How Did Susan Kare Discover Graphic Design?

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

She made labels on a phototypositor, aligning each letter with a photographic technique that felt magical at the time, then used a stat machine to paste up material for exhibits. She worked for Harry Lauchs, a designer from Ponca City, Oklahoma, and she considers him way undersung. He studied car design at Art Center; she places the studies probably in the 1960s. He had a lyrical spirit, graduated from Art Center, and worked for Charles Eames on a World's Fair project she places in the 1960s, maybe an IBM exhibit or other work the Eames office was doing. He absorbed a great deal from the project and later ended up in museum work, with a love for printed ephemera, books, and friendliness.

She still thanks Harry Lauchs for the exposure, though not often enough. The museum job is when she learned graphic design existed. The office got Communication Arts magazine, which amazed her.