Designer
Susan Kare was hired by Steve Jobs to create the interface for the original Macintosh, at a moment when the personal computer had no visual language at all. She invented the icons, typefaces, and conventions that billions of people now use without thinking: the trash can, the paint bucket, the hand cursor, the desktop metaphor made literal. She worked on a pixel grid so constrained it resembled medieval tapestry. The results were legible immediately and have stayed that way.
Learn More →Signature Traits
Major Works
Macintosh desktop icons (1983)
The trash can, the folder, the clipboard. The visual vocabulary of computing, invented from scratch on a 32x32 pixel grid.
Chicago and Cairo typefaces
System fonts that defined the Macintosh visual identity. Designed for legibility at sizes where letters have only a handful of pixels each.
Playing cards for Macintosh
The game that came with every Mac. Proof that utility and delight are not separate design objectives.
