Iconic designs created by women
We have evolved as a society: digitally and analogically, although, without our really knowing how, these two routes have often ended up as just one.
Without realising it, we use the resources of one for the other: design systems are an example of this. One of the first clear examples of a design system known worldwide was the development of road signs which has subsequently inspired other digital design systems such as interface icons.
Some of the best-known design systems in the world were invented by women. This is the case of the iconic designs of Susan Kare and Margaret Calvert which, despite being two very different systems, fulfil the same function: making the user experience successful.
Margaret Calvert
The work of Margaret Calvert has helped save hundreds of thousands of lives in the United Kingdom and subsequently all around the world.
In the 1960s, cars travelled increasingly quickly and the need arose to redesign the traffic signs, which were illegible at high speed. This was the mission entrusted to Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir, between 1957 and 1967. The design system that they developed subsequently became a model of modern road signage, which has been in use ever since.
The importance of good design in such an important space as the roads, where reading must be automatic and reactions immediate, makes the achievement of Margaret a contribution worthy of being recognised and broadcast.