Heroes and Heroines Susan Kare

User Interface Graphics

Susan Kare has a B.A, summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College and an M.A. and Ph. D. in fine arts from New York University.

In 1989 she was a funding partner of Susan Kane LLP.

Her career in user interface Graphic Design began in 1983 when she worked for Apple.

Her Job: Icon and Font designer for a new computer, the Macintosh.

Her Task: To transform small grids of black and white pixels into a family of symbols that would assist people in operating the computer.

The design Process involved the search for the strongest metaphors and the craft of depicting them. Her work also focused on developing a set of proportional typeface, for the computer scene.

"With the icon and font work, I hoped to help counter the stereotypical image of computers as cold and intimidating."(Susan Kare.)

"My work has continued to be motivated by respect for and empathy with use 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."(Susan Kare.)

Clients

Apple Computer, Inc.
Microsoft Corporation
AT&T
Motorola, Inc.
Autodesk, Inc.
Net Objects, Inc.
BBDO, Inc.
Netscape Communications
CKS Group
Octel, Inc.
Danger Research, Inc.
OmniSky Corporation
Dayton-Hudson Corporation
Oracle, Inc.
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Palm, Inc.
Fidelity Investments
Peoplesoft, Inc.
Galileo International
Phone.com
G1 Software
Pumatech, Inc.
Getty Technology Group
SGI, Inc.
Handspring
Shockwave, Inc
IBM Corporation
Siegel & Gale
Intel Corporation
Sony Pictures
Infoseek
SPSS, Inc.
Intuit, Inc.
TechTV/ZDTV, LLC
Liquid Audio, Inc.
Xerox Corporation
Logitech
Vividence Corporation

Research Studios

History

Neville Brody, together with business partner Fwa Richards, opened the very first Research Studios in London during 1994.

Since then, many designers have worked at the London studio, both on a temporary and a full time basis. Some of them have even gone on to establish other studios that make up the Research Network :

In 2001 Lionel Massias opened Research Studios Paris. Sandra Steinebrunner, who was at that time working as production manager in London, joined the Paris studio soon after.

During 2002 Jason Bailey and Daniel Borck, formerly senior designers at the London studio, moved to Germany and opened Research Studios Berlin. After helping to establish the studio in Paris, Sandra Steinebrunner moved to Berlin and now manages the studio there.

Examples

November 2005: Bonfire - Pattern design for 2005/2006 Snowboard clothing Collection 2005:

The One Campaign

March 2006: Merrell footwear advertising

June 2006: Research Studios World Cup Chart

The Chase

The Chase was established in 1986 in Manchester and they also have an Office in London and a Satellite Office in Preston. They are a Graphic Design and Branding consultancy. They have recently become members of the Hasgrove group. The Chase was co-founded by Ben Casey a Graphic Design Lecturer who has won numerous awards including the Grand Award for Creativity at The New York Festival of Advertising & Print, and Lionel Hatch.



These companies are the clients that The Chase has worked with over the past twelve months:



The Co-operative Bank,
The Co-operative Group,
Marks & Spencers,
Ingenious Media,
PZ Cussons,
Schwan's,
Diageo,
CIS Insurance,
The Football League,
Tameside MBC,
Yorkshire Water,
Canadian Financial Services,
HH Associates,
Hillarys Blinds,
The Women's Library,
European Training Foundation,
Opera North,
Oxford Swindon & Gloucester Co-operative,
BBC,
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester,
Yellow Pages,
ID Distribution,
Neopost,
Daryl Showers,
Burmatex,
Senator,
DWF Solicitors,
Alloy,
British Council,
Manchester Dogs' Home,
Fujitsu,
BAA,
John West,
Fox's Biscuits,
Manx Telecom,
Cabe Space,
Selfridges,
Silentnight,
Tetrad,
The Royal Forestry Society,
World Duty Free Europe,
MEN,
Saint Brendan's Irish Cream,
Royal Doulton UK,
Foursquare (Mars UK),
Land Design,
Land Securities.




"There was once an old Indian Craftsman who carved elephants from blocks of timber.When asked how he did it, he would simply reply, "i just cut away the wood that doesn't look like an elephant."




This story is used to describe how The Chase go about their work.

First, to be absolutely clear as to what sort of animal the brand or organisation is and, equally important, what it isn't.
Second, to work to a precise brief based on the unique circumstances that create the communication problem.
Third, to add the creative spark that brings the solution to life in order to meet the client's commercial objectives. Finally, to express the concepts in a way in which every mark has a reason for being.



The Chase are very open when it comes to using different types of design o create their clients work.



They produce

• Logos and Symbols,
  


• Branding,



• Literature,



• Promotional items,



• Posters and Calenders,



• Exhibition and Outdoors,



• Stationary,



• Books,



• Packaging,



• Screen.

Here are a few examples:

Logos

Posters and Calenders

Fine Art
A poster for the Fine Art degree show at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Grow Up!
This poster campaign was for an exhibition at The Women's Library, London about advice given to teenage girls - its styling was a reference to teenage doodles.

These posters are a good example of using text in a poster. They are like modern day propaganda poster for women. Each poster has one word that is emphasised more than any of the others. This is shown by
the words being black where as the rest of the text is in grey. The posters work well even though illustration is kept to a minimum. They look simple and are easy to read. They look as if they've been produced free handed. The curves on the text represents the curves of the women.

Packaging





Original Source
A contemporary look was given to an established range of toiletries for PZ Cussons.












The Original Source Packaging is also based on text and not image. The text is colour co-ordinated to relate to the ingredients in the products. Green is the colour of mint and tea tree. Orange in relation to the Tangerine used. Brown to relate with the almond and coconut. The text does not fade into the colours of the bottle it's easy to read.

Why Not Associates

Why not associates are a British Graphic Design Company with a Global reach. Their passion for design makes commercial sucess for their clients in buisness, government and the public sector. It was founded nearly twenty years ago.

They have worked in many types of media such as:

• Corporate Design



• Digital Design,



• Motion Graphics,



• Television Commercial Direction,



• Editorial Design,



• Environmental Design,
  
  
• Publishing,



• Public Art.

With Their breadth of experience in different medias Why Not Associates have worked with larger companies such as Nike, Virgin Records and The BBC, but they also cherish their smaller locally based commisions.

"regardless of size, we collaborate closely with clients to come up with a solution that we can all be happy about." (Why Not Associates)
Their Disciplines are:

• branding,



• identity,



• public art,



• advertising,



• motion graphics,



• audio visual installations,



• short films,



• web design,



• interactive design,



• print,



• book design,



• editorial design,



• packaging,



• exhibition design,



• signage,



• in-store graphics.

Barbicans
Promotional material for the barbican's international theatre season.