'Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish': A tribute to Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

The recent passing of Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, has found us mourning the loss of a visionary who brought not only technology and functionality to the product design industry, but also transcended the boundary into automotive design.

Jobs succeeded in making what was at the time a foreign invention – the personal computer, a device impeded by its lack of usability – attractive to the masses by making it simpler, intuitive and essentially more functional for those who didn't hold a PhD in physics. From his previous experience with the artistic qualities of calligraphy, Jobs took a sector that was so inward looking that it risked alienating the consumer – regardless of its capability – and wrapped it up in a warm, aesthetically appealing package that could be more easily understood. In doing so, he created a design-driven company that will forever be heralded as innovative.

Since the creation of the iPhone and iPad, I have met countless designers on the auto show floors from Los Angeles to Beijing who have referenced these iconic products when outlining the reasons for the design direction, functionality and aesthetic aspiration for their vehicles. These products have featured on many a mood board in every automaker's design studio. We can see the design influence of Apple's products on numerous interface designs on recent vehicles and, along with it, a new level of perceived quality as desired by customers in the marketplace has emerged.

It has been said that Jobs never sought the approval of marketers and clinics in creating the current crop of Apple products. He merely saw a need for them, and created them based on his self-proclaimed understanding of what the customer wanted. But these contemporary devices would never have seen the light of day without the decisive action of Jonathan Ive, Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple, and the man behind the designs of the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

The intuitive, design-centric products were not only a great success for Apple as a company – they were used as the benchmark against which every competitor would measure their own products – but were also extremely influential in forming a new echelon for aesthetics in the design industry in general, which all designers aspired to emulate.

Jobs' creative genius and attention to detail will be forever heralded as a turning point in design, whereby technology and aesthetics were so brilliantly integrated that they instilled value within the product that few others have. Bestowing the title of ‘the Edison of our generation' upon Steve Jobs is not off the mark.

By Eric Gallina