Risk, Originality and Virtuosity. I can’t think of three better words to describe Steve Jobs. Gymnasts learn the acronym early when they start to understand the underlying criteria that determines their score. Steve Jobs flipped entire industries upside-down by taking risks, being original and having that certain “something” that other companies only dream of attaining.
Risk. Create products like the iPad, when other companies sat and predicted failure.
Originality. Take a phone to another level — build a platform for apps — make it more than a phone.
Virtuosity. Plug it in, and it will work.
I have used and purchased more Macs for my office and home than I can list, and I’ve been using the Mac since 1986. It was our first and only real option in the graphic arts industry. Agencies, design firms, photographers, printers, we all loaded up on Macs, because Apple understood what we needed in order to create in the digital world. Jobs pushed the graphic arts industry forward, and he was revered by the design community, as a fellow designer.
Steve Jobs understood typography. You can sum up much of his success in that sentence.
He cited that taking calligraphy class in collage opened his eyes to the wonder of type and that led him to understand kerning, proportion, size, scale, space — the tiny details of design. His virtuosity as a designer and technologist became second to none. That skill is seen in all Apple products and throughout the Apple store. Design details. One button on the iPhone, one button on the iPad, simple radius on the corners, titanium shell, keep it simple — all these seemingly innocuous decisions landed Apple products ahead of the competition. Somewhere, Steve Jobs is shaking hands with Mies Van der Rohe.
It took about thirty years for Apple to become a mainstream brand, and that is what Jobs always wanted — to get great products in people’s hands, and let them be their own genius. The market will decide.
RIP Steve Jobs. Your ROV was a lesson to us all.
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