Meet the TBWA/Chiat/Day’s Media Arts Lab. They design the advertising for one of the most design-obsessed and ubiquitous brands on the planet: Apple Computer. SOMA visited a few members of the team around their Los Angeles office. 1 If you could redesign an everyday object, what would it be?
2 What is your favorite product or object that you own? 3 Why is design important? 4 Who is your all-time favorite designer? 5 Favorite type of design?

Meghann Haven, Account Supervisor
1 My teensy, dark apartment. I would redesign it to be a large, airy, modern, minimalist loft. 2 My Mac. Without it, I’m a lost soul. 3 Design, at the shallowest level, piques your interest and draws you to an object from afar. And it’s what holds your interest in that object, keeping you entranced by aesthetic beauty and proving itself relevant through functionality. 4 Alexander McQueen, he’s unafraid of public scrutiny and tells it like it is. 5 Fashion

David Taylor, Creative Content
1 The dollar bill. 2 Apple computer. 3 It brings an
expanded awareness to everyday experiences.
It enriches people’s lives, adds imagination to
utility. It’s not important – it’s vital. 4 Mother Nature.
5 Imaginative design – in any field.

Marni Cohler, Art Producer
2 The bobby pin. 3 Besides being aesthetically pleasing, good design incorporates form and function 4 Jonathon Adler and Zac Posen. 5 Furniture and fashion.

Eric Grunbaum, Creative Director
1 The freeway interchange at the I-110 and I-101 freeways. It’s terrible. 2 5-foot, 10-inch Channel Island CI Fish surfboard. 3 Design is directly responsible for making our human experience better, or worse. Good design tells me somebody cares. 4 Charles and Ray Eames. John Lautner. Rudolf Uhlenhaut (designer/engineer of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing). 5 The good kind.

Maria Erickson, Account Executive
1 Airplane seats. They really weren’t made for short people 2 My Mac PowerBook – my life is in there, and without it I’d be lost. 3 A stark and boring space can feel depressing and blah. But a space that’s beautiful and vibrant can be really inspiring, makes you feel good every time you walk into the room. Design can ignite creativity, and turns the everyday into something extraordinary. 4 Antonio Gaudí. His works in Barcelona are my favorites. 5 Architecture.

Nathan Iverson, Interactive Art Director
1 The baby stroller. 2 My fixed-gear bike. 3 Balance. 4 Mother Nature. 5 Automotive.

James, President of Media Arts Lab
1 A classic razor that has a simple form that isn’t trying to tell me how many stupid blades it’s got. 2 The Bodum frother for making cappuccino milk just right. Unbelievably simple and single-minded in its design and purpose. 3 So much created around us seems to be so ugly. Design can make you smile when it ignores the irrelevant and sticks to a super-simple truth of what it does. 4 Jony Ive at Apple. We have the pleasure of working with Jony and trying to make ads that in some way live up to the unbelievably intuitive and simple stuff he creates. 5 Simple, elegant and intuitive. Something that finds a form that comes out of its basic function, with an authenticity and integrity to it