SPEAKER PAGE
Marc O'Brien turns designers into climate leaders
Co-founder of Climate Designers (5,000+ global members). Speaker at 80+ conferences, companies, and schools. Taking climate action since 2016.
About Marc
Marc O’Brien is an award-winning creative director and strategist working at the intersection of design, business, and climate.
Marc cut his teeth in social impact, partnering with communities and organizations to tackle real problems in education, health, and economic development.
From 2016–2022, he co-founded and ran The Determined, a design strategy and creative consulting studio, that launched successful sustainability and climate-forward work.
In 2019, he co-founded Climate Designers, a global community of designers taking climate action.
He co-wrote First Things First 2020, a manifesto challenging designers to step up as climate leaders.
Marc is Senior Adjunct faculty at California College of the Arts, teaching climate design and social innovation.
When not working, he’s trail running, camping, riding his bamboo bike around San Francisco, and leveling up his knowledge in emergency preparedness.
Résumé
Speaker Topics & Expertise
Marc speaks on a range of topics that combines his design expertise (strategic design, creative direction, interaction design, and graphic design) with climate knowledge (science, solutions, policy, systems thinking) to deliver presentations that inspire and motivate designers and others to take action.
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Design caused our climate breakdown. It can also help build a new, regenerative world.
This talk makes the case that designers aren't on the sidelines of the climate crisis, they're at the center of it, whether they know it or not.
Audiences leave with a clear understanding of the leverage points where design decisions actually matter.
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It’s a mindset shift. Period.
Marc unpacks what it actually means to put climate at the center of your design practice without burning your portfolio to the ground or starting over.
Audiences leave with a concrete framework for integrating climate into the work they're already doing.
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Everyone has a little bit of punk rock in them. It's time to bring it out!
Marc connects the DIY ethos of punk rock to the mechanics of building climate movements, communities, and projects that actually spread.
Audiences leave with a new mental model for what grassroots climate action can look like.
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The conventional approach to climate problem-solving keeps producing conventional results.
Marc walks through the "Think Wrong" process and shows how deliberate rule-breaking generates ideas that stand out from the noise.
Audiences will be exposed to a unique creative process in development for the last two decades.
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"What are we doing? Like for real. WTF are we really doing?"
At some point the collapsing systems and the disappearing conventional paths force us to ask this question.
Marc traces the chaos, coincidences, and sliding door moments that brought him (and all of us) to this moment, challenging designers to reckon with the role their industry played in getting us here, and what it means to forge a different path.
Speaking Highlights
Marc is an experienced speaker, panelist, and moderator having presented at over 80+ conferences and schools
Keynote Speaker
- AIGA San Diego/Tijuana Portfolio Review
- AIGA San Francisco Portfolio Review Day
- Better World by Design (Opening & Closing)
Speaker
- UM Flint Sustainability Week
- IDSA Sustainability Deep Dive
- DesignEthos @ SCAD
- IDSA, Texas Chapter
- “Thinking Wrong to Do Right” (AIGA West Michigan & IDSA Houston)
Panelist/Moderator
- SF Design Week
- Sacramento Design Week
- Sustainability in Tech @ LinkedIn
- RGD’s “Future by Design”
- Climate Con 2021 (moderator)
- AIGA National Design Conference (moderator)
Companies: DesignMap, Fivetran, IBM, IDW, Media Cause, Prophet
Schools: Brown University, RISD, Maryland Institute College of Art, OTIS, UC Berkeley
Philosophy & Approach
Marc’s approach is deeply informed by combining a punk rock ethos with the Think Wrong mindset to develop unique climate ideas that stand out
Punk Rock Ethos
Marc questions norms and existing systems, fights for causes he believes in (especially climate action), and embraces the DIY ethos, seeing designers as “opportunity seekers” capable of creating projects to address systemic problems.
Think Wrong
This process is central to his creativity, helping him generate fresh approaches, break through roadblocks, and ensure impactful work that gets attention.
What Audiences Gain
Audiences gain inspiration, practical strategies, and a new perspective on how design can be a powerful force for climate action and social change.
Marc shares actionable ways designers can integrate climate-forward design decisions into their work and highlight the urgent need for creative professionals in addressing humanity’s biggest challenge.
He encourages questioning norms and finding courageous, impactful ways to contribute.