The Emmy wining style for the show was spear-headed by production designer Robert "Bob" K. Shaw, Jr. The script for the pilot episode was brought to him when "The Sopranos," the series he’d been working on since 2000, was wrapping up its final season. Anxious to enter a stylistically different world outside the New Jersey mob setting, Bob read the script and immediately developed a vision for the show’s look. He contacted art director Henry Dunn and set decorator Rena DeAngelo, the team he worked closely with on "The Sopranos" to join him in establishing the sets of the "Mad Men" pilot, "Smoke Gets in your Eyes."

Very aware that the overall style established in the pilot would set the tone for future episodes, Bob met with series creator Matt Weiner to discuss his thoughts and visual impressions. Bob wanted to avoid becoming too specific with the trends of that time period. "No matter how pervasive the influence of a given style," Bob explains, "It will only represent a certain percentage of the look of the time. There are always more people 10 years behind the current trends than there are those who are right up to the moment."

In creating the best environments for the work and social lives of the "Mad Men" cast, Bob carefully took into consideration the realities of each character’s situation. Midge, for example, an illustrator and mistress to main mad man Don Draper, was initially slated to live in an artist’s loft. Bob stressed that for the time period, such a living arrangement would have indicated the life of a serious artist, where Midge appears to be more of a "dilettante playing at being a beat-nick." After exhaustive locations scouts, a studio space was found at the Gainsborough Studios in midtown Manhattan that fit nicely into Bob’s vision of a run-down, turn-of-the-century artist’s studio. In regards to the look of the Sterling Cooper offices, the mad men’s advertising headquarters, a mid-century modern look was incorporated to provide a rich sophistication. Like-wise, the bars the men of Sterling Cooper frequent are also based in the look of the businessmen’s bars of the 20s and 30s, steering clear of the hip, cool 50s style joints.

Bob’s team utilized 1960s magazine advertisements as the inspiration for the show’s color palette. A dedicated effort was made to emulate the neutral, pastel quality prevalent in these ads. "Even bright colors always seemed to be a little bit grayed down and diffused by the dot screen of the printing process." Colors common to the ads that frequent the "Mad Men" sets include yellow, pink, aqua, and a pale, muted tomato red.

Furnishing the set proved to be quite challenging. Episodic television does not allow for custom built furniture, and there were a limited number of prop houses in the New York City shooting location to acquire material from. The set decorating team did a great deal of research and utilized every resource they could to acquire period specific material. For instance, Bob strongly pushed for wooden, post-modern style desks as opposed to the popular steel tank desks commonly found in the 1960s executive offices. For this need, Rena DeAngelo’s team did some investigations and found the desks at a warehouse location an hour drive outside the city.

The production designer never has complete creative control when working on any script. Although the "Mad Men" script included a minimal amount of set description, Matt Weiner had some very specific objects he wanted to see in the storylines. "Often he has an object in mind that he saw years ago, be it a pen, or a glass or anything of which he has a very strong sense memory. If you are able to find one of these things his enthusiasm is boundless." Despite specific thoughts and inclinations, however, the creator was receptive to rational opposition. "If he has something in mind that you don't think is the best choice, he can be persuaded to go in another direction if you present a well thought out case."

Bob has fluctuated between television and feature films throughout his career, working on an array of styles and periods. He does enjoy the sense of control a feature provides. "On a feature the script has all the scenes that will ever exist." Bob enjoys being able to participate in the scouting process to ensure all locations are up to his standard, as well as being present for scene creations. Episodic television doesn't always allow for these provisions. Scouting may occur simultaneously with the creation of a new scene. Episodic television provides unique challenges that keep a production designer on their toes. "Working in episodic television allows for the unexpected and in some cases, the unwanted. In episodes of a series you may suddenly find the need for a door that leads to a den of the office or some other room that doesn't exist. Sometimes you have to call the writer's office and say something like, ‘I'm sorry, but there is no fireplace in that room'."

Bob has had the opportunity to work on a number of other pivotal periods in American history, including capturing the turbulent 1970s in Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm." A period in American history Bob hasn’t yet worked on but would love to tackle is the 1920s-30s. Although a period of beautiful deco style, it’s the personal connection of his family's roots that lures him to that era. He recalls being transfixed as a young child looking through old family photo albums. "The photographs of my grandparents standing in the ocean wearing heavy woolen bathing suits fascinated me," he recalls. "It seemed impossible that my own parents could have lived in a time that seemed so far away." For the time being, Bob has returned to the present with his current project, an original Showtime movie entitled "Nurse Jackie."