Art + Design

Thank you, Steve Jobs. For everything.

I am truly at a loss for words right now. They will come, though, and when they do, I will leave them in the comments below.

I invite you to share your thoughts on how Steve Jobs has impacted all of our lives, and to talk about what he and his work meant to you personally. I know I’ll find it cathartic (and inspiring!) to read in the days to come, and I’m sure others will, too.

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90 Comments

  • Reply twiggs October 5, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    i have no words to describe this loss… i own nothing from apple, and yet, asides from all the photography equipment i wish to have… his tools will make my career so much easier. what this man has created has clearly changed the world… as changed the way we connect and work. he made things so much simpler… and so much beautiful. technology will never be the same after this man’s legacy. he will be remembered as one of this century geniuses. rip steve jobs. and a huge thank you for all that you have imagined… and managed to create.

  • Reply victoria October 5, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    i don’t know where to begin. what wouldn’t be different in my life had not steve jobs been with us, and even for such a short time?

    i wouldn’t have had my career in advertising, surrounded and encouraged by creativity all day long.

    i wouldn’t have been able to start my blog.

    i wouldn’t have met all the wonderful people in my life i know today – not the people i’ve met through the blog, flickr, twitter, and beyond.

    i wouldn’t have met people i fell in love with, and had deep meaningful relationships.

    i wouldn’t have found either of my dogs, both of whom i found on the internet.

    it goes on and on. steve jobs changed my world forever, and i am deeply saddened for his children, his family and for the loss to all of us of a genuine pioneer and innovator.

    xo

  • Reply Mo October 5, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    I didn’t hear until now, so sad. Such a successful combination of creativity and business acumen.

  • Reply Ginger October 5, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    I think this sums it up perfectly:

  • Reply Jen October 5, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    I’m not sure there are words to fully express his impact on modern culture. He was a truly exceptional & brilliant individual. All I can think is to express my eternal gratitude for changing my life. The world has been robbed, he will be greatly missed – rest in peace.

  • Reply Alis October 5, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Irreplaceable.

  • Reply Val October 5, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    RIP Steve Jobs, such a huge loss for all humankind

  • Reply Genevieve October 5, 2011 at 8:21 pm

    Such a great loss. So so sadden by this. He made me interested in computers, made me choose web design as a career choice, his products surround me on a daily basis. He was a creative genius and was taken way too soon. You have truly changed everything. Ground breaking products (iMac, iTunes, iPhone I can go on), founder of Pixar….RIP Steve Jobs and thank you for everything you’ve provided us with. A true inspiration.

  • Reply Dinah October 5, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    As a child, your macintosh graced every desk in my classroom. As a Teen, you lead me through graphic design school with new technology and new possibilities. As an adult, you have provided me the tools for an amazing career in video editing, along with so many other tools that enrich, not just my world, but the entire world.

    Your existence made this planet a better place by showing us that even the most impossible vision IS possible. Thank you.

    Good night, Steve.

  • Reply Katherine October 5, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    His work touches my life everyday, for the better. I use his products and work at a company he helped start, huge loss, but what an amazing legacy to leave behind. Thank you for the post Anna.

  • Reply tara October 5, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    This news made me so sad. Love him or not, he made a huge impact on this world. He was exacting when others let things slide. He was a stickler for quality and good design – and the things he made or helped make were quality and beautiful. Form and function is such a rare combination to see these days. I saw the news and had to phone my husband at work because he is a true Apple fan. I now know we won’t be getting rid of the “Mac Museum” he’s carefully accumulated in our garage. But that’s ok. Rest in peace Steve, you will be missed.

  • Reply EvY October 5, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    I was ten when I used my first Apple computer. My computer science lab teacher had installed an April Fool’s prank on it that makes it look like you’d pressed a button and the computer’s hard drive was gonna fry. I’ll never forget that 8 bit animation of the little bomb going off and the smiley Mac face making me a Mac for life.

    I’ve had a blueberry iMac, a Powerbook Pismo, two Macbook Pros, two iPhones, and have converted my in-laws, friends, roommates, and many more to Apple. We’ve even named our dog Wozniak after Steve’s partner and co-founder of Apple.

    Apple had Steve, nobody else had Steve. Steve and his team made quality products and changed everything and everybody’s way of working, playing, listening to music, all the while never losing that vision of beautiful and functional devices.

    He really did change everything. He really did think differently.

    • Andrea Fuentes October 6, 2011 at 9:36 am

      Steve Jobs such a great man. The influence of Apple in our lives is huge & I can only transcribe the words of Mr. Dieter Rams since his work has been always inspirational to me:
      Dieter Rams on Apple ..”I have always observed that good design can normally only emerge if there is a strong relationship between an entrepreneur and the head of design. At Apple this situation exists – between Steve Jobs and Jony Ive..
      ..lone voices treating the discipline of design seriously in all corners of their businesses. They understand that design is not simply an adjective to place in front of a product’s name to somehow artificially enhance its value. Ever fewer people appear to understand that design is a serious profession; and for our future welfare we need more companies to take that profession seriously”..

      Rest in peace Steve.

  • Reply Patricia Ann October 5, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    I just woke up from a nap and still feel like I am still dreaming. Death is such an odd concept. Most people have such a difficult time trying to connect to someone when they’re alive but death, even towards a complete stranger somehow brings people together. I don’t know Steve Jobs personally and if I did, the loss I would feel would be far more tremendous right now. There are very few innovators out there who constantly inspires most and is the envy of others even long after they’ve passed away. I feel like Apple won’t be the same without him. 🙁

  • Reply Joni October 5, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    That little apple logo makes me squeak with joy whenever I see it. In this thow-away society we live in Steve bucked the trend and created products with beautiful design and function – something to be loved, used and not discarded. RIP Steve.

  • Reply robert shepherd October 5, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    heartbreaking and irreplaceable.

    In many respects I grew up with and was a product of Apple computers. Graduating high school in California in 1984, the launch of macintosh was a big deal to us who had been programming on commodore 64’s and TI99’s. Apple took the computer away from the programmers and gave us design in return.

    I went on to study art and architecture; learned graphic design, animation and rendering along the way – all on a mac. and while the industry around me become dominated by windows; I stuck with and defended my duo-dock, powerbook, newton and others through the hard times. I flirted with Next as an alternative when software companies started abandoning apple and kept a dell at my desktop in case of emergency. Instead i found workarounds and patches. I was accused of being an fool, a fanboy, an elitist, a sycophant and others, but my defense was always the same, design matters.

    As a designer I felt a responsibility to stick with my mac, that I could not call myself a designer if i did not embrace it and fight for it in the tools that i chose. That I needed to practice what i preached, especially when it came to technology computers and UI – all of which where shaping our daily lives.

    I am pleased that it has come full circle [although it has taken 20+ years] I am pleased that design has a new value, I am pleased that we place aesthetic values in our products an services. and I am pleased that Steve jobs is being recognized as design’s principal advocate of the age.

    Steve Jobs, gave many of us the the reason, will and ambition to fight for design, both in his products and example; from his phoenix like return to apple to campaigns to think different, to the ridiculously high standards presently being set by the airbook and ipad

    Thank you steve
    RIP

  • Reply alexandra October 5, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    As a writer, I’ve been inspired and frustrated and overwhelmed and insecure and overjoyed all before the keyboard of one Apple or another.

    The first computer that was all mine, the PowerBook I left for college with fifteen years ago, I’ve yet to part with. I actually pulled it out a few months ago after I’d found some old stories on disks and was curious what they held. The laptop still works, even if those stories don’t.

    As a writer, photographer and editor, the innovations and inspiration of Steve Jobs have been a part of my life – almost my entire life. And for that I am grateful.

    Cancer has taken yet another too soon. Far before their time. There is no sense in it. None at all.

  • Reply Mariela October 5, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    Today we lost a visionary a genius, he work so hard and thanks to him we can have the best in technology to work, I can work very happy everyday. Thank you for everything, God bless him, his family and friends. Rest in Peace.

  • Reply amy good house October 5, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    So sad. I was shocked to hear the news, even though he was known to be very ill, you just always hope that someone will push through the illness.

    My first computer was an Apple IIGS. It was radical! Later on I had a 3 cd changer, which was the absolute greatest thing ever. Now I’m on the Mac everyday and just the way I listen to music is so different from when I was in High School. I bought the first iPod for my then-boyfriend, now-husband. It was revolutionary!

    A true visionary, he will be missed. My heart goes out to those who were close to him 🙁

  • Reply Melissa Jade October 5, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    All I can say is: Font. He developed the first series of fonts for computers based on calligraphy classes he took. Without his vision of form and function being inseparable who knows what role technology would have taken in our lives.

  • Reply Jenny October 5, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    What? I didn’t know until I saw your blog picture. Very sad day.

  • Reply Bright October 5, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    It’s incredibly sad that he passed away. I was just thinking about how the iPod made life so enjoyable, and how it blew me away when it was first introduced. I was fourteen. Ten years later, his vision is a part of my every day life.

    Thank you for everything that you’ve done. For my iPod, which has kept me sane over the years. My phone, my computer, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for Pixar.

  • Reply Jennifer October 5, 2011 at 10:05 pm

    This has left me feeling just awful. RIP.

  • Reply LaDonna October 5, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    I’m really sad about this and I don’t know why. Probably because my father died in February at age 55 and it just seems like another another day another death. Life is so short and so random.

    • Anna @ D16 October 5, 2011 at 10:30 pm

      I’m sorry about your dad, LaDonna. 55 is too young.

    • Bright October 5, 2011 at 11:32 pm

      I know how that feels. It’s been a few years since I haven’t had a family death each year, and I’ve found that having it be so fresh in my mind (because it is fresh, there are so many anniversaries to mourn now) makes anyone passing away difficult.

      I guess, on the upside, it makes it easier for me to tell people that I love them. My mother, step-father, brother, best friend, close friends – each one hears about how much I love and appreciate them. In the beginning, it was fear based, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to say it before they passed, but I’m happy to report that after months of constant “I love you”s it comes from the heart and balances out the “I miss you”s.

      I hope you have peace now and in the future.

    • Anna @ D16 October 5, 2011 at 11:40 pm

      What a beautiful comment, Bright. Thank you.

    • Michelle October 6, 2011 at 9:38 am

      LaDonna, My dad passed away last year at the age of 53. I’m completely torn up about Steve Jobs too. Just wanted to let you know that you aren’t alone.

  • Reply nicole October 5, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    Thank you! Your inspiration, passion, and creativity, forged a path for many of us to follow. You will be missed, but never forgot.

  • Reply Svea October 5, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    As a kid all I ever wanted was a pocket size Tv. I know that they did exist, but those were not what I had in mind. When I got the first iPod to support video, you have no idea how happy I was (as stupid as that sounds!). My magic future childhood dream had been fulfilled! Thousands of lovely songs and movies in my jeans pocket. And after a while, when I realized that a little larger screen might be better for my eyes, the iPad came along and with it the ability to carry my whole movie library wherever I go. How crazy is that! It’s the future! The one we always talked about! I have to admit that I have had many apple products over the years, whether that’s a good thing or not I can’t say. I do know that Steve Jobs’ death is a huge loss for the future we are still waiting for. Thanks for all the cool gadgets you thought of before anyone else did! I’m still waiting on that hoverboard!

    • Elena October 6, 2011 at 12:24 pm

      Svea, I adore this comment. There is nothing stupid about it at all. It’s innocence. Something that is missing these days. Today, at 41, I too am waiting for hoverboards. I ask my friends about it at least once a month. When are the coming??? If Steve had – had more time, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been the one to do it! R.I.P.

  • Reply Tina October 5, 2011 at 10:35 pm

    There are few people in this world who can truly be classified as a visionary. He was one of them. He will be sorely missed.

  • Reply Kristina October 5, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    Steve Jobs made everything pretty and useful and functional. I touch something he helped make every single day. And he will be greatly missed.

  • Reply Peetu October 5, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    All of us, at some point in our lives, have been directly or indirectly been inspired by Steve Jobs. By the products, by Steve’s ideas or just his philosophy of life. I think his lecture at Stanford’s 2005 commencement stands out. And this tweet by Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn CEO) resonated with me ‘His products changed the way we live. His words changed the way we think. His memory will change the way we dream.#SteveJobs’

    RIP Steve. Thanks for making me a better developer.

  • Reply Sally October 5, 2011 at 11:20 pm

    I admire Steve Jobs for his vision and uniqueness, but don’t know how apple is impacting the world…. [link]

    • Anna @ D16 October 5, 2011 at 11:29 pm

      I think it’s really important to look beyond (though not ignore) these direct effects and to the immeasurably huge (and positively impacting) contributions that have been made by people whose creativity was fueled by the ability to put their ideas into action because of Apple products. It’s unfathomable.

    • Simone October 6, 2011 at 6:03 am

      I think that it is also so that what Apple/ Steve Jobs way of thinking inspires me to do is to not let go of aspiring to the best idea/ concept/ quality that I can come up with. You don’t take a bad so-so solution as an answer anymore. Quality has value and I think that that is hugely important in the world is right now.

    • Gracie October 6, 2011 at 6:04 pm

      That was an interesting article Sally

  • Reply CitricSugar October 5, 2011 at 11:30 pm

    There are very few aspects of my daily life that aren’t marked by him somehow. He knew the way I thought, worked, taught, lived, and enjoyed.

    Every picture I’ve taken of my nephew has been by iPhone. iPod brought music back to my daily life when I had grown too lazy and tired to haul a walkman and cds around. My macbook is how I do almost everything written, or work-wise, and when I can’t take it with me, my iPad fills the gap. More than that, he impacted the way I saw the world and let me breathe in the simplicity of good design when everything else was complicated. A profound loss. An incredible contribution.

  • Reply Julie October 6, 2011 at 12:23 am

    I’m sure I will never fully comprehend how he has changed all our lives, because it’s hard to even imagine a world without his contribution to it. In simple terms, I love that he allowed us to believe that the products we use everyday should be extremely easy to use, but also extremely beautiful. The MacBook I received as a gift three years ago, was the first Apple product I ever owned. From the moment I opened the box and turned it on for the first time, I understood what good design can mean. I still smile when I turn it on.

    • miri October 6, 2011 at 1:27 am

      I still smile, too.

  • Reply Rachel S. October 6, 2011 at 12:28 am

    Thank you for sharing your gift and talent!!! You changed the world, and we’ll truly miss you.

  • Reply Ellen October 6, 2011 at 12:31 am

    His presence in the world was so big. He was a constant for so many years to anyone that paid attention to or used the tools he created. I love how he valued form and function-down to the packaging of anything Apple. His death is a loss to us all -especially those of us that appreciated his iconoclastic approach to invention and possibility. I feel a little like a light has gone out in the world.

  • Reply mette / ungt blod October 6, 2011 at 2:05 am

    Here in Denmark we often laugh at how hipsters are inseparable from their macs and just the other day I was looking up at a class of 75 students and smiling at all the  I could see, but there is a real reason why we all live through these machines! I highly doubt that I would have started blogging and learning how to code if it had not been for Steve Jobs and his machines. I use them every day because they are a true tool for creativity. Oh what a sad message to wake up to

  • Reply Shawn C October 6, 2011 at 3:33 am

    This has been a terrible week for me. Molly, my Min Pin passed away on Saturday at the young age of 4. And now, Steve Jobs, one of my heroes and inspirations, is gone. I am so thankful for him and what he did for the world. I only wish he could’ve been around longer. R.I.P. Jobs.

  • Reply Monica October 6, 2011 at 4:18 am

    I am grateful that he lived his life with this day in mind and sad that it came too soon.

  • Reply Nina October 6, 2011 at 4:30 am

    I heard that Steve has passed away this morning on the radio. I am so sad about this early death of a true visionary. Apple products really influenced my work and daily life.
    As I started studying I wanted to by a Mac but couldn´t afford one. Then a few years later, during my diploma, I finally bought my trusty MacBook and it´s been a love affair ever since. Apple and Steve Jobs totally changed my way of working, organizing and connecting with other people. Besides that he was a very inspirational character who showed us what it means to follow your dreams and do the things you love. Thank you Steve, you will be dearly missed!

  • Reply Claire * lolaisbeauty October 6, 2011 at 4:54 am

    I saw that Steve Jobs had died on Instagram – first thing I do every morning is check it. My macbook was next to me ready to open next. It suddenly hit me how the me of 6 years ago, before I crossed over to the ways of Apple was someone who disliked computers intensely, found them frustrating and boring. Now here I am constantly connected, having kept a blog going for 6 years, made films, photobooks, on the mac or I’m on my iphone 24 hours a day! I can actually say I love my computer, I love my iphone – maybe it sounds ridiculous but this morning as I shed a tear I saw the old technology phobic me for a second and realised that this man changed who I am.

  • Reply Catherine October 6, 2011 at 6:34 am

    I had never read his Stanford address until this morning and now I’m weeping at my desk. It’s hard to fathom just how huge his legacy is. We will not see his like again. RIP.

  • Reply Kimi October 6, 2011 at 8:27 am

    So many many many people today have been able to become designers, inter-disciplinary artists, bloggers, teachers, roamers-around-the-world-with-an-amazing-soundtrack-to-your-life, because you could press a button and hear that comforting “Bong” and know whatever was presented to you, you could figure it out. Thank you Steve Jobs for insisting on objects that are all about users and beauty. No they are not for everyone, yes they are expensive, yes they are elitist high-end lustworthy objets oft-purchased for aesthetics. There should be room in the world for fine furniture and fine dining and fine everything. Thank you Steve Jobs for insisting, always, on fineness.

  • Reply Sherry October 6, 2011 at 9:18 am

    I don’t think I can say anymore on Jobs accomplishments or influence that hasn’t already been said. The world lost an incredible man. Moreover, his family lost a husband and a father too soon. It makes me sad and angry to think of how many have had their lives cut short because of cancer, and what kind of suffering they endured. RIP Steve Jobs.

  • Reply Helena October 6, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Hello. I’ve been feeling sad and inspired in equal measure today. I think I’ve been caught off guard by how affected I am!

    As usual, my response is to draw, and here’s what I did: http://thefty.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/stay-hungry-stay-foolish/

    Steve really knew what he was talking about, and I admire the way he was so dedicated to his passions.

  • Reply Grumble Girl October 6, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Steve Jobs is a person I would have loved to see live for at least another 40 years… it would be amazing to see what he would have created in the second half of his life, especially when you consider what he made during the last 10 years alone. AMAZING, I say. This loss is huge in the world. He helped make technology what it is today – a lot of it completely unfathomable until he laid it out for you, right in front of your eyes. Revolutionary, truly.

    And, he was a family man – I’m sad for their loss as a husband and father, son…

    I kick cancer in the gonads really, really hard.

  • Reply megan October 6, 2011 at 10:14 am

    my grandmother passed away last week at the age of 95. we were very close; she was an amazing woman: an educator and an advocate of social justice, but also someone who rode her bicycle well into her 80s and enjoyed bird-watching from her back porch. she lived a full, happy life, and she made others’ lives richer and more beautiful just by being here. when i found out she died, it felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

    i felt the same way when i read the news about steve jobs (while browsing the internet on my macbook, appropriately). i never knew him — i was more acquainted with the idea of him, as most of us were — but i use his products all day, every day. and i feel like he gave the world the same experience my grandmother gave me. he made it better, more beautiful. richer. i love that the dedication on apple’s website says that “steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of apple.” it seems so apt.

    it’s hard, personally, to lose two people who were so important to me, albeit in such different ways, in the course of 10 days. i feel like there’s a lot of grieving still to be done. but i feel like both my grandmother and steve jobs would want me — and us all — to move forward, to be better as a result of this experience. so that’s what i’m taking away from it all: move forward, and be better.

  • Reply Daria October 6, 2011 at 10:30 am

    For a long time, I resisted buying Apple products, even though my husband was such a fan (quite possibly, because of that). I used to make fun of all my husband’s Apple “toys”. Then I cave in and bought an IPhone this winter. What an amazing product! I am hooked up, and I realized it this summer when I thought my IPhone was stollen, and I was so sad and so worried about it, but luckily I found it. Then, my boss offered to buy me an iMac instead of a PC for work, at 4 times the price. Again, what a beautiful and amazing product!

    Apple products are an exquisite combination of performance, style and design. As somebody said before, when I see the Apple logo, I smile. It takes a great mind to imagine such things and to pursue them. I’ve read somewhere that Steve Jobs had an amazing ability to predict market trends. I think that’s an understatement- Steve Jobs CREATED market trends!

    With Apple products I have come to realize the importance of being surrounded by beautiful and well designed things. In a word of disposable anything, these products feel almost timeless- I want to hold onto them, to use them for a long time, I am not tempted to replace them anytime soon.

    I didn’t realize though how much Steve Jobs meant for me until I read the news yesterday and tears flooded my eyes. We have lost a visionary, and I want to thank him for the beauty he brought into my life.

  • Reply Cliona October 6, 2011 at 10:39 am

    I am so sad today, his innovation and creativity have a daily impact on my life, we have to fight pancreatic cancer.

  • Reply Sweet Ronit October 6, 2011 at 11:53 am

    Anna – I have been reading your blog for so many years, and it was this post that finally got me to comment.

    I have worked for years with children who come from low-income households, often teaming with their teachers and visiting their Title 1schools. The number of Apple computers donated to these schools is astounding; without the Apple grants, these kids would not have the access to digital technology as kids coming from middle and upper middle income homes.

    The digital divide is very real, even in this country. Steve Jobs tried to lessen that divide. He was a true egalitarian, which is what means the most to me most about his work.

  • Reply Julie K. October 6, 2011 at 12:02 pm

    I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news on AT this morning… so shocking. It was less than 6 weeks ago that he stepped down as CEO. In college my brother worked in the Mac computer lab and he got me turned on to how amazing Apple is (this was the early 90s!). I’m working on a 6+ year old PowerBook right now and it’s a great machine with no probs but I thought it was time for an update – I ordered a new macbook last week. Should arrive soon…I’m going to name it Steve!

  • Reply Niamh October 6, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs.

  • Reply Patrice October 6, 2011 at 1:21 pm

    The iPod has been LIFE-ALTERING. For that, I thank you Steve Jobs. Rest in peace.

  • Reply Sarah @ Knit York City October 6, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    I can’t even express how much I think Steve Jobs has changed the way we live. I think everyone’s summed it up beautifully.

    On a more personal level, I realized last night that Apple brought my boyfriend and I together as silly as it sounds. He was a Genius and I’d bugged him every class for two semesters to fix my MacBook Pro. I finally invited him over to fix it as an excuse to spend time with him, still not sure if he was interested in me. That night we had our first kiss.

    Thanks for everything, Steve!

  • Reply maria October 6, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    I’m still without words- but thanks for putting this here. The world has less luster when we lose someone of this caliber.

  • Reply Shashi October 6, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    I was fortunate enough to go to an elementary school that was very forward thinking . We had a whole computer lab of mackintoshes, which was rare as the 1984 model had just come out. We learned to use these computers by playing this game I vaguely remember having some sort of monster aspect to it. I was hooked immediately, even winning the class computer competition. I got a certificate and everything.

    I’ve never looked back and have had a mac every since. They are a part of childhood, my work, and my future.

  • Reply Katie I KCandCoBlog October 6, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Inventor, Business Man, American Icon. He will be incredibly missed!

  • Reply Ticara October 6, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    I’m not a huge fan of Apple products. We’ve gone over this a few times; I’m staunchly Team Android. However, I’ve always recognized that Steve Jobs was a brilliant person which a ridiculous amount of talent, creativity and drive. Without his incentives to bring the future into present day, there likely wouldn’t even be an Android OS for me to fangirl over.

    My first mp3 player was an iPod Shuffle and I loved it to death. I would STILL love it to death, if I could find the darn thing. If nothing else, Apple products last an obscenely long time. The death of any person is something to be mourned, and the world will be reeling from this one for some time to come.

  • Reply The Countess of Nassau County October 6, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    My office was filled with PCs, my husbands office is filled with PCs, so it won’t shock you all when I tell you that our home computer is …. a PC.

    Yet Steve Jobs still managed to transform my life in a way I could never have imagined, and for which I am forever grateful.

    I was going to be an opera singer. I dedicated my young life to that single goal. When I was 19 I scarred my vocal chords and was left without a dream. I didn’t cry, I didn’t have a nervous breakdown. I simply left for college to study nursing, not music as I’d planned, and completely severed any and all connection I’d had to all that wonderful music I’d sung my whole life.

    Years later my husband got me an iPod, the white 4GB. He thought I’d like listening to it during my commute. There sitting on iTunes was all the amazing music I’d so loved singing but had avoided for almost 20 years. Mr. Jobs reunited me with a long lost and much loved part of myself, one song at a time.

  • Reply Gracie October 6, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    I cried on the bus this morning reading articles about him (on my iphone), I not sure why, I was kind of embarrassed, I’m a cry baby anyway.

    I love my apple products, appreciate their form/function/feel and wouldn’t be without them. He said his products were art meeting technology, that sums it up for me.

  • Reply Alican October 6, 2011 at 8:19 pm

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  • Reply Gladys Garcia October 6, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    thankyou steve for what you have given to the world, may your trip in heavan will be greater than your succes and loved by many goodbye thankyou again from Gladys with all my respect

  • Reply Elizabeth October 6, 2011 at 10:22 pm

    I saw Job’s ’05 Stanford commencement speech live and in person (my cousin was graduating that day.) It was amazing at the time, and has continues to be an amazing speech to read and re-read in the years since.

    I run my business entirely on Apple products, and always will. We lost a great mind yesterday, but his legacy will live on for years and years to come.

  • Reply Karen October 7, 2011 at 12:20 am

    In the early 90s, Steve Jobs visited my high school and personally donated Macintosh computers. I am forever grateful.

  • Reply Jade October 7, 2011 at 6:05 am

    We have lost an incredible man. Rest in peace – Steve Jobs. He truly made such an impact on many people all over the world.

  • Reply Fiona October 7, 2011 at 7:21 am

    I couldn’t even talk about Steve Jobs’ death yesterday. He will be remembered as the Da Vinci, the Darwin, the Beethoven of his day. The digital revolution would have happened without Apple but wouldn’t have had the same impact for design.

    My 1989 summer between school and college was spent in the creative department of a big advertising agency, mostly behind the curtain of the enlarger camera – photocopy from the letraset catalogue, zoom up, focus, zoom down, focus, painstakingly trace typeforms. There were macs as well as bromide cameras and art desks in the mysterious finished art department, I didn’t know what they were for, presentations to clients were always pantone marker roughs.

    In college our typography teacher had spent the first years of his apprenticeship in Amsterdam learning to typeset at speed, taking tiny metal letterforms with tweezers and placing them in sentence-long brackets. The college had just filled a room with Macs that summer but computer studies weren’t on the curriculum yet. Of course most of us were up there at breaktime trying to figure out Aldus Freehand ‘Hey guess what, you can set white type on a black background, no more bromide cameras!’ After Christmas we were taught Finished Art with a grave introduction that it was very difficult and time-consuming, and you couldn’t make a mistake. That you count up the number of words to be set, measure the column it’s to be set within, consult a thick book with pages and pages of texts set at different fonts sizes, leading, weights. We were so confused as to why this needed to be done, and went up, set our text, printed it out, came down 10 minutes later and did as instructed; counted the words, measured etc. Our teachers just looked at the typeset printouts, looked at each other and said ‘Eh, never mind.’ They told us years later they were stunned.

    Graphic design wouldn’t be the same if not for the vision of Steve Jobs, we couldn’t be as fluid, as instinctive. We certainly couldn’t be as productive. Apple Macintoshes and Adobe software took away all that time-consuming, painstaking, maddening process, process, process that had to get in the way of what was in your head and the finished thing.

    He died the same day Tomas Tranströmer won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The first line of his poem ‘After A Death’, ‘Once there was a shock // that left behind a long, shimmering comet tail // It keeps us inside. It makes the TV pictures snowy // It settles in cold drops on the telephone wires.’ http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16788 We were very lucky to have Steve Jobs.

  • Reply Melanie October 7, 2011 at 8:37 am

    I guess I’m still amazed by how sad you can be when someone you never even met passes away. But in a sense, we all knew Steve Jobs. He put everything into Apple, design, product development and in a way we interact with him every day.

    One of the many things I’ve read during these past couple of days sums it up for me – Steve Jobs humanized technology. I don’t believe you would witness the same type of public outpouring of grief if it were another founder of another company. Steve Jobs was proud of Apple and the products they developed and he made users like us proud too. He created a community around technology and he did it in a beautifully designed way. In a sense, he made art out of technology.

  • Reply Dusa October 7, 2011 at 9:02 am

    All of these comments are beautifully expressed.

  • Reply Fiona October 7, 2011 at 9:49 am

    He was a genius, no doubt. I work in the digital arena and probably wouldn’t have this kind of job, if not for Steve Jobs. He had very exacting standards.

    However, I find the canonization of Steve Jobs (in general) to be a little unsettling. People in this thread are comparing him to DaVinci and Beethoven? I could see Edison or someone like that, but he made things, not art. (I know he contributed greatly to design, but that’s different from art.)

    I just wonder if it’s a reflection on a materialistic society that we are mourning someone who essentially made things that become quickly obsolete. I know Anna and others will argue, but I just feel like it’s an important point to consider.

  • Reply Danielle October 7, 2011 at 10:02 am

    Steve Jobs has inspired me for years. The “Think Different” campaign came out just as I started a new job at a nonprofit, and it didn’t inspire me to buy a new computer but it sure did contribute to my work! I still watch that commercial narrated by Richard Dreyfus a few times a year or whenever I need that boost of inspiration to be awesome. I own several Apple products and love them all, but none as much as I love Steve Jobs. After spending the evening before last reading all about Steve on the Internet, I got teary-eyed setting my Macbook to sleep.

  • Reply Kathy October 7, 2011 at 10:34 am

    I guess deep down I feel such a deep sense of loss not just because he brought us the iPod, iPad, iPhone, or the like, but because he valued design and usability in such a way that he never compromised the beauty of the experience… and he succeeded… massively. In a world full of “good enough” he was a breath of fresh air and the underdog that I was always rooting for.

    It’s such an enormous loss not just from what he had accomplished to date but from all the years of innovation, perfectionism, and high expectations that were yet to come.

  • Reply Caroline October 7, 2011 at 11:07 am

    my first experience with apple was in elementary school (1983, I think) where i took a computer graphics class and we used apple IIe’s and a program called logo. i loved it so much i convinced my parents to buy one for home. it was the first of many that i’ve owned and loved.

    i feel so sad about the world’s loss of steve. most of us didn’t know him but he was a huge part of all of our lives. in the last month, i’ve lost my grandfather, aunt and my dog…and this loss feels right up there with it due to his huge impact on my life and the way he changed the world.

  • Reply Krysten October 7, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    Such an immense loss, one that I think that we will all be feeling for a long time.

  • Reply fremontfaris October 7, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    My first Apple encounter was in the first grade, 1985. Each student got to spent some solo time on the computer once a week. I think at least four classrooms shared this magical box. I was so in love with it that, once, I forwent excusing myself to the bathroom so that I wouldn’t miss my turn. Yes, first-grade-me wet her pants and faced all the consequences thereof to spend time Mac’n out. Now, my one year old daughter carries on this love. She get really disappointed when she touches the glass on art hanging around our house and the image doesn’t change like on an iPad.

  • Reply tigress October 8, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    apple is all that i have ever used, my first purchased mac was in 96. used it all through school both for papers, and for classes, some of which i was taking with students from all over the world – as far as china. as my own business grew over the last decade, so did the significance of apple in my life. i work all day on apple computers and my iphone, and i chill at night with ipad. my music listening will forever be changed by itunes, and ipod. and photography too! – iphoto, instagram on my iphone! i could go on – it has changed the way i communicate, the way i see and express beauty, the way i am interested in the world. the way i live.

    steve’s loss is as great as his contribution for those of us who never knew him personally. and even greater still, obviously, for those who did. he has changed the world in our lifetime, like ford or edison did in others. i will forever be grateful.

    (as much as words cannot express) thank you steve.

  • Reply Annie markantonatou October 10, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    I dont know what he did in his personal life. I only know that he found the most amazing gudgets and so necessary (at least for me) for everyday life/work. My mac is my baby. Too bad cancer gets all the big brains..

  • Reply Sara October 10, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Not sure if you saw this, but this is beautiful and touching:
    http://daringfireball.net/2011/10/universe_dented_grass_underfoot

  • Reply Randy at EZ Hang Door October 10, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    Steve Jobs had a philosophy about life that ensured that whatever he was doing in his, that it would be what made him happy. He had great vision and talent that would change the way the world views technology as a whole. The idea of cutting edge technology combined with a visual design that surpassed all others is something that was Steve Jobs. Regardless of your stance on Apple vs. PC or Android, the pure thoughts and beliefs that drove the creator, will forever be the most relevant.

  • Reply Danielle October 10, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    Anna, this episode of Charlie Rose is all about Steve Jobs and is quite good if you didn’t see it. http://www.hulu.com/watch/287281/charlie-rose-a-tribute-to-steve-jobs

  • Reply Anna @ D16 October 13, 2011 at 6:56 am

    This post was intended to provide a forum for people to leave their remembrances for a man who undeniably had a profound effect on how many people all over the world, whether or not you personally think his life and work mattered.

    This not, however, a place for people to pass judgement on the very real feelings of others and to intentionally try to make those who are affected by Jobs’s death feel as though their grief is not well-placed or legitimate. For that, I’m afraid, you’ll have to get your own blog.

  • Reply Ema March 9, 2012 at 8:15 am

    Tried to read some of autobiographies imagining what for a person he was in his private life…now
    every time when I enter my living room looking at a empty space where one day will [hopefully] sit mu sofa I must think of Steve and his ongoing doubts about same purchase…he left empty space in his living room because he never find his sofa…he was perfectionist…. I love and adore Apple things thanks to Steve Jobs…RiP- you will be missed!

  • Reply Badr Al Yahya June 17, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    I am a student, in high school, and I have had an iphone for nearly a year now, and after hearing the news that Steve Jobs had died I soon became really sad the he has passed away because as a student in high school this is my first apple product, an iphone, and now sometimes I just look at my iphone 4 and se the apple logo on the back and just, shed a year, because I really appreciated him as this iphone 4 has changed my life! It has been my main source of social networking, research, and where I do my homework, and I do admit I have a PC, which really sucks, mainly because I couldn’t afford a Mac… so I would just use my iphone more often 🙁

    Rest in piece
    You changed my life 🙂
    God bless you!

  • Reply Michael June 13, 2014 at 5:22 pm

    You’re a genius as far as I can tell.

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