bob wagner

When, in 1999, Xerox Corporation created an advanced generation of digital color presses, Bob Wagner was appointed the company's evangelist to creatives. As vice president of Xerox's Creative Services Business, the former Young & Rubicam exec has exposed tens of thousands of designers and print production pros to the power of digital print. Partnering with such bellwether industry leaders as Adobe, Pantone and Parsons The New School for Design, he led the effort to create design guides and other resources to support creative work with digital printing, including such well-received works as The Art & Science of Digital Printing: The Parsons Guide to Getting it Right, PANTONE digital chips, A Formal Investigation into the Urban Legends of Digital Color Printing, the knowledge base at www.xerox.com/creative and Xerox's sustained support for world-class industry initiatives like the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Wagner has also hit the road from his home in Rochester NY to speak to creatives at industry events, trade shows and company locations. Among the dividends of these activities, GDUSA perennially recognizes Xerox as a designer-friendly company, and digital printing has seen tremendous growth and acceptance among designers. Today, Wagner, who holds an M.B.A in marketing from RIT and a B.A. in communications from Seton Hall, also leads the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners, a global network of more than 670 vanguard digital print service providers.

Is graphic design a growth industry? The rapid emergence of new media formats and channels, combined with a re-emergence of branded entertainment (brand and consumer created content), will fuel the number of pages created, posted, published, printed and re-purposed, exponentially increasing the growth opportunities for graphic designers. This is an incredible time to be a part of the graphic communications industry.

Do graphic designers have a special responsibility to promote a green society? Sustainablility is a positive attribute for many clients and target audiences, and sourcing from suppliers that support the environment is one of the best choices designers can make. Xerox Corporation was the first in the industry to launch remanufacturing initiatives.We remain a leader in creating waste-free products built in waste-free facilities. And our commitment to environmental improvements extends to our partners, suppliers and customers. Xerox's environmental program recently achieved the two billion pound milestone by avoiding waste in three areas: (1) reuse and recycling in imaging supplies, (2) product take-back and recycling and parts reuse and (3) integrating innovative environmental priorities into manufacturing operations.

ONE THING I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IS my loving family. My wife, Kathy, an artist and art teacher, and our 15-year old daughter, Julia Rose.

FAVORITE MOVIES

Caddyshack
Napoleon Dynamite
Anything by Martin Scorsese

FAVORITE BOOKS

Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell
Joe Torre's Ground Rules for Winners: 12 Keys to Managing Team Players, Tough Bosses, Setbacks, and Success by Joe Torre and Henry Dreher

FAVORITE SONGS

"Hot Fun in the Summertime" by Sly & The Family Stone
"Night Moves" by Bob Seger
"You Get What You Give" by New Radicals

FAVORITE FINE ARTISTS

da Vinci
Klimt
O'Keeffe

BOOKMARKED WEBSITES

adobe.com
apc-ny.org
aiga.org
bostonprintbuyers.com
the-dma.org
gdusa.com
in-source.org
yankees.mlb.com
pantone.com
parsons.edu
printbuyersonline.com
the-raf.org
rit.edu
shu.edu
youtube.com
Xerox Premier Partners