Susan Kare is offering signed and numbered prints of the original Mac OS icons she designed back in 1983. Susan Kare is offering signed and numbered prints of the original Mac OS icons she. In this article: design, fonts, icon, susan kare As one of the original members of Apple's Macintosh team, Susan Kare played an integral role in determining the look and feel for the original Mac OS. “In the early 1980s, Susan Kare—then a sculptor and tech-world outsider—pivoted to a graphic designer role at Apple.” So reads an early line in Zachary Crockett’s essay for the AIGA Medal that Kare is a recipient of this year, honoring the designer for her pioneering work in interface design.
Susan Kare’s work on the original Macintosh was revolutionary. For an industry that is full of geniuses constantly pushing the boundaries of computing and trying to create products better than the last, computing lacked one thing: the human element. Susan Kare’s icons for the original Mac lended themselves to being incredibly personable, relatable, and overall extremely different from intimidating computers of the past. It took words on the screen to cute little pictures and made things more easily comprehensible.
In specific, the smiling Mac icon as well as the bomb icon were quick indications of your computer health. If your computer was booting up correctly and everything was going to plan, your Mac would display itself smiling. If there was any sort of system error, a bomb icon would appear, indicating to the user that there was something wrong with the computer. Even as the bomb may be daunting, it quickly and easily depicted the state of the Mac. You didn’t need to understand an error message, or a code, or try and figure out why something isn’t working on your own, because that small little image would communicate everything you needed to know about the health of your computer.
Another icon from this original project worth mentioning is the floppy disk icon. It’s an outdated piece of technology from today’s perspective, but the ‘save’ option in most programs is still depicted as such. People grew to understand what the floppy disk symbolized, and it started with Susan Kare’s depiction on the original Mac in the 80s. Floppy disks were a piece of technology used to save data on, so having a picture of it made it self-explanatory and easier to use for newer users of the computer.
These icons eased newer computer owners into being able to easily use their Macs. Pictures made things easier to identify, and Susan Kare brought a likeness to these images never really done before on such a small scale. This was revolutionary, and a beginning for modern-day user interface graphics.
In 1984 the first Apple ‘Mac’ computer was released featuring pixelated icons and new typeface ‘Chicago’ created by Susan Kare. These features were designed to fit in with the screen.
Bibliography:
Campbell , Ollie. “The Story Behind Susan Kare’s Iconic Design Work for Apple .” Milanote, milanote.com/the-work/the-story-behind-susan-kares-iconic-design-work-for-apple.