Ms. Kare is offering the prints in 8.5” x 11” (US$89), 17” x 22” ($129), 24” x 30” ($349), and 30” x 40” ($499). The first two sizes are each limited to 200 prints each, while the two largest sizes are limited to 100 prints each. She noted that she will be signing and numbering them by hand, as well.
If you’re new to the world of Apple or the Mac, you may be curious why prints of long-unused icons might be such a big deal. The truth is that it’s hard to even explain why, but these icons were revolutionary in their day, and Ms. Kare was able to express a lot of information with very few pixels to work with, and these icons were a very important aspect of what made the early Mac to amazing for its users.
Also, Apple had large versions of many of these icons on display throughout its campus in Cupertino until the early part of this decade.
Four Icons from Susan Kare’s Collection
For those interested in the lore behind these icons, Ms. Kare offers up some background information on several of them, including this note about Bomb:
The bomb was designed to represent a system failure — and I was told that no one would ever be likely to see it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Once a phone call came into the Mac software group: a woman had seen the icon on her screen and was extremely concerned that her computer might explode!
You can see more of Susan Kare’s work as a designer at kare.com, or go straight to the prints at kareprints.com.
We also enjoyed this photo of six of the prints on display.
