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Susan Kare received 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 founding partner of Susan Kare LLP. She is a 2001 recipient
of the Chrysler Design Award.
Statement
My career in user interface graphic design began when I worked for Apple Computer between 1983 and 1986. My
job: icon and font designer for a new computer, the Macintosh. The 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. My work also
focused on developing a set of proportional typefaces for the computer screen; a departure from the
monospaced characters typically found on typewriters and earlier computers. With the icon and font
work, I hoped to help counter the stereotypical image of computers as cold and intimidating.
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. I
rely on common sense; when I designed buttons, icons, and other screen images for Microsoft's Windows 3.0 in 1987, I
was able to use the 16-color palette to replace black rectangles with images that looked like three-dimensional
"pressable" buttons. I was also challenged to fine tune many images for applications by using dithered patterns of
color to offset the constraints of the limited VGA palette.
Although I've designed thousands of icons for hundreds of clients over the past eighteen years, I still search for
better metaphors-perennial brain twisters such as "undo", "save", and "run program" come to mind. I have endeavored
to make all kinds of software more intuitive: programs designed for na? users, for experts in vertical markets, for
technical audiences, and for more or less everyone.
The nature of user interface design is collaborative; much great software is the result of a team effort among
engineers, marketing types, and designers. My design work-installed at the top level of software-has often been
inspired by imaginative and breakthrough engineering. Current work that intrigues me is having the opportunity to
improve the quality of small monochrome icons and typefaces in fast-proliferating handheld devices, in addition to
the larger and more colorful images on computer monitors. I work to hone the meaning and appearance of each image,
and I hope the cumulative effect makes the process of interacting with machines-the way people "see" the
software-more gratifying.
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 |
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