When I was five years old, I touched an Apple IIe for the first time and it changed my life. It made me fall in love with technology. And years later when I first used a Macintosh, I fell in love with design. For a shy, middle class kid growing up in suburban Alabama, the possibility of me growing up to become a technologist and designer was remote. But Apple’s example of good design and good taste inspired me to learn about subjects for which I had no teachers. And it’s where I came to appreciate the way design can dissolve the barrier between people and technology that they instinctively fear.

Every designer of my generation owes Steve Jobs a huge debt, one we can repay by creating work that would have withstood his intense scrutiny. Though I never worked for him, I’ve applied that test to my work throughout my career, and it’s one I’ll continue to use as long as these hands are still designing.