Michel de Boer was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts and Higher Technologies in Rotterdam. He worked for two years as an independent designer. In 1980 he became a full-time member of the Studio Dumbar team of designers and in 1989 he became creative managing partner. Within Studio Dumbar Michel de Boer is fully responsible for creative output. He has worked for many clients around the world on projects that require international implementation in the commercial service sector, for non-profit organizations and the public sector. Michel de Boer has won many awards, amongst them two prestigious D&AD Golden and seven Silver Awards. He has been tutor to the design department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Den Bosch and has been a professor of design at IUAV University in Venice, Italy, since September 2004. He was the driving force of the start-up of Dumbar Branding, a new joint venture in Shanghai, which was established in late 2005.