Mike Macadaan Founder and Creative Director of This Is Ground

The story behind This Is Ground is rooted in adventure and design, both of which influenced the experience of Founder & Creative Director Mike Macadaan. There was his role as a crew chief for an advertising blimp traveling from city to city, carrying an array of weird, wild blimp gear. There were also his years spent as a graphic designer, working with unwieldy tech and design tools without anywhere to easily store them. The tipping point came one day when a design friend asked Mike for a creative solution to a common problem: cords, everywhere. Having just gotten tacos from a nearby restaurant, the Cord Taco was born, and with it, This is Ground, which found its own name in Mike’s previous role as a blimp operator and an appreciation for David Bowie songs. Among other experience, Mike honed his professional credentials as VP of user experience & design for AOL Time Warner, working on product design for AOL and AIM; principal UI designer for Intuit, focused on TurboTax and SnapTax; creative director for TechTV (prior to its relaunch as G4); and a design director for Disney Interactive.