Exploring Apple's Creative Process During the Steve Jobs Era: An Inside Look at the Golden Age of Design

Josh Ferrara: I bought this one when it was released a few years ago, not because I knew the author at the time (I didn't), but because a number of pundits that I respected spoke highly of Ken and his way of sharing a window in to Jobs-era Apple.

In the time since then, I've following the author and his latest writings and work, so I decided to dive in this weekend, and I’m glad I did.

I’m an Apple fan, and I've followed the author for 2 years as he's shared tidbits from his story on social media, so although there were more than a few stories that I was familiar with, his way of sharing context was still a lot of fun.

What I didn't realize when I jumped in was that I'd also be given a systematized approach to understanding how Apple approached their new products. That was a nice surprise, and I'll definitely be taking a few ideas into my product work.

All in all it was a solid read. Not groundbreaking insights, but a great window into a world that is so fascinating to me. If you're into tech, or Apple, or even Jobs, this is an easy one to dive into and I’m sure you'll enjoy it.

United States on May 15, 2023

Ignacio Carretero Molero: A veces profundiza en exceso en temas técnicos, pero en general aporta mucha información interesante y reveladora sobre cómo trabajaba el Apple de Steve Jobs y el proceso para crear grandes productos. Muy inspirador.

Spain on Mar 09, 2023

Herve Gbedji: In the book you learn way more than the history of some of Apple's defining products. You learn about why listening to employees matter, why self control and empathy are a leader's best friend. You also learn about the endless payoffs of being practical at every level of the organization. It's simply well written Ken

Canada on Aug 29, 2021

Natarajan Mahalingam: As I continued reading towards the end of the book, my iPhone's screen brightened and chimed a message - that was such a nostalgic moment as I saw Ken Kocienda and the Purple (the iPhone's project name) team in their lab working out the kinks on the software! The hard & smart work that had gone into the making of one of the most iconic technological products ever hit me hard - what we take for granted today with smartphones had an evolutionary history that Creative Selection details so well on many aspects

Ken's writing evokes shades of highly technical, philosophical, and deeply spiritual reverence to the Design methodology at Apple under Steve Jobs. If you're interested to learn how Apple produced such stellar products like Safari web browser, iPhone & iPad, etc., then look no further than Ken's book. A first person account of the entire product and project journey interspersed with Ken's vulnerable and humble writing style bring it all out in glory

Written primarily for the product development and programming crowd, there are certain chapters or sections that are highly technical, but for non-technical background readers, it's still easily digestible. In...

India on Jun 26, 2021

Gaël: L’auteur décrit de manière vivante et précise son expérience de développeur au sein d’Apple, et explicite les aspects concrets de la culture d’équipe qui ont permis de créer des produits remarquables.
Très intéressant et accessible à tous.

France on Sep 15, 2019

Brian Dunn: Creative Selection, Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, by Ken Kocienda is well written and a thoroughly enjoyable read regarding Apple’s constant reiterative demo process, where Apple creates concrete and specific demos so peers can make judgements/comments/criticisms/improvements based off actual ‘physical’ samples. Substantial work is put into each demo, similar to the way ideas are pitched at Amazon in detailed memo form, rather than simple power point presentations. Unlike Amazon memos that are polished, complete plans, Apple demos are down and dirty focusing on the specific area/item being demoed, with the background staged (potentially a Hollywood-type façade) to engross to the viewer into experiencing the demo portion as if the viewer is using the complete product. The comprehensive due diligence/research involved in creating the demo (or memo for Amazon), helps to continually refine the idea.

Concrete, specific demos allow peers to discuss the item being created in explicit detail, and offer distinct criticisms and suggestions. Ken Kocienda presents an interesting illustration of the importance of having a specific...

United States on Mar 05, 2019

Sachin Rekhi: I was excited about diving in this weekend into Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda, a new book providing a detailed look inside the design process at Apple. And Creative Selection did not disappoint. While much has been written about Steve Jobs and Apple, I found Creative Selection particularly insightful because it provided a vignette into the development of the first iPhone, and in particular, one of it's most critical features - the keyboard - from the perspective of Ken Kocienda, the software engineer ultimately responsible for developing it. Ken goes through the many challenges and subsequent iterations to address those challenges with building the first keyboard to be presented only on a glass display. And in doing so, it showcased how Apple's design and development process was different from traditional Silicon Valley companies in subtle yet incredibly important ways.

Ken distills the Apple development approach that ultimately made them successful to seven elements: inspiration, collaboration, craft, diligence, decisiveness, taste, and empathy. And he walks through what each of these elements means to him with detailed stories exemplifying each.

But I wanted...

United States on Oct 19, 2018

はろだいん: Overall, not bad. I loved the Intersections chapter, in which Ken Kocienda discusses design principles in detail. The keyboard constellation-matching algorithm, iteration from prototype to prototype, and SpringBoard touch size all provided detailed insight into Apple's design thinking and what made Purple an exciting adventure in problem-solving.

I didn't appreciate the dumbing down of programming principles. Too often, Ken Kocienda oversimplifies otherwise technically exciting concepts. For example, the "black slab encounter" reduced graphical artifacts from loading Yahoo to a single, irrelevant moniker; I wanted to know, more specifically, why the rectangle was black, and what parts of Yahoo led to the browser window showing that specific artifact. The "giggly demo" -- all demos could be called "giggly" because programmers enjoy seeing their code work for the first time -- the "candy bar" conversation, the metaphor for code as recipe books, ... There are too many situations through the book where I felt I was being talked down to, like the author didn't believe in the reader's (my) ability or curiosity to parse programming problems in my head, that I didn't have the...

Japan on Sep 15, 2018