Bob Calvano is currently the VP of Design at A+E Networks and oversees product and UX design for A+E's entire brand portfolio. He's a strategic leader behind the design of digital products which span across various platforms including desktop, tablet, mobile and emerging platforms (Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV). He is tasked with establishing and developing a structure, process, and team to deliver solutions resulting in useful, usable and enjoyable products that meet business needs. Bob is also focused on championing a holistic and unified design approach that maximizes value and creates efficiencies across properties such as HISTORY, A&E, Lifetime, Lifetime Movies, and FYI.

In 2015 Graphic Design USA acknowledged Bob by placing him on the "People to Watch" list. He also recently had the honor of serving as a director on AIGA’s National Board of Directors.

Prior to A+E, Bob was the Director of Merck’s Global Creative Studios, a full service in-house agency, and provided creative leadership and business solutions on a global scale. Bob also held positions such as Interaction Design Director at R/GA, and UX Design Director at Oxygen Media. In these roles he fine-tuned his talent for creating engaging brand experiences, as well as intuitive and elegant interfaces. He worked with diverse teams creating consumer-based software, interactive experiences, websites, print and television content.

Bob has won numerous awards for his work and has been recognized in both national and international design competitions. He has been published in periodicals such as Advertising Age, Graphic Design USA and HOW Magazine, as well as on aiga.org.

He received Executive Educations at Yale and Harvard Business School and has a BA in Fine Art. Bob has also spoken at design conferences for AIGA, FUSE, HOW, presented various national webcasts, and lectured at the Fashion Institute of Technology as well as other universities. Read Less

Design is powerful. Done well, it can solve complex problems, make a difference in the world, unite people, communicate messages, and sometimes simply evoke a smile.

Today, there are an overwhelming number of messages we receive on a daily basis, making it harder to communicate effectively - your message needs to be clear, memorable and above all, make an impact.

Therefore, my philosophy is to…

• Ask questions to gain understanding
• Listen
• Promote simplicity
• Make a personal connection and an emotional impact
• Create desire, interest and appeal
• Create difference, not similarity
• Allow the most important elements to stand out
• Let the brand point the way
• Think Big
• Be entertaining

A guiding principal: The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Read Less