Kevin Milden

Experience

Apple

Interface Designer 2012 - Present (over 14 years)

I am a human interface designer that works on features across Developer Tools, Platforms, System Applications, Device Management, Enterprise, and Education.

Robin for Mac

Founder, Designer 2011 (11 months)

In early 2011, I published Sound Stage, a Mac app that allowed you to record the use of your app and post it to YouTube. I would give away copies to people online and learned... more

Lookout

Consultant, Designer 2009 - 2011 (over 2 years)

I worked for Lookout in its very early stages through a recommendation of my design group, New Leaders. My firm helped John and Kevin design the first version of the Android... more

New Leaders

Founder, CEO, Designer 2007 - 2012 (about 5 years)

In 2007, I co-founded New Leaders, a design and development firm that specialized in Web, Desktop and Mobile Apps. The company that began in my home office grew to over 1... more

Exit

Appfolio

Consultant, Designer 2006 - 2007 (about 1 year)

Between Medium and New Leaders I provided design consulting around Santa Barbara. Klaus and John approached me about a new startup idea they had been working on in the property... more

Exit

Writely

Consultant, Designer 2005 - 2006 (about 1 year)

Sam reached out to me by clicking my email address on a Signals vs. Noise blog post around 2005. He said that we shared similar thoughts about the concurrent editing of web... more

Exit

Medium Footwear

Founder, Executive Producer 2003 - 2006 (about 3 years)

Founded in 2003, MEDIUM was a group of individual designers designing footwear and accessories that appeal to the Creative Class. The design team included — Eric Meyer, Coleman... more

Founder

RightCart, New Leaders, Sound Stage, Medium Footwear, Robin for Mac

Employee

Lookout, Apple, Writely, Appfolio

Projects

What's new in managing Apple devices

New MDM capabilities iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, and Mac.

Presenter, Product Designer, Mobile Device Management · We've made significant strides in bringing crucial device management features to macOS.… · More

About

Achievements

Coined "The Web Word Processor" which became the #1 way people found Writely (which became Google Docs). Featured in video commercial for Abobe Creative Suite. Sold Medium to Pentland. Early investor and designer of AppFolio (APPF) which went public. Featured on Apple's website for best new web apps twice. Started New Leaders in my bedroom and grew it to $1M+ in revenue. Created one of the first web based Twitter clients for the iPhone. Designed the first version of Lookout for Android. Sound Stage was #1 Mac App in Developer Tools opening day in the Mac App Store. Raven was considered one of the best Mac apps of 2011. Helped design Xcode 5-10. Designed countless apps and features for Apple. Worked on "State of the Union" and "What's New in Xcode" WWDC presentations.

Describe the most impressive thing you've done.

Skills

User Interface Design Strategy Customer Development Product Development Desktop Software Design iOS Development User Experience Design Adobe Photoshop Branding Mobile Application Design Keynote Presentation Design Storytelling Apple

Locations

Silicon Valley San Francisco Santa Barbara Santa Clara San Jose Los Angeles Orange County

Q&A

What's the most useful business-related book you've ever read?

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown

What's your favorite non-business book?

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: The Japanese Art, by Marie Kondo

If money were not an issue, what would you be doing right now?

Sitting on AngelList filling out stupid forms.

What's the most creative thing you've ever done?

Sorry, can't say.

Which founders or startups do you most admire?

Steve Jobs, Apple. Elon Musk, Tesla. Jack Dorsey, Square. Tony Fadell, Nest. Jason Fried, Basecamp. James Dyson, Dyson.

What's your super power?

Keynote

What words of wisdom do you live by?

If we succeed we do so together.

What aspects of your work are you most passionate about?

Removing unnecessary abstractions and ambiguity from software development. More time needs be invested into developing, testing, and living on prototypes instead of executing pixel perfect non-functional design comprehensives.

What's something you wish you had done years earlier?

When Instagram was just getting started they asked if my company would help them for free, and we decided we were too busy with paying clients. Help everyone you can because it is hard to tell that “burbn” will become the next big thing.

What's an obstacle you've overcome?

Dyslexics struggle to decode the written word, but they often excel in such areas of reasoning as such mechanical, interconnected, narrative, and dynamic. Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albert Einstein are all dyslexic.

Kevin Milden

Human Interface Designer at Apple.