John founded McCulley Design Lab in 1988 with the vision to integrate the disciplines of Interiors, Architecture and Graphic Design into an integrated creative studio for progressive clients.
John has played a multidisciplinary role in the development of strategic planning and brand creation for such clients as Amtrak, Bank One, Burnham Real Estate, California Bank & Trust, Capstone Advisors, The City of Carlsbad, The City of Del Mar, Cox Communications, Four Seasons Resorts, Hewlett-Packard, Hilton, IBM, La Jolla Playhouse, Pinarello, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Sony, Time Warner, West Wireless Health Institute, and the University of California San Diego.
McCulley also consults in the custom design of Residential Interiors and Architecture. Project locations include Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla, Del Mar, Palm Springs, Telluride, Columbus and Los Angeles.
McCulley has received national and international awards of recognition for excellence in design from the American Institute of Architects, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Columbus Society of Communicating Arts, International Design (ID) Magazine Annual Review, Institute of Business Designers, Industrial Designers Society of America, San Diego Architectural Foundation, San Diego Communicating Arts, and the Society of Experiential Design.
His designs have appeared in such prominent publications as American Banking Association Journal, Architecture, Architectural Record, The Architectural Review, The Architecture of Stations and Terminals, Computers in Banking, Contract Magazine, Designing Corporate Identity, Identity Magazine, ID Magazine, Interiors Magazine, Midcentury Home, Progressive Architecture, Rob Wellington Quigley: Buildings + Projects, San Diego Home & Garden, VM+SD, and Visual Merchandising 3.
Prior to founding McCulley Design Lab, John established and directed the award winning Retail Environments Resource at Fitch RichardsonSmith, an international product and retail design firm with offices in London, Columbus and Boston. While at Fitch, John was the Retail Design Principal in charge of next generation brand, interior and product initiatives.
As a Design Professor McCulley received a variety of research and academic awards while teaching Product Design, Graphic Design and Interior Design at The Ohio State University, Montana State University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.
John served on the Board of Directors for the La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club, Downtown San Diego Partnership, Boys and Girls Clubs of San Dieguito, and as Vice President and member of the Board of Directors for the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society. McCulley also served as Chairperson on the City of Del Mar’s Design Review Board.
McCulley holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design and a Masters of Fine Arts in Japanese Design and Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.
