Education Chair

Rob’s distinguished career has seen him work with leading design companies on both sides of the Atlantic. He began his career at Mytton Williams in Bath, working on projects for Clarks Shoes, Arthur Anderson and Footprint Handbooks. In 2000 Rob joined Pentagram’s London office, where he worked with clients such as Egon Zehnder International, One&Only Resorts and The Waterways Trust. Taking full advantage of their international profile, he joined Pentagram’s San Francisco office in 2003. As senior designer he worked with a range of clients including Microsoft, San Francisco Opera and the AIGA. In 2007 he joined Apple as an Art Director on their events and retail team, working on large graphics for events and promotional campaigns.

In 2008 he established his own studio, Rob Duncan Design. Based in San Francisco, he has built an impressive portfolio of work, with a range of projects for clients including Gap, Piperlime, Kodak and HP. Rob joined forces with John Dowling in 2010 and runs the San Francisco and New York office of Dowling Duncan.

Rob’s work has been widely published in design press and books. He has also received awards from D&AD, the Scottish Design Awards, the Art Directors Club of New York, AIGA, Graphis, Communications Arts, and received a prestigious gold medal from the New York Festivals Award.

As Education Chair Rob hopes to introduce new ways in which students and educators can participate in and learn from what is going on in the wider ‘world’ of design. Having spent a large amount of time working in the UK and also San Francisco, the West Coast can feel somewhat isolated. Rob will use his considerable contacts from the UK, Europe and around the world to help introduce and demonstrate different ways of thinking about and approaching design.