Creative Selection

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by Ken Kocienda

An insider's account of Apple's creative process during the golden years of Steve Jobs.

Hundreds of millions of people use Apple products every day; several thousand work on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California; but only a handful sit at the drawing board. Creative Selection recounts the life of one of the few who worked behind the scenes, a highly-respected software engineer who worked in the final years of the Steve Jobs era―the Golden Age of Apple.

Ken Kocienda offers an inside look at Apple’s creative process. For fifteen years, he was on the ground floor of the company as a specialist, directly responsible for experimenting with novel user interface concepts and writing powerful, easy-to-use software for products including the iPhone, the iPad, and the Safari web browser. His stories explain the symbiotic relationship between software and product development for those who have never dreamed of programming a computer, and reveal what it was like to work on the cutting edge of technology at one of the world's most admired companies.

Kocienda shares moments of struggle and success, crisis and collaboration, illuminating each with lessons learned over his Apple career. He introduces the essential elements of innovation―inspiration, collaboration, craft, diligence, decisiveness, taste, and empathy―and uses these as a lens through which to understand productive work culture.

An insider's tale of creativity and innovation at Apple, Creative Selection shows readers how a small group of people developed an evolutionary design model, and how they used this methodology to make groundbreaking and intuitive software which countless millions use every day.

Our thoughts on Creative Selection

After Steve Jobs left Apple, the world wondered how the company would continue to make great products. Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda is the rare remarkable insider’s story that reveals how Jobs and the design team utilised a Darwinian approach to ideation and creativity. Apple's processes are worth studying—they've created some of the most profitable products of all time.

Creative Selection is a fascinating insight into the design thinking behind Apple's creative powerhouse. It will inspire you to think differently about your design process from the teams that changed the user experience of entire industries.

Our favourite quote from Creative Selection

Taste is developing a refined sense of judgment and finding the balance that produces a pleasing and integrated whole.

Book Summary

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Taste is developing a refined sense of judgment and finding the balance that produces a pleasing and integrated whole.

— Ken Kocienda, Creative Selection