A great designer and mentor

Software developer Steve Streza displays a photograph of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs after news of Jobs' death outside the Apple Store in San Francisco, California October 5, 2011. [Photo / Agencies]

SYDNEY / PARIS - Even before he died, Steve Jobs had secured his place in the pantheon of industrial design and as one of its most influential figures of the last century.

The Mac, the iPod and iPhone, born out of his vision of marrying high technology to an elegant and simple form, are already recognized by designers as among the most iconic products of the digital age.

Creations from the founder of Apple not only changed the way people communicate, watch films, listen to music and shop on the Internet but large Mac screens and graphics-friendly Mac software also make life easier for architects, publishers, artists and fashion designers.

"One of the truly great designers and mentors," said British architect Norman Foster, known for working on major projects such as the Millennium Bridge in London, the Millau Viaduct in southern France and Swiss Re's headquarters in London.

"Steve Jobs encouraged us to develop new ways of looking at design to reflect his unique ability to weave backwards and forwards between grand strategy and the minutiae of the tiniest of internal fittings," Foster added.

The iPod, Apple's big game-changer launched a decade ago, has a special place on the wall of fame of global consumer icons, alongside the Volkswagen Beetle, the Coca-Cola bottle, the Swiss Army pocket knife or the Olivetti portable typewriter.

Every country or culture can have its own consumer design icons - Italy's Vespa motorscooter or America's Cadillac - but only relatively few go truly global and endure. Rarer still are those that change the way people do things.

"Steve Jobs has shown that breakthrough products come from taking intuitive risks, not from listening to focus groups. He was a master of semiotic design," said British industrial designer James Dyson, best known for the dual-cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner.