Tributes left at the Cardiff St Davids Apple store. Thanks to @craigstrong for the pictures.

I have never cried over the death of a celebrity, or someone I have never met previous to October 5th 2011 and I would be suprised if I did again. I was sat on the floor browsing Twitter on my MacBook when I saw Tweets begin to flood in, stating Steve Jobs had passed away. When Steve Jobs retired from Apple earlier in the year, I had hoped it was to relax and concentrate on his health and family, rather him being terminally ill. Despite knowing he had been seriously ill, the news of his death came as a shock. There was a sense that the events unfolding would make history and that  we had been lucky to live through and be a part of it.

The world paid tribute, with heartfelt messages from celebrities and those who had personally known Jobs, being left across social networking sites. As with any notable deaths of the previous few years, Twitter became an eerie and emotional place, a feed of little other than messages of condolences, shock and sadness. The difference this time though was the raw emotion expressed by so many, most of which who had never met Steve Jobs. Twitter apparently struggled to keep up with the load in the early hours of that morning, millions of messages pouring in from the very devices he created, as Obama stated: “and there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented“.

I read through the messages in my Twitter feed; other designers, developers and creatives of all kinds passionately thanking him for the impact he had on their lives and careers. He is one of the greatest innovators of our time and he will no doubt be remembered for this, for as long as people are talking about technology.

It made me think about the effect he has had on my career and subsequently my life. As he himself said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle“.

I have been enamoured with computers and the internet since I was ten years old. I’ve been experimenting with HTML since I was eleven and working in the web industry since I was seventeen. It’s a huge part of my life and goes so much further than just being a job. I consider myself to be one of the lucky few who get to do what they love for a living. From the outside looking in, people think I ‘do something with computers’, I imagine people assume it’s quite geeky, technical and boring. From the inside of the thriving web community, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve been constantly engaged by the quick paced, ever changing technologies we use and I’ve been able to learn about them from others doing the same. The internet makes so much possible, but what drives web development and design in my opinion is the community and people involved in it. It continuously evolves and changes, growing and thriving, pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve further and further. So much has changed in just ten years, it’s almost unrecognisable.

I consider Steve Jobs to be one of the key people who set that pace. He showed us you can pursue a dream and turn it into something amazing, from nothing. He taught us to never settle, to continue to innovate, design and imagine. He changed the way we consume content and information forever. He created the very machines we physically work on and the devices we communicate with daily. He changed the world as we know it.

Apple is one of the most iconic brands in the world, everything from the products they sell to the way in which they sell them has been meticulously thought out and designed. Knowing what humble beginnings it came from reminds anyone with a business, big or small, that anything is possible. In a time of global economic crisis, designers, developers and creatives all over the world are continuing to earn a living. From freelancers to big agencies, I think we have a lot to be proud of and in the face of difficult times can remember the famous quote from 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… 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.”

Losing a life to cancer is tragic and sadly something which effects so many of us. It is no doubt going to be someone of a similar mindset, drive and passion to him, one of the crazy ones, that will one day find a cure for it.

RIP Steve.