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