By now many of you have heard that Steve Jobs has passed away. When I heard this, I felt incredibly sad. If there was one individual who could justifiably be referred to as a towering genius of our time, it was he.
What amazed me about him wasn’t so much his influence on technology (which of course was transformative and profound) but his influence on design. I remember thinking, in 1998, right after Monsters Inc came out just as Apple was launching the first iMac, that here were two design interventions that were simultaneously dominating our cultural landscape: A completely new way of thinking about the look of animation (together with the equally visually daring Toy Story), and a completely new way of thinking about the look of computers.
Visually, they were both sending the same message: Sophisticated and elegant, yet also joyful and childlike. These designs charmed children while, at the same time, inviting adults to indulge their own inner child, to enter a world of highly self-aware playfulness.
And of course both companies, Pixar and Apple, had something else in common — their CEO, Steve Jobs.
In no time this playful-yet-sophisticated, endearingly retro-futuristic aesthetic seemed to be everywhere. Volkswagen launched their reimagined Beetle — a car that might as well have jumped out of a Pixar film. Even the U.S. Mint got on the bandwagon. Our newly revamped paper money, with its large sans-serif numerals within simple ovals, seemed like something that Apple could have designed.
And of course about a year later, the famous Google logo appeared, continuing this theme of “playful, yet grown-up and elegant” as a new visual identity for the internet. After almost two decades of darkness, the public’s idea of “What the future looks like” had finally been wrested from the dystopian vision of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, and replaced by something far more hopeful and filled with joy.
In a sense, what Steve Jobs had wrought was a bridge from the baby boomers to the generations that followed — a way to allow older consumers of culture to tap into their nostalgic childhood memories of The Jetsons, or even Playskool, while inviting newer generations to join in the fun.
There are many critical things that one could say about Steve Jobs. Yet he has undeniably brought us a world of visual pleasure. Apple’s iMac, iPhone, iPad and other innovative designs have not only changed the way we think about information — they have helped remind us that “the future” can be a place of optimism and delight.
RIP Mr Steve Jobs.
“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. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA
Ah, beautiful! Thanks so much for posting this.