There are certain people who have an impact on your life. The way you think. The ones you aspire to be. The ones who inspire you.

For me, Steve Jobs was always one of those people. From the age of six, we had a Macintosh in the house for my mum’s job. It was a favourite in the Haslam household. My mum would say for years after – when we started getting Windows computers – that the ease of using it was the reason she kept it in her office up until 2004. My parents still have it in the loft.

The products that Apple came out with upon Steve’s return would go on to shape the way I viewed good design, marketing and ease of use. They took the ugly beige box and turned it into something beautiful. They took the MP3 and turned it into an industry changing device. They helped to turn digital music into a legal operation. They revolutionised the mobile industry, showing the world that ease of use and good design matter. They help us to connect with the devices we use.

Steve’s stubbornness, sheer determination and genius have grown and changed whole industries. His marketing prowess showed the power of a brand. I’m sure my lecturers at university got sick and tired of reading endless essays about the ways in which Apple did its advertising and PR. They made the best case study to focus on. Steve, and the people he chose to work with, took an ailing company and turned it into the world’s most successful brand.

In our lifetimes, there are very few people who have such a single impact on our lives. Like Eve and Isaac Newton, Steve Jobs used the Apple to change things. Every time I sit down in front of my iMac and see the design and the logo, it fills me with excitement. I get the same feeling every time I walk across Hungerford Bridge and look out over the skyline of London.

Many of you will have watched his Stanford commencement speech. It is the perfect way to remember Steve, if you haven’t seen it; I implore you to take a look.

The legend will be greatly missed.

By Robert Haslam