In 1984, Robert Brunner founded Lunar Design, Inc., a product design firm based in Palo Alto, California specializing in the design and development of new product ideas within the high technology industry. In the five years he was associated with Lunar, the firm developed an international reputation as a design leader. Prior to the formation of Lunar, Brunner was a founding principal of Interform (1983-84), a product design consulting firm located in Menlo Park, California. Robert worked as a project manager with the consulting firm GVO Inc. from 1980 to 1983, and he began his career as a human factors specialist at Sunnyvale-based Electromagnetic Systems Laboratories (ESL) in 1979.
In November of 1989, Robert accepted the position of Director of Industrial Design at Apple Computer, Inc. In his position at Apple, he was responsible for development and implementation of future design strategies, design and design direction, group and program management, and development of Apple design standards. In 1991 he founded Apple IDg, an independent internal design group providing design solutions and new product ideas for Apple’s R&D organization. Apple IDg has been considered one of the top design organizations in the world and continues its leadership position today.
In January of 1996, Robert joined Pentagram Design, Inc. as a partner in the company’s San Francisco office. In San Francisco, Robert manages a team of industrial designers, graphic designers, interaction designers, programmers, CAD specialists and model makers and focuses on development of design strategy and creation of new product concepts. His clients include Nike, Microsoft, Motorola, Dell, Samsung, SGI, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, Logitech, Toshiba, Timex, Polaroid, Sonic Blue, United Airlines and many Silicon Valley start up enterprises.
This summer, Robert Brunner will open a new product design and development consultancy called “Ammunition” to offer client-based design consulting services, as well as consumer oriented product and brand development projects done in partnership with other businesses. He will resign his position as Pentagram partner in July to take ON his new role as CEO of Ammunition, bringing his accomplished product design team with him to the new venture.
Based in San Francisco, CA, and Padova, Italy, Ammunition will tap into modern lifestyle trends and identify upcoming opportunities in the marketplace. With this new approach to working, Ammunition will influence all areas of the product experience, while defining brands through high concept industrial design. In-keeping with Brunner’s long-standing reputation of creating iconic products, Ammunition will have the capability to consistently develop products that are highly desirable and driven by a strong sense of fashion, lifestyle and innovation.
Robert's work has been widely published and received acclaim in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. His product designs have won 23 IDSA Awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America and Business Week, including 6 best of category awards. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in both New York and San Francisco.
