Priceonomics on Susan Kare Link

What a great overview of someone that made an indelible mark on computer interfaces and user expectations.

Kare was subsequently offered a fixed-length, part-time job designing fonts and icons for the Apple Macintosh; her business card read “HI Macintosh artist.” She’d never worked on computer graphics before Apple, but quickly made strides to adjust to her new medium. “I remember I didn’t really know anything about digital typography, but I got as many books on it as I could,” she recalls.

Yet the piece closes with this terrific quote:

“My philosophy has not really changed – I really try to develop symbols that are meaningful and memorable. I started designing monochrome icons using a 32 x 32 pixel icon editor that Andy Hertzfeld created. Subsequently I’ve been able to take advantage of more robust tools and higher screen resolution, and also design vector images in Illustrator. But design problems are solved by thinking about context and metaphor – not by tools.”

Just wonderful.