susan kare
Before working as a graphic designer at Apple, Susan Kare worked as a sculpture artist and wasn’t familiar with the tech-world. She went on to create “some of the most recognizable icons, typefaces, and graphic elements in personal computing: the command symbol (⌘), the system-failure bomb, the paintbrush, and, of course, “Clarus the Dogcow.” Her first job at Apple was to make the Macintosh feel more approachable, like a workstation people had been using for years already. Without any previous knowledge of designing for a screen, Susan used her knowledge of pointilism, mosaics, and needlepoint. She went on to create the “first proportionally spaced digital font family,” taking the digital world out of the age of monospaced computer typefaces. In 1988, she started her own design firm, Susan Kare Design, which she continues to maintain to this day.
Read more about Susan Kare on the AIGA website in an article honoring her as a 2018 AIGA Medalist.