Hong Kong student's Apple tribute is Internet hit

Jonathan Mak, a student at the Polytechnic University, poses with his laptop showing his self-designed logo in tribute of Apple founder Steve Jobs in Hong Kong on October 7, 2011

A Hong Kong design student said Friday he was overwhelmed and "flattered" after his sombre logo in tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs caused a worldwide Internet sensation.

The design, featuring Jobs's silhouette incorporated into the bite of a white Apple logo on a black background, has gone viral on the Internet since news of his death.

"I feel so unreal," Jonathan Mak, a second year graphic design student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told AFP, after he was inundated with hundreds of emails and messages on his Twitter account.

The 19-year-old said he had received queries from newspapers in the United States and Germany about buying the copyright to use his logo and had been offered jobs after it spread like wildfire on the Internet.

"I am flattered by the attention but I would like to focus on my study before taking on any full-time job," said the bespectacled student, adding that he was trying to cope with his new-found fame.

"I'm quite busy now actually as I'm trying to finish a school project," he said.

When asked about whether he would be targeting commercial opportunities, Mak said he was considering contacting Apple on copyright issues because his design is based on Apple's own logo.

Some merchandisers have reportedly used his logo for commemorative memorabilia for Jobs such as t-shirts and caps that are being sold on the Internet.

"I will consider using any proceeds I make from the copyright for cancer research, as suggested by some people to me on the Internet," he said. Jobs died at 56 of pancreatic cancer.

Mak said he first came up with the design after Jobs announced his resignation in late August, but the logo received little attention at the time.

The teenager said the Apple founder had inspired him in his design.

"He was a minimalist, which is the way I would like to emphasise in my design -- fewer elements but a powerful message."

"Steve Jobs strongly believed in his own ideas and continued with his beliefs no matter how people criticised him. He was courageous," said Mak.