Word of the Day
Opprobrium (n., uh-PRO-bree-umm)
Public disgrace due to bad conduct. A dunce cap. Rotten tomatoes. Having your name called out for breaking the build. The cone of shame.
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Link of the Day
Susan Kare - interview and sketchbooks
Many of you may not know who Susan Kare is but she's kind of a big deal. Kare designed the first icons and fonts for the original Macintosh, the computer that popularized the Graphical User Interface. If you like double-clicking the trash can to see your deleted files instead of typing "C:\All Users\Desktop\Trash Can\", thank Susan Kare.
There's a good interview with her that's worth reading—if for no other reason than to find some of her unusual inspiration:
AR: Were you a computer whiz?
SK: No, I had zero formal experience. Computers were essentially foreign to me, so it was a bit overwhelming to get up to speed, but the Mac group was small and welcoming. Also, I did have limited experience designing for grids from working on craft projects such as tiled ashtrays and cross-stitch embroidery kits.
Kare is, as always, wonderful, understated, and forthcoming. Her original Macintosh sketchbook is cool to explore, too. Here's the original idea for "paste":
And a little more on the "literal with interpretation" side, the sketch for "danger:"
And, of course...
Icon design is exceptionally hard—Kare notes in the interview that no one has come up with a good "idea" icon that isn't a lightbulb or a good "categories" icon—but Kare's original Mac icons have (largely) stood the test of time. They were friendly, allowing nervous, unfamiliar people to slide into the system easily. They were no accident, either. Instead, they were the result of a master synthesizer who was far from a digital native but understood her audience perfectly. That's good design, and that's why Susan Kare is still doing good work at Pinterest, even as her prior work lives on.
ArtPixelsIconsSusan KareMacintoshGo look up "Auto Indent"