Long before our smart phones, computers and tablets came equipped with apps, games and streaming entertainment galore, there was Solitaire. The faithful card game, which made its first appearance on Windows 3.0 was designed by the pioneering graphic designer Susan Kare, also the brain behind the original Macintosh system’s cherished icons, such as the trash can, finder, bomb and lasso.
To celebrate Solitaire’s 25th anniversary, the Brooklyn-based design company Areaware has reproduced Kare’s original, pixelated graphics as a pack of 52 playing cards, thus bringing Solitaire into the real world. Kare has even designed two Jokers, which were previously not required in the game, to make a full deck.
Kare says, 'I worked on the original pixel art for the on-screen Solitaire cards in 1990 using an IBM PC, Microsoft Paint, and the typical 16 VGA color palette of the time. A lot of those weren't particularly attractive colors, but fortunately the card faces only required black, red, and yellow.'
I was inspired by classic card decks, and had the most fun trying to translate the complicated patterns of the Jacks, Queens, and Kings to a 72 dots-per-inch grid.'
Kare recalls, 'I worked on the original pixel art for the on-screen Solitaire cards in 1990 using an IBM PC, Microsoft Paint, and the typical 16 VGA color palette of the time. I was inspired by classic card decks, and had the most fun trying to translate the complicated patterns of the Jacks, Queens and Kings to a 72 dots-per-inch grid'
Areaware's playing cards feature exclusive new designs by Kare, who also created the cherished icons in the original Macintosh operating system
Most notably, Kare has designed a new Joker for Areaware's deck – a card that was never required for Solitaire
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