Welcome
Welcome to my faculty Website at MiraCosta College. It is here that you will find information about the classes that I teach, as well as resources on graphic design and Web development.
My goal is to give students a foundation in design principles, creative thinking and conceptual problem solving techniques in order to integrate them with the technology of electronic media so that they may generate ideas and concepts for communication programs. Graphic design is a form of communication which combines words and images into messages that are visually attractive, connect with people on intellectual and emotional levels, and provide them with relevant information. As a result, graphic design identifies problems, provides instruction, clarifies information, and convinces viewers to do something. Students will learn to create intelligent and thought provoking designs in order to communicate complex ideas in a simple and effective manner. It is my hope that with these skills, students will contribute to the cultural force of visual communication through their singular vision of design.
Gregory Kelley, MA
MiraCosta College, Associate Faculty
Media Arts & Technologies Department
Typography
Berthold Akzidenz-Grotesk was Wolfgang Weingart’s preferred typeface when he started as a student at the Basel School of Design. Perhaps he chose the face to distinguish himself from his teacher, Emil Ruder, whose preference was for Univers. Perhaps he selected it because as an apprentice he had dropped a case of Berthold Akzidenz-Grotesk 6-point metal type, and the task of sorting it out, inspired one of his first typographic experiments.
His initial accident led to many other experiments, and Weingart has been deeply influential in both Europe and the U.S. as an artist, typographer, and teacher. Though based in Europe, Weingart’s teachings have reached the U.S. through pupils such as April Greiman and admirers like Paul Rand. Weingart was born in Germany in 1941 but has studied, worked and taught since the 1960s in Basel, a cultural crossroads of a city in the northern corner of Switzerland bordering both Germany and France. His career spans the four most transformative decades in the history of typography and graphic design. Trained in the last days of the handset type and letterpress printing, Weingart also worked during the transition to phototypesetting and offset lithography, and on into the digital era of the present day.
Graphic Design
It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of Knoll to the history of contemporary design. The company’s iconic furniture, striking graphics and innovative business practices not only defined the physical image of postwar corporate America, they helped to secure the nation’s role as the new leader in the international design arena. Design is the driving force that is behind every aspect of Knoll. The company is unique in that every piece of Knoll manufactured furniture represents the genius of an independent designer who collaborates with the Knoll development department.
The total Knoll environment is a purposeful, tightly organized graphic statement, from sales center architecture, to advertisements, catalogs, price lists and brochures. Since the early 1950s Knoll’s reputation for graphic design has been as impressive as its reputation for furniture. Hans and Florence Knoll were the first to understand the correlation between contemporary furniture and fine graphic design, and Knoll has been a trailblazer in this regard, from Herbert Matter’s fantasy ads for the Bertoia chairs to Massimo Vignelli’s stylishly elegant identity systems. Once, striking print design was Knoll’s exclusive innovation, now it is the industry standard.
