Apple and Steve Jobs made me a better designer

August 25, 2011

Now that Steve Jobs has resigned as the CEO of Apple, most people are wondering what will become of Apple. Personally I feel Mr Jobs could not have left them in a better position so I have no concerns that Apple will continue to amaze us with their innovative products.

What his resignation did make me think about was would I be the designer I am today without the influence of Steve Jobs and Apple's products. The simple answer is no.

It was 20 years ago, I was 16, and it was the first time I saw the original all in one, The Macintosh. This was the machine where I first honed my skills in Desktop Publishing and learned the power of a user friendly graphical interface. Using software like Photoshop 1 and Quark Xpress 2 opened my eyes to what was possible, even with the limitations they had at the time.

The first mac I owned was a Quadra 800 with 32MB ram, 230MB hard drive and of course the floppy disk drive. Beast of a machine at the time. I spent hours on this, learning the latest software, trying out new techniques, creating brochures and magazines, developing logos and illustrating in Macromedia Freehand. It was a joy to use. In my opinion, this was the greatest Mac Apple produced until the event of the iMac.

I used to send out my CV and design examples on a floppy disc that would 'auto play' when inserted into a computer. A 'wow' factor at the time. 

By this point Apple computers were the driving force in most design and print companies. Yes, the same software was now available on PC's but Macs were, and still are, more reliable. In the 20 years I have used the Mac I have only had a hard drive fail on me twice.

I can hear the PC fanboys sharpening their pencils already!

Although I have roots in desktop publishing, I design and build more websites now than anything else. A sign of the times I suppose. How I design them, making them as easy for the user as possible, all inspired by the philosophy Steve Jobs installed into Apple. The products they have produced, the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Mac OS X all have the user in mind. My daughter was not much past 1 year of age and she could unlock the iPhone, pinch photos and play music, a very good sign for a user interface.

I could not imagine a world without Apple. Everything would be beige, boring and not work as well as it should. Could you really imagine a world without your iPod?

Steve, thanks for inventing Apple all those years ago. If it was not for you I would not be the designer I am today and Tom and I probably would not have started Dojo nearly 4 years ago. Although my wallet would be a little fatter!