Steve Jobs

I found Jobs's speech truly inspirational. Many commencement speeches are repetitive and all of the addressers say the same things. "Always work hard, cherish those around you, and follow your dreams." While Jobs's speech did touch upon some of that, I thought that his was somehow different. It was one of the only commencement addresses I have heard that I didn't want to fall asleep during! His very personal story made what he was saying seem real and not some cliché, scripted speech. I was a little surprised that he mentioned typography during the speech. (Seriously, what non-designer credits typography as a part of their success??? A lot of people don't even know what typography is.) But after he said this and especially after watching the video about the nerds (which I got my boyfriend, Corey, to want to watch :-) ) it made sense to me why Apple was so successful. So many times, at a liberal arts school, you hear non-art majors complaining about the one art class they have to take. While this annoys me, since I have to take classes with these people, and I often feel that they are watered down because of them, Jobs proves that there really is a reason for the University of Tampa to make students take an art course (although I think this goes over the majority of those students' heads.) Jobs focused a lot on the design of the Apple. This clearly shows, since when I have the typical fight with Corey over whether Macs or PCs are better, my main argument against PCs is "But they are ugly. I can't use this." (He doesn't understand this. He claims that if they work then it doesn't matter. Pfffft.) Using my Mac is so much more pleasant, since it is visually pleasing and I can use it with ease. But I think Jobs's calligraphy course taught him even more than just design. Taking an art course teaches you how to be creative. While Apple is a computer company that needed programmers to be successful, Jobs attributed a lot of its success to the fact that many of the programmers there were also artists, musicians, etc. When programming, creativity will give you ideas that you never would have thought of. It gets you to think outside of the box (although I despise that term.) So having a team full of people who were in some way creative probably gave Apple very innovative solutions to the problems that they encountered along the way. When Jobs found himself or his company stuck in a corner, he probably let his right brain take control and come up with solutions that most people use the left brain for. When I think about his speech, I can only hope that art has also taught me how to solve those seemingly impenetrable obstacles. I hope that I have allowed my typography to influence my everyday life.