New Photo Book Tells the Story of Design at Apple

CUPERTINO, California — November 15, 2016 — Apple® today announced the release of a new hardbound book chronicling 20 years of Apple’s design, expressed through 450 photographs of past and current Apple products. "Designed by Apple in California," which covers products from 1998’s iMac® to 2015’s Apple Pencil®, also documents the materials and techniques used by Apple’s design team over two decades of innovation.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs.

“The idea of genuinely trying to make something great for humanity was Steve’s motivation from the beginning, and it remains both our ideal and our goal as Apple looks to the future,” said Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer. “This archive is intended to be a gentle gathering of many of the products the team has designed over the years. We hope it brings some understanding to how and why they exist, while serving as a resource for students of all design disciplines.”

The products in this book are the result of a profoundly close collaboration between many different groups. Shot by photographer Andrew Zuckerman in a deliberately spare style, the book’s 450 images illustrate Apple’s design process as well as its finished products.

In the book’s foreword, Ive explains:

While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the creative process, or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that, ironically, describes who we are. It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations, and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we say.

We strive, with varying degrees of success, to define objects that appear effortless. Objects that appear so simple, coherent, and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative.

"Designed by Apple in California" is available in two sizes and printed on specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight color separations and low-ghost ink. This linen-bound, hardcover volume was developed over an eight-year period. It is published by Apple.

Pricing & Availability

"Designed by Apple in California" will be available beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, November 16, in small (10.20” x 12.75”) at $199 (US) and large (13” x 16.25”) at $299 (US) exclusively from Apple.com in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the UK and the US, and select Apple Stores.*

The book is on display at the Apple Stores where it is sold.

*"Designed by Apple in California" is available at the following Apple retail locations: Apple Regent Street and Apple Covent Garden in London; Apple Opera in Paris; Apple Kurfürstendamm in Berlin; Apple ifc mall and Apple Canton Road in Hong Kong; Apple Ginza in Tokyo; and Apple Sydney.

In the United States: Apple SoHo, Apple Fifth Avenue, Apple Upper East Side, Apple Williamsburg and Apple World Trade Center in New York; Apple The Grove in Los Angeles and Apple Third Street in Santa Monica; Apple North Michigan Avenue and Apple Lincoln Road in Chicago; Apple Northpark in Dallas; Apple Union Square in San Francisco; Apple Palo Alto and Apple Infinite Loop in Cupertino.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.