Early computer hardware was designed to draw points and lines, which became a challenge for the computer science industry. GUI, graphic user interfaces, started changing, using bit-mapped graphics. (The first GUI’s) With this change in computers, Susan Kare was working with Apple creating these designs.
“I do every job myself because I think of it as art,” said Kare. (Susan Kare is the Queen of Icons) Susan, designing countless Icons, turns pixels on and off to create images. The macintosh used a ‘bit- mapped’ display, which each point of light, or pixel, on the screen was modified by a single ‘bit’ of information, or data. 
(Susan Kare is the Queen of Icons) Her objective was to transform pixels into symbols that would help people use their computers easily. (Susan Kare is the Queen of Icons) Kare tends to stay within the primary color fields, believing that you do not have to use everything that available. Even as a larger palette is available, clarity is important.
These electronic images created by Kare are extremely small, about 1 square inch, consisting of dots from a couple hundred to over a thousand. She originally started creating these dots on a sheet of graph paper with pencil and eraser ending with images. Every pixel is important to Kare. Her work is often focused on designing symbols or graphics for interfaces. Susan said, “The problem to solve involve metaphor, imagery, communication. The actual specifications of how many or few pixels are secondary to figuring out design solutions.” (Susan Kare, personal communication, February 10, 2008)
There is a balance that must be met when creating these Icons, making sure that not too many details are added that cannot be seen on a computer, and not enough detail can leave the Icon incomprehensible. Kare’s goal when creating Icons is to make them similar to road signs, easy for users to remember the meaning. Kare can work months on Icons, turning the dots on and off. “Some Icons are easy because they are nouns: a calendar, for example, but verbs are hard to do. Undo is especially hard. I struggle year in and year out about undo,” said Susan. (Susan Kare is the Queen of Icons)
Susan has created a sense of fun with her work, which makes her a hot commodity in the business. (The Designer Who Made the Mac Smile) Originally, her work was seen as “too cute” in the business. Kare was quick to refute, “Not everything should be Disneyland all the time, but if you say anything cute is wrong and not business like, then you go against the grain.” (Art that Clicks) She loves the challenge of expressing ideas in a small space with pixels, and still receives a lot of small pixel image requests. “Creating infinitely resizeable images in Illustrator is something I enjoy tremendously and a medium I often employ in my projects,” Susan said. (Susan Kare, personal communication, February 10, 2008)
Designing thousands of Icons, Kare is now considered the pioneer of computer iconography. Working with computer Icons, Kare has yet to dip into car digital display systems, which is on her list of things she wants to do. With technology growing, and the World Wide Web increasing, Dr Kare will surely be busy for quite some time.
Dr Kare continues to be grateful for the opportunity that was given to her designing the original MacIntosh Operating System. She says it was a great opportunity to work on something that was not only of interest to her, but something that also put her skills to work with engineers she found talented. This was a place were “emphasis was placed on striving for excellence and creativity at every opportunity.” (Susan Kare, personal communication, February 10, 2008)
When asked, how have you, as both a designer and business owner, been able to transition across technologies, Kare’s response: “To some degree, design work is design. I enjoy working in many mediums, including traditional graphic design and bitmap grapic design. Although I particularly enjoy the challenge of developing images for devices with limited screen real estate, there are many other interesting design problems on the web and on new devices.” Her firm works with some corporate identity and product design. She sees tech and fashion merging in the future and would like to participate in this project. (Susan Kare, personal communication, February 10, 2008)
