Leonardo Calogero

Never gonna

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Who am I?

I'm Leo Calogero from Toronto, Canada

My mother often asked me the W5H, so let's start with the who?
My name is Leonardo, or Leo for short. I have a passion for education, design, technology and surfing the world wide web.

I am currently working with WhereTo as a Senior Product Design Manager. I'll leave it to you to scroll down to learn more about the what, where, when, why and how.

If you want to find me select the button below to skip the content and contact me right now.

contact me now


Have fun!
👋

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What

What do I do? I'm a jack of these trades, master of some:

User Experience & Product Design
I'm an experience designer that specializes in crafting web based solutions and products. I create memorable experiences and positive impressions by always designing for people and with empathy. It is important to consider consumer requirements, alignment with business needs, resources, and expectations but my goal is to always be learning, testing and iterating.
Teaching, Mentoring & Curriculum Design
I have taught hundreds throughout Canada and many across the world. My students and mentees have gone on to work at international F500 companies and are advocates for accessibility, design thinking, tech and digital literacy. I've worked with several insitutions to develop world-class curricula and I hold an active teaching licence with the Ontario College of Teachers.
Front-end Development & Interaction Design
I have a passion for technology, CSS animation, responsive web typography, high-fidelity prototyping and all the latest tools. With over a decade of experience I have worked with award-winning agencies, fearless start-ups, international educational instituions, local business and national service providers.
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Where

Where have I worked? A very long list of places, but most recently:

2024 - Present

Senior Product Design Manager

WhereTo

WhereTo is a business travel startup from San Francisco, CA that evolved into an agile development and design studio within the Flight Centre family. We build travel solutions used by some of the largest companies on the planet. At WhereTo I am lead the product design initiatives from the WhereTo Labs team. Our aim is to elevate travel experiences by constantly innovating and improving our mission to revolutionize B2B travel planning and anciliary services.

2023 - 2024

Senior Product Designer

LaunchGood

LaunchGood is a global crowd funding and donation platform built by the Ummah and allies for the world. My role as Senior Product designer for the scheduled giving team created mindful ways to automate donating in social, engaging and challenging ways.

2021 - 2023

Design Technologist

sherpa°

sherpa° is a bold, Toronto born startup that helps travellers move freely. My journey started as the second design hire and first product designer on the newly founded Travel Rangers team. I ended my time at sherpa° in a Design Technologist role on the DesignOps team piloting the Summit Design system in collaboration with Valor Software.

2020 - 2022

Web UI Concepts and Frameworks

York University

At York University's Faculty for Continuing Studies I provided instruction for the Full-stack Web Development Certificate Program both locally in Toronto and remotely. I led instruction for the Web UI Concepts and Frameworks immersive course, specializing in fundamentals of UI/UX design, HTML, JavaScript, CSS and introduction to Angular and ReactJS.

2020 - 2021

Product Designer

Medavie Blue Cross

Medavie Blue Cross leverages in-house expertise and technology to create digital products tailor-made for users Canada wide. As a User Experience Designer I conducted workshops with key stakeholders to gather and understand goals, needs and requirements while advocating for a seamless experience. I routinely facilitated stakeholder alignments, workshops and produced wireframes of varying fidelity for a multitude of product requirements and needs.

2019 - 2020

Lead UI/UX Instructor

Skills Union

Skills Union, formerly RED Academy, is a leading-edge career college rooted in technology. I led the curriculum design, training, development and execution across all user experience and interaction design programs at the Toronto campus. As a team we mentored, coached and oversaw the development and success of over 90+ real-world client projects with hundreds of students both in person and remotely. As I moved into leadership I was able to build new courses and products and piloted the first Front-End Design and Development Certificate Program.

2017 - 2018

Interactive Developer

blackjet

Blackjet is a fearless creative agency based in Toronto that leverages data and insights to connect deeply with people. At blackjet I developed award-winning digital experiences for Fortune 500 companies in a fast-paced agency environment. Worked closely with visual designers, interaction specialists and full-stack developers to create responsive, scalable, and accessible interactive media that included microsites, landing pages, e-commerce platforms, display advertisements, HTML e-mail templates and more.

2015 - 2017

Web Designer

Design Rooster

Design Rooster is a design, marketing and advertising agency that creates original brands and digital idenenties. At Design Rooster we crafted digital identities and brands by building and maintaining stable and scalable digital solutions such as websites, promotional material, branding and more that met small business needs.

2014 - 2016

Graphic Designer

CAA Inc.

Canadian Custom Apparel is Canada's leading custom apparel supplier for screen-printing, embroidery, vinyl transfer and DTG printing. At Canadian Custom Apparel I designed apparel, promotional material, branding and more that met various business needs. I managed plotting equipment and ensured customer needs were met both in store and online.

2012 - 2014

Studio Designer

Blitz Print House

Blitz Print House is a premium printshop that specializes in art, photograph, stationary and promotional material. At Blitz, I ensured customer needs met print requirements. I assisted clients and customers with ad-hoc graphic/print design needs. During my time at Blitz I also managed the studio space including open and closing the retail location and attending to various business needs and requirements.

2009 - 2023

Freelance

LCC Inc.

Freelance and contract work for various projects including logo design, web development, branding, apparel and graphic design, consulting, teaching, speaking, lecturing and facilitating a variety of workshop and tutorials

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When

When did I learn that? Over the years at these expensive great places:

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Juno College

Full-time Immersive program where I extended my skills with jQuery, JavaScript, ReactJS, AngularJS, Firebase, Git, Shopify (Liquid), PHP and Wordpress theme development

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Western University

Graduated with a Bachelors of Education with Honours in Intermediate/Senior General Visual Art and Social Science with a specilization in Media Arts and Technology.

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York University

Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional studies with a specilization in Anthropology and Ethnographic Research Methods.

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Why

Why do I do what I do? I just like to make shit stuff with my favourite tools.

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Sometimes You Need Dynamite
Design thinking is my greatest tool. It has long been considered the holy grail of innovation—and the remedy to stagnation. It’s a concept that’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore, and yet, despite such high-profile success stories, it’s a concept that continues to be shrouded in mystery and is ever evolving.
Unpeel Problems & Find Solutions
I find effective solutions to complex problems. It isn’t easy, but using my experience, techniques, skills and research methods to create artifacts and gather feedback I can unpeel any problem and propose varieties of solutions.
Get to The Core to Know More
Of course, to arrive at a true understanding, you’ll need to dig deeper than simply taking people at their word when they tell you what they like and what they want. To know more I use data from analytics and get to the core by tracking everything from clicks and views to bounce rates and drop offs.
Surprise & Delight, Details Matter
That little sprinkle of magic makes all the difference. The small things can really go a long way in creating something that users don’t expect and can elevate a product from a good one to an exceptionally great one. The fine details matter and finesse is my speciality.
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How?

How to contact me? Superpeer, ADPlist or creep find me on LinkedIn:

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