• Why is Susan Kare Influential?

    Apple’s emphasis on creating a user-friendly graphic interface is where Susan Kare’s contributions shone.

    While she didn’t recognize it at the time, her work would go on to influence others to prioritize clarity, functionality, and simplicity in digital design, setting a new standard for the digital age.

    She also created pixel graphics that influenced the icons we still use today.

    At the time, she was limited to a 32 by 32 square graph paper to draw out icons before digitizing them by turning pixels on and off on the computer.

    These icons she created were influential as they replaced traditional words on command line interfaces with visual symbols, laying down the foundation for the graphical user interface (GUI).

    Famous icons include: the trash can, paint, and smiley face, bomb, hard disk, and more 

    a pioneer in pixel art and the graphic user interface - She’s famous for her work on the original Macintosh, playing a pivotal role in shaping Apple’s brand identity.

    Kare designed icons and typefaces which became integral parts of the company’s visual language. Known as the woman who “gave Macintosh a smile”,

    she also created a proportional typeface, Chicago (previously Elefont) at a time when most on-screen typefaces were monospaced and didn’t create a pleasant viewing experience.

    Contribution to the field of typography


    Her most significant contribution to the field of typography is arguably the font she created for the Apple Macintosh, Elefont later renamed Chicago, a bitmap font.

    This font and other icons were created by turning pixels on and off as icon and typeface editors didn’t exist at the time. She drew on her experience with embroidery, needlepoint, and pointillism to shade in a highly readable font even in lower resolution. Each letter had to be 7 pixels long (max) and only 9 pixels wide, bold with no jagged edges to maintain clarity even in low resolutions. Additionally, its proportional nature at a time when other fonts were monospaced created a more enjoyable user experience.

    Influence to the field of typography


    Arguably, her typographic design, through Chicago, influenced the field of typography by demonstrating how clear, simple, and functional design can enhance user experience.

    Her use of pixels allowed her fonts to still be highly readable even in low-resolution conditions, highlighting the importance of clarity when adapting to screens. Following her, she inspired a new generation of designs which similarly prioritized approachable and scalable fonts. Today, many screen-optimized typefaces such as Verdana, Roboto, and Tahoma, keep in mind the principles she pioneered. 

    These icons she created were influential as they replaced traditional words on command line interfaces with visual symbols, laying down the foundation for the graphical user interface (GUI).

    Famous icons include: the trash can, paint, and smiley face, bomb, hard disk, and more 

    Analyzing a typeface created by Susan Kare


    Chicago

    is a proportional sans serif font for headers,

    created with a maximum of 7 pixels wide and 9 pixels high
    The characters have a relatively high x-height, meaning their lowercase letters are taller in proportion to uppercase letters.

    This feature also makes the letters more distinct and recognizable in lower resolutions,

    as it prevents the lowercase letters from looking too small or cramped on smaller screens. 
    Interestingly, the spacing for some of the letters in Chicago looked slightly off as the system at the time didn’t allow for the letters to be kerned individually.

    This can be visible from the capital letters “H” and “I”, similarly in “i” and “j”.

    Analyzing compositions created by Susan Kare


    Aside from her typography Kare was renowned for the icons she created for the original macintosh. They’re all initially created on a 32 by 32 pixel grid drawn on a graph paper.

    Each icon was created to be immediately identifiable and could be intuitively associated with the program’s function.

    In the past, computers relied on text and commands to run programs, the Macintosh replaced these with icons to create a more intuitive experience, to allow the general public to use computers without “instruction manuals”.

    To accomplish this, Susan Kare used real world analogies to create icons were self-explanatory. For instance, the closed trash can indicates where users can drag and drop their files to delete. The iconic bomb icon that appeared whenever any system crashed to indicate that there was something wrong with the system. Another is drawing out a floppy disk to indicate saving a file as users at the time saved everything on floppy disks. 


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