Susan Kare

Susan Kare
Susan Kare
Born	February 5, 1954 (age 72); Ithaca, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Graphic designer, artist
Years active	1982–present
Known for	Creating interface icons and typefaces for the original Apple Macintosh; Creative Director at NeXT; design work for Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Pinterest, Niantic Labs

Susan Kare (pronounced "care"; born February 5, 1954) is a distinguished American graphic designer and artist, celebrated for her creation of interface icons and typefaces for the original Apple Macintosh computer (1983–1986). As Apple’s tenth employee, she subsequently held the role of creative director at NeXT, the company Steve Jobs established after departing Apple in 1985. Kare has also provided design expertise to leading technology companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Sony Pictures, Facebook, and Pinterest. As of 2023, she is employed by Niantic Labs.

Widely regarded as a pioneer in pixel art and graphical user interface design, Kare is acknowledged as a significant contributor to contemporary technology aesthetics.

Early life and education

Born in Ithaca, New York, Kare grew up in an academically enriched environment. Her father was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and directed the Monell Chemical Senses Center, specializing in taste and smell research. Her mother introduced her to counted-thread embroidery, nurturing an early passion for drawing, painting, and various crafts. Her brother was aerospace engineer Jordin Kare. After graduating from Harriton High School in 1971, she earned a B.A. in art with highest honors (summa cum laude) from Mount Holyoke College in 1975, completing an undergraduate honors thesis focused on mathematics. She then pursued graduate studies at New York University, where she obtained both an M.A. and Ph.D. in fine arts by 1978; her doctoral dissertation examined caricature in sculptures by Honoré Daumier and Claes Oldenburg. Initially, Kare aimed to become either a fine artist or an art educator.

Early

Kare’s professional journey began within the fine arts realm. During high school summers, she interned at the Franklin Institute under designer Harry Loucks, who introduced her to the principles of typography and graphic design through phototypesetting techniques. Lacking formal training in commercial art, she gained practical experience by undertaking volunteer graphic design projects—such as posters, brochures, holiday cards, and invitations—while attending college. After completing her Ph.D., she relocated to San Francisco to work at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) as both a sculptor and occasional curator. Reflecting later on this period, she expressed a preference for a more collaborative environment over the solitary nature of sculpture.

Apple

In 1982, while engaged in sculptural work, Kare was approached by her high school acquaintance Andy Hertzfeld, who offered her an Apple II computer in exchange for hand-drawn icons and font components intended to inspire the forthcoming Macintosh computer interface. Although she had no prior background in computer graphics or pixel art, Kare applied her fine art skills—particularly those related to mosaics and needlepoint—to design several icons symbolizing software functions such as scissors for "cut" and a paintbrush for MacPaint.

She officially joined Apple in January 1983 as the "Macintosh Artist" following a successful interview during which she brought typography reference books and a meticulously kept notebook. Kare quickly familiarized herself with the Twiggy-based Macintosh prototype, impressed by its graphical features including undo/redo functionality and simultaneous multi-size display capabilities. She utilized basic graphic tools developed by Bill Atkinson and benefited from advanced software assistance provided by Hertzfeld to translate pixel art into hexadecimal code.

Kare was instrumental in giving the Macintosh interface a human touch by crafting intuitive icons that contributed significantly to the product’s character. Her charming pixelated portraits of team members became part of early Macintosh culture at standard icon resolution. Together with Steve Capps, she helped cultivate the "pirate" spirit embraced by Steve Jobs.

As the only graphic designer on the project team, Kare developed an extensive collection of GUI elements through iterative feedback loops; Jobs personally approved key desktop icons. She also took part in prerelease marketing efforts by appearing in advertisements and product demonstrations.

Within just one year, Kare established the foundational visual language for the original Macintosh released in January 1984—this included marketing collateral, typeface designs, and patented iconography. Her contributions defined Apple’s groundbreaking graphical user interface (GUI) identity.

She refined icon designs inherited from the Apple Lisa, such as the trash can and I-beam cursor, introduced distinctive document icons tied to specific applications, and created essential GUI elements like the Lasso tool and Paint Bucket icon. Among her notable creations are Clarus the Dogcow, the Happy Mac startup icon, and the symbol used on the Command key. Inspired by Jobs’s enthusiasm for calligraphy, Kare designed Apple's first proportionally spaced digital font family—Chicago, Geneva, and monospace Monaco—with Chicago becoming the system font for menus and dialogs; this implementation embraced variable character widths to distinguish it from traditional monospaced typewriter fonts. The Cairo icon font combined graphical elements into text-like symbols resembling early emojis.

Later on, Kare assumed the role of Creative Director within Apple Creative Services under Tom Suiter during a phase when primary Macintosh development had slowed.

Smithsonian Magazine highlights her dedication during the Macintosh launch period: "countless hours of work, rework and work again to get everything right." Despite lacking technical expertise, Kare cherished close collaboration with engineers: "I loved working on that project—always felt so lucky for the opportunity... My 'work/life balance' has improved since."

After Apple

In 1986, Kare departed Apple alongside Steve Jobs to join NeXT, Inc. as its Creative Director and tenth team member. She facilitated Jobs’s connection with design icon Paul Rand, commissioning him to develop NeXT’s logo and overall brand identity. While she initially handled Jobs’s meticulous slideshow requirements, Kare soon resumed her focus on bitmap design, embarking on an independent career with clients such as Microsoft, IBM, Sony Pictures, Motorola, General Magic, and Intel.

During her time at Microsoft, she crafted the card deck for the Solitaire game in Windows 3.0, a tool that helped users become familiar with mouse drag-and-drop operations. In 1987, Kare produced a variety of icons and a "baroque"-style wallpaper for Windows 3.0 featuring isometric 3D effects and dithered colors; many of her icons for applications like Notepad and Control Panels persisted through to Windows XP. For IBM’s OS/2 system, she designed pinstriped isometric bitmap icons. Additionally, she created the cartoon-style Magic Cap desktop interface for General Magic and co-established Susan Kare LLP in 1989. Later contributions included icon designs for Eazel’s Nautilus file manager, which were released for public use.

Kare became a member of Glam Media’s advisory board (now Mode Media) in 2003 and was appointed by Nancy Pelosi to serve on the U.S. Mint’s Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. Between 2006 and 2010, she designed hundreds of 64×64 pixel icons for Facebook’s virtual gift feature; early proceeds supported Susan G. Komen for the Cure. One of these icons, "Big Kiss," is included in certain Mac OS X user profiles.

In 2007, Kare was responsible for the branding, iconography, website design, and user interface of Chumby Industries’ Internet-connected alarm clock. Since 2008, MoMA’s New York retail location has offered stationery products showcasing her artwork; in 2015, MoMA acquired her original Macintosh user interface sketchbooks.

She acted as an expert witness for Apple during the 2012 Apple v. Samsung patent litigation. In 2015, Kare accepted a role as product design lead at Pinterest—her first corporate position in thirty years—collaborating with Bob Baxley, former Apple Online Store design manager, while noting cultural similarities between Pinterest and early Apple. By February 2021, she assumed the role of Design Architect at Niantic Labs. As of 2022, Kare operates a digital design studio based in San Francisco and offers limited-edition signed fine-art prints.

Design philosophy

Kare’s design ethos centers on clarity, memorability, and meaningfulness. She adheres to Paul Rand’s guidance: "Don’t strive to be original; strive to be good." Prioritizing simplicity, she crafts visual metaphors that represent computer functions in ways easily grasped and remembered by users at all experience levels. Kare considers an icon successful if it can be recalled by users after just one explanation. She compares effective icons to traffic signs—uncomplicated symbols with broad recognition requiring minimal detail—and observes that such icons rarely need frequent updates.

Her methodology emphasizes context and metaphorical resonance, often drawing inspiration from everyday symbols and forms encountered around San Francisco. When searching for concepts, she consults resources like Kanji Pictograms and the Symbol Sourcebook, including its references to hobo graffiti markings.

Kare aimed to humanize the Macintosh by giving it "a smile," infusing "an artist’s sensibility" into a domain largely dominated by engineers. Her Mac iconography drew upon diverse sources such as art history, gadgets, pirate symbolism, Japanese logograms, and ancient hieroglyphics. The symbol used for the command key was inspired by the Scandinavian Saint Hannes cross—a cultural emblem in Sweden during the 1960s.

Operating within the strict technological limits of the 1980s, Kare applied her fine art experience in mosaics, needlepoint, and pointillism to pixel art design challenges. Working within constraints of 32 × 32 pixels per icon—and only 9 × 7 pixels per font character—she pioneered minimalist pixel art techniques that addressed jagged typeface problems by restricting lines to horizontal, vertical, or 45-degree angles. Her talent for conveying personality and precision in tiny portraits was previously considered unattainable by seasoned Apple designers.

Since the late ’80s, Kare has employed Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator using grid templates that emulate device limitations and user interaction conditions. Despite technological progressions over time, she continues to favor working with monochrome pixel art at a resolution of 16 × 16 pixels.

Reception

The Smithsonian Institution characterized her design approach as "elegant, simple, and playful." In 2015, the Museum of Modern Art displayed the inaugural tangible exhibit of her iconography, featuring her original Grid sketchbook, and highlighted how her typefaces and icons endowed the Mac with "voice, personality, style, and even humor." They acknowledged her as a trailblazer in computer iconography whose creations blend functionality with wit and aesthetic appeal. The American Institute of Graphic Arts commended her for a "playful charm coupled with an independent spirit," presenting her with their medal in April 2018. Later, in October 2019, Kare was honored with the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. On International Women's Day 2018, Medium recognized her alongside innovators such as Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper for their transformative impact on today’s technology landscape.

Back in 1997, I.D. magazine listed Kare among its influential I.D. Forty designers alongside Steve Jobs. She was also a recipient of the Chrysler Design Award in 2001.

Legacy

Susan Kare is widely regarded as a pioneer in pixel art and graphical user interface design, with more than thirty years leading advancements in human-computer interaction.

Her contributions shaped the original visual identity of the Macintosh, including creating the first proportionally spaced digital typefaces—Chicago, Geneva, and Monaco—as well as iconic UI elements such as the Lasso, Grabber hand, and Paint Bucket tool. Chicago served as a principal user-interface font from System 1 (1984) through Mac OS 9 (1999) and was used on early iPod models. This seminal design work played a crucial role in establishing Macintosh as a dominant computing platform. Her Apple-era designs from the 1980s continue to influence both digital and print design globally.

Kare expanded this visual vocabulary across prominent platforms including Microsoft Windows, IBM OS/2, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Her collection of icons is preserved in major institutions like the National Museum of American History, MoMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. In 2025, MoMA curator Paola Antonelli featured over a dozen of Kare’s icons in Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, spotlighting key moments in design history alongside works by Shigetaka Kurita and Milton Glaser.

Her creations continue to attract dedicated admirers; large-scale prints of her digital works are available both privately and at MoMA.

Personal life

She was married to Jay Tannenbaum until their divorce in 2011, with whom she has three sons. Her brother was aerospace engineer Jordin Kare.

External links

Susan Kare. Sketches for Graphic User Interface Icons. 1982–83, audio recording from Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, Museum of Modern Art
Icons by Susan Kare, exhibition catalogue from Icônes by Susan Kare at the MICG, Lyon, France
Fonts designed by Kare