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Where Did the Facebook Thumbs Up Come From? · First of Kind

First of Kind

Twiddling Bits with Susan Kare

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Notes

  1. Susan Kare finds icon ideas by looking at restaurant signage and traffic signage from all around the world, and by beachcombing for shells and things from the… Full answer

  2. Susan Kare saw her drawings appear on a screen almost like a parlor trick, taken from paper and suddenly there. Full answer

  3. Soleio traces the Facebook thumbs up to glyphs Aaron Sittig had already drawn for ranking stories in News Feed. Full answer

  4. Susan Kare discovered graphic design at 14, as a very junior part-time design assistant at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, a science museum. Full answer

  5. Steve Jobs told Susan Kare she would twiddle bits for the rest of her life and never make more than $20,000, when she could be the creative director of a… Full answer

  6. Paul Rand charged Steve Jobs $100,000 to design the NeXT logo, and he required a first-class flight, a nice hotel, and a presentation of the work. Full answer

  7. Susan Kare still works because of a mortgage, and because it feels fun to be part of what is happening now in tech and a little AI. Full answer

  8. Susan Kare would not say her approach to design has turned upside down. Full answer

  9. Susan Kare was the only designer in a software group at Apple, so the group was not a design organization. Full answer

  10. Susan Kare says Steve Jobs often said they were going to remember these days, and they did. She still remembers the early Macintosh work long after it. Full answer

  11. Soleio says it is easy to be amongst the best if you are amongst the first. He does not know if the best energy is an energy of youth. Full answer

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