famous works. 

So without further ado, let's dive into the fascinating world of Susan Kare.

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Humble Beginnings & Education

Kare was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1954. Her sister Jordin Kare is an aerospace engineer, so brains and creative genius run in the family. Harriton High School was where she earned her formal education (1971). She went on to Mount Holyoke College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts with honours, summa cum laude, in 1975. New York University gave her a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1978. She then moved to San Francisco and worked at the Museum of Modern Art.

Career & Popular Works

Her work in Apple

Kare joined Apple Computer after receiving a call from a high school classmate, Andy Hertzfeld, in the early 1980s. She was a founding member of Apple's Macintosh design team.

She was hired mainly for the Macintosh software group, where she was tasked with designing user interface graphics and fonts. She was quickly promoted to the position of Creative Director.

In Apple Creative Services, she worked under Tom Suiter, the organization's Director. Kare created numerous typefaces, original marketing material, and icons for the Macintosh operating system.

Many computer graphics programs still include modified and revised versions of her revolutionary designs. For example, her brilliantly designed icons like the Lasso, Grabber, and Paint Bucket are still in use, although with minor modifications.

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After Apple

Kare accepted a job offer as a designer with NeXT after her time at Apple Computers ended. She worked for companies like Microsoft and IBM. She oversaw the card deck for the Windows 3.0 solitaire game project while working for Microsoft.

She also created several icons for Windows 3.0. Many of the icons she drew for Microsoft, such as Notepad and different Control Panels icons, stayed untouched until Windows XP. She provided iconography to Eazel's Nautilus file manager, and IBM hired her to design icons for its user interface.

In addition, her designs are featured on stationery and notebooks sold at the Museum of Modern Art store in New York. In 2007, she was asked to develop the 'Gift' icon for the popular social networking site Facebook. Some of the icons in the 'Gift' section appear on Mac OS X as well.

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Susan Kare's Top Designs

Susan Kare believes that effective icons should function more like road signs than just illustrations. They should be simple to understand and avoid confusing users with unnecessary elements. She believes that out of a million colours, none of them should be used in icons and that once a well-crafted and meaningful icon is created, it should not be resigned frequently.

1. The recognisable icons, including the famous “happy Mac” for Apple

Her designs for the original Apple Mac were warm, whimsical, quirky, and soulful, contributing significantly to the emotional bond that many Apple consumers established with their computers while improving the user experience. 

The "happy Mac," the smiling little computer that welcomed the user once the Mac startup hardware test was passed, is possibly the most renowned icon. The "unhappy (or sad) Mac," which appeared after the bootup failed, was its counterpart.

2. The Chicago font

Despite being her first typeface design, the font was used to power Mac OS for years. It was one of the earliest proportional system fonts used on any platform. The font was efficient and extremely legible, but also pleasant and distinctive, like her icons. Many people overlook Chicago and Kare's other "city" typefaces (Geneva, San Francisco, and New York), despite Chicago's unmistakable impact on San Francisco (Apple's new system font).

3. Clarus the Dogcow

According to an Apple Computer technical memo from 1989, the dogcow looks like a dog with a nose and markings like a cow. Cows are female. Thus the dogcow is female (a male would be a dog bull). Dogcows do not "mooo" or "woof" like cows or dogs; instead, they utter Moof! (Apple Computer's trademark). Susan Kare designed the dogcow image in 1983 as part of the Cairo typeface as the glyph for the character 'z.'

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Conclusion

Susan Kare is a prime example of an artist who has achieved success through years of experience and hard work. She didn't have a formal education in graphic design, but she was able to hone her skills and become one of the most successful designers in the industry.

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This should inspire aspiring graphic designers out there who may feel that they don't have the proper formal education. Many talented artists invest their time in platforms like Dzyn Space, one of the best online graphic design programs, to hone their creativity and skills.

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