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Page 1: Career as an Advertising Artist Graphic Designer Creative d

CAREER AS AN

ADVERTISING ARTIST

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Page 2: Career as an Advertising Artist Graphic Designer Creative d

In sti tute Re search Num ber 134 ISBN 1-58511-134-1

DOT Num ber 141. O*Net SOC Code 27-1011.00

CAREER AS AN

ADVERTISING ARTIST

GRAPHIC DESIGNER CREATIVE DIRECTORILLUSTRATORUse Your Art Tal ent to Reach the Top of the Dy namic World of Ad ver tis ing

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AD VER TIS ING IS EV ERY WHERE. TRY TO get through a day with out see ing aprinted ad ver tise ment, a tele vi sion com mer cial, or a pop-up ad on a website.

Ad ver tis ing is a dy namic, multi-bil lion dol lar in dus try that helps usde cide what we buy, what places to visit, where we eat, what we drive,and how we look. Ad ver tis ing ranges from the small est clas si fied list ing inthe lo cal pa per to the big gest, slick est, all-en com pass ing cam paigns thatbe come part of the pop u lar cul ture.

Do you ever won der who cre ates the ads that you see, re mem ber, and talk about?

Some one had to think up the idea, kick it around, and ma nip u latede sign, com po si tion, color, type faces, and pho tog ra phy un til an ad be ganto take shape.

Ad ver tis ing art ists – also called com mer cial art ists – are in dis pens ableto this cre ative pro cess, whether it’s de sign ing a com pany logo, an an nualre port, a bro chure, or a sign on the side of a bus. The very best ad ver tis ing art ists con sis tently im press a pub lic innundated by thou sands ofad ver tis ing im ages ev ery week – and the re sults show up on the cli ent’sbot tom line profit while giv ing us un for get ta ble catch phrases andchar ac ters that make us laugh, cry, or groan.

In fact, you al ready know some of their most fa mous cre ations.Re mem ber the Jolly Green Gi ant? Char lie the Tuna? How about Mr. Clean,Mr. Whipple, and Mrs. Butterworth? Ev ery one from the Hamburglar to the Taco Bell Chi hua hua to the lonely Maytag re pair man is a prod uct of acre ative ad ver tis ing pro fes sional. Like the En er gizer Bunny, they keep go ing and go ing, and they all started out as an idea in some one’s head and asketch on a draw ing board.

In to day’s fast-paced, vi su ally ori ented so ci ety, com pa nies want andneed imag i na tive peo ple to de velop ef fec tive, in no va tive ad ver tis ing art atev ery level in ev ery mar ket. Ad ver tis ing art ists and the art di rec tors whosu per vise them are con stantly striv ing to cut through the clut ter, make thecli ent happy, and en joy the ar tis tic sat is fac tion of pro duc ing anen ter tain ing, en light en ing, and in for ma tive im age that did n’t ex ist un tilthey cre ated it.

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HISTORY OF THE PROFESSION

AD VER TIS ING HAS EX ISTED SINCE THE be gin ning of hu man civ i li za tion, invar i ous forms, the ear li est be ing word of mouth. Pre his toric hunt ers nodoubt told each other where to track down the best wooly mam moths.

We know from ar ti facts found in the ru ins of Bab y lon (about 3000BC) that crude draw ings were used by that so ci ety to “ad ver tise” prod uctsor ser vices. Signs out side an es tab lish ment told pro spec tive cus tom erswhat was in side (a loaf of bread for a bak ery, grapes for a wine shop).

An cient Egyp tians carved pic tures of items for sale into stone tab letscalled stelae and placed them by the side of the road for trav el ers to see.These were the first bill boards.

An cient Romans pe rused many ad ver tise ments for prod ucts on wallsand build ings, and also iden ti fied nu mer ous mer chants by their out doorsigns – fish, rugs, per fume, and other prod ucts.

In 16th cen tury Eng land, ad ver tis ing art came into its own withwell-de signed and col or ful signs over pubs, shops, and ser vicees tab lish ments. To this day they are pre served in folk art mu se ums and arere pro duced in towns like Mys tic, Con nect i cut, and Williamsburg, Vir ginia.

The in ven tion of mov able type for print ing by Johannes Gutenberg in1440 in tro duced the first wave of mass ad ver tis ing in the form of hand bills and news pa per ads. Ad ver tise ments in Brit ish news pa pers werecom mon place by the 1600s.

In the Amer i can col o nies, the first news pa per ad ap peared in theBoston News-Let ter in 1704, and read ers had a wide va ri ety of otherpe ri od i cals from which to choose. Ad ver tis ing found a per ma nent home in news pa pers and mag a zines, fre quently push ing snake-oil type prod ucts inflam boy ant ads that prom ised “cures for what ever ails you.”

A few high lights of the early days of ad ver tis ing in clude:

1841 Volney B. Palmer opens the first advertising agency in Philadelphia,acting primarily as a broker by buying ad space and reselling it toadvertisers.

1861 New York City has more than 20 advertising agencies.

1869 N.W. Ayer and Sons became the first advertising agency to shift thefocus from the interest of publishers to serving and working for advertisers, thereby giving birth to the modern advertising agency. Ayer hired writers

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and artists to create effective advertising, giving the industry a welcomeboost in credibility.

1870s Increasing numbers of advertising posters and signs are painted onrocks, buildings, and barns in cities and rural areas, causing several statesto impose limitations to protect natural scenery from sign painters.

1884 Coca-Cola is invented in Atlanta by Dr. John S. Pemberton, whosebookkeeper lettered the name in the flowing script that is still used today.

1892 Sears, Roebuck & Co. receives more than 2,000 orders from a singledirect mail campaign using 8,000 postcards that featured imitationhandwriting.

1896 Ivory Soap sends full-color advertising lithographic prints directly tomagazine publishers to bind them into magazines.

1890s For the first time, women are depicted in a non-domestic settingoutside the home – in bicycle ads.

1904 Advertising “branding” begins. An example is Campbell’s Soup,featuring “the Campbell’s Kids” artwork by Grace Weidersein.

1906 The First Annual Advertising Show opens in New York City. The “Ageof Advertising” begins.

1910 More than $600 million is spent on advertising in the US,representing 4% of the national income. Ads become more targeted tospecific audiences.

1917 Thousands of advertisers feature war themes in their campaigns,and publications donate space to promote sales of war bonds and stampsduring World War I.

1917 The American Association of Advertising Agencies is formed.

1930 During the Depression, many advertising agencies close due to lackof consumer demand.

1945 An economic and baby boom contribute to an upswing inadvertising which lasts until the early 1990s.

1950s - Unprecedented growth in advertising is fueled by radio andtelevision commercials that bring the advertiser’s messages to millions. The art of advertising shifted from the printed word to ads that combine sight,sound, and motion.

1990 Newspapers and magazines go online. The Internet and theincreasing numbers of personal computers motivate publishers andadvertisers to turn their focus toward the information superhighway.

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Along with ground break ing and con tin u ing ad vances in tech nol ogyand com mu ni ca tions, ad ver tis ing has also taken cen ter stage in an otherhighly in flu en tial arena: pro mot ing aware ness and so cial change throughpub lic ser vice an nounce ments (PSAs). The Ad ver tis ing Coun cilwww.adcouncil.org is re spon si ble for some of the most mem o ra ble ofthese, such as “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” and “A Mind Is aTer ri ble Thing to Waste.”

For a fun and fas ci nat ing look at the his tory of ad ver tis ing, fa mouscam paigns, and mod ern ex hib its, visit the Amer i can Ad ver tis ing Mu seumat www.admuseum.org, or if you can get there in per son, in Port land,Or e gon. It houses the in dus try’s most com pre hen sive col lec tion ofad ver tis ing and busi ness ar ti facts, as sem bled through con tri bu tions andloans from ad ver tis ing agen cies, ad ver tis ers, me dia, pri vate col lec tors andother mu se ums, in clud ing the Smith so nian In sti tu tion.

WHERE ADVERTISING ARTISTS WORK

AD VER TIS ING ART ISTS WORK PRI MAR ILY at two ma jor cat e go ries of com pa nies:ad ver tis ing agen cies, and all other busi nesses. That leaves an al mostun lim ited po ten tial for work in ev ery sec tor of re tail, ser vice, tech nol ogy,and man u fac tur ing in clud ing:

Design firms Public relations firmsTelevision networks, cable channels, and local TV stations Web design and publishing NewspapersMagazines Publishing companiesGreeting card companiesMovie studios School districts, colleges, and universities Hospitals and healthcareFinancial servicesDepartment storesFood serviceTheme parksNonprofit organizationsState or federal agencies with communications or public relationsdepartmentsYour own business

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THE WORK YOU WILL DO

YOU MIGHT THINK THAT AN AD VER TIS ING art ist just draws pic tures. Actually, aca reer in ad ver tis ing art re quires you to be a thinker first. Ad ver tis ingart ists must pos sess the abil ity to vi su al ize the best way to com mu ni cate ames sage about the prod uct or ser vice be ing ad ver tised.

Ad ver tis ing art is never a solo pro fes sion. Al though your con cept andde sign time may be spent alone, you will al ways have to work with cli entsand col lab o ra tors.

An ad ver tis ing art ist, art di rec tor, graphic de signer, and cre ativedi rec tor all make up the group known as “creatives” at an ad ver tis ingagency. This team also in cludes the copy writer, with whom ad ver tis ingart ists work closely. The creatives in flu ence the mar ket ing plan pre pared by the ac count ser vice, mar ket ing, and re search teams, and thencom mu ni cate the goals of the plan through the me dia of print ads,tele vi sion com mer cials, and col lat eral ma te ri als (printed ma te ri als such asbro chures, an nual re ports, di rect mail, etc.)

An ad ver tis ing art ist oc ca sion ally has to wear more than one hat,work ing as an idea per son, di rec tor, pro ducer, and su per vi sor. If not, theystill have to know what all the other “hats” on the team are do ing.

What will you de sign? Ba sically ev ery thing that can be printed orpro duced:

Complete advertising campaignsMagazine adsNewspaper adsWeb sitesCalendarsLogosTelevision graphicsStationery and business cardsIn-house publicationsNewslettersChartsPostersTrade show displaysBillboardsMatchbooks

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Restaurant menusIndoor and outdoor signsPromotional materialsPackage designBooksCD coversGraphics for software packagesMovie posters

As you can see, the list is prac ti cally end less.

All of the jobs in ad ver tis ing art re quire high lev els of con cep tualthink ing and a keen aware ness of pop u lar cul ture. You also need ex pertcom puter skills in PhotoShop, Quark, and Il lus tra tor, plus a knowl edge oftra di tional and dig i tal pho tog ra phy, ty pog ra phy, mul ti me dia, and printpro duc tion.

Graphic Designer These art ists dif fer from fine art ists not in the sense of the ma te ri als they use, but in the pur pose of their de sign. Some timesre ferred to as a com mer cial art ist, this per son cre ates a vi su ally pleas ing ormem o ra ble im age that com mu ni cates a mes sage, sells a prod uct, orcre ates a cor po rate iden tity. They are self-em ployed, or work forad ver tis ing agen cies or other busi nesses.

Art Director This per son works at ad ver tis ing agen cies, tele vi sionsta tions, mag a zines, news pa pers, and re tail and ser vice in dus tries. Artdi rec tors – to gether with copy writ ers – are re spon si ble for set ting the tone and vi su al iz ing the look of an ad ver tise ment or a cam paign. The artdi rec tor will cre ate the ad, but may or may not pro duce the fin ished work,de pend ing on the size of the staff. Gen erally, the smaller the com pany, the more re spon si bil ity there is for ac tu ally do ing the work. In largercom pa nies, the art di rec tor su per vises other creatives.

At large ad agen cies, there may be sev eral lev els: ex ec u tive artdi rec tors, se nior art di rec tors, ju nior art di rec tors, and as sis tant artdi rec tors. Art di rec tors in a su per vi sory ca pac ity keep the de part mentcur rent on ty pog ra phy and tech nol ogy, are mind ful of dead lines, and staywithin cli ent bud gets. Art di rec tors can also write head lines or cam paignslo gans, and draw story boards for tele vi sion com mer cials.

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Creative Director This is usu ally the high est po si tion on the cre ativeteam, and ev ery ad ver tis ing agency has one. Cre ative di rec tors arere spon si ble for cre ative out put with re gard to en tire ad ver tis ingcam paigns. Some larger cor po ra tions may have their own in-housecre ative di rec tors, but the ti tle is most iden ti fied with art di rec tors (andcopy writ ers) who have worked their way up through the ranks as part ofan ad ver tis ing agency’s cre ative team. Cre ative di rec tors have a proventrack re cord of com ing up with great ideas, ex e cut ing them ef fi ciently, and skill fully man ag ing other creatives.

Illustrator This is a per son who spe cial izes in draw ings in var i ous artme dia (wa ter color, acryl ics, char coal and oth ers), for print me dia such asad ver tise ments, mag a zines, bill boards, post ers, and the like. In ad ver tis ing, il lus tra tors gen er ally do not originate full con cepts for a cli ent’s prod uct.Instead they take di rec tion from the graphic de signer or art di rec tor incharge. For ex am ple, the art di rec tor for an an nual re port or a mag a zinear ti cle, de cides that a spe cial ized il lus tra tion is needed for a piece and then chooses an il lus tra tor who is best suited for the job. Il lus tra tors are rarelyon staff at ad ver tis ing agen cies, and are usu ally freelancers or have theirown firms.

Production Artist This is a po si tion that ex ists in very large ad ver tis ing agen cies and me dia com pa nies. Once called paste-up art ists, thesework ers are in creas ingly scarce, since the la bo ri ous pro cess of cut ting andpast ing type set copy has been re placed by soft ware that of fers thou sandsof readily avail able type faces, in stant ed it ing, and other high-techca pa bil i ties. Some en try-level jobs are still la beled pro duc tion art ists orpro duc tion work ers, but the du ties are done al most ex clu sively on acom puter in stead of us ing the tra di tional T-square and X-acto knife.

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THE PROFESSIONALS SPEAK

I Was an Art Di rec tor at anAd ver tis ing Agency and Am Now anEx ec u tive Cre ative Di rec tor for a Pub lishing House “In the third grade, I had a

teacher who showed us how to draw an ap ple where you lay eredit a lit tle bit with yel low tem pera paint. All of a sud den, the redlooked like an ap ple. It was the first time I re al ized that you coulddo some thing like that.

I was al ways sketch ing de signs. My friends would get me tosketch hot rod draw ings for them. In mid dle school, we werere quired to take a half-se mes ter of shop and a half-se mes ter ofme chan i cal draw ing. I reached a de gree of com pe tency in draw ing some thing, un der stand ing how to mea sure and scale.

In high school I went into ar chi tec tural draft ing and did verywell. In fact, on my let ter jacket I had an em broi dered T-squarewith three bars on top of my ath letic let ter.

I then at tended a com mu nity col lege think ing I was go ing tobe an ar chi tect, but I took a busi ness course that re ally ru ined mywhole out look. It was n’t fun any more. So I quit and went off towork for a cou ple of years in Hol ly wood, at my cousin’sar chi tec tural arts firm.

When I came back home I got se ri ous about go ing back tocol lege, only this time I went back to study fine art at a uni ver sity.There was a class called graphic de sign. I did n’t know what it was,but it sounded in ter est ing so I took it just for the heck of it. Iended up in a class where they used T-squares, tri an gles, and allthe things I had learned in mid dle school. So I was the best in theclass. They were teach ing kids how to use these tools, and theywere like my arms and hands. I could do this in my sleep.

My ideas of be com ing a painter started slip ping. I wasex cel ling in graphic de sign. At that point I found my men tor, whowas my pro fes sor. That’s when I moved into ad ver tis ing art. Hehad 20 years’ ex pe ri ence as a cre ative di rec tor in New York andknew all the big play ers. He was very ag gres sive and very hard on

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ev ery one. A lot of peo ple dropped out. You could n’t be 30sec onds late to his class. He’d lock the door, your face would be inthe door win dow, and ev ery body would just look at you. But hewas turn ing out art di rec tors and copy writ ers who could com peteon a na tional level with their stu dent port fo lios.

That pro fes sor is now re tired, but he was a pi o neer, and nowschools are do ing a much better job of turn ing out stu dents withthose same con cept skills.

In my se nior year, I was a teach ing as sis tant to both my de sign and il lus tra tion teach ers. When I grad u ated, my men tor of feredme a job at the small agency he owned in Aus tin, and I took it. Ichose to be a big ger fish in a smaller pond in stead of go ing toNew York. I like a slower pace in gen eral.

When I first en tered the field, pro duc tion skills were learnedon the job. The sys tem used to be based on the prem ise that youhave an art di rec tor and pro duc tion art ists. So you wouldap pren tice with the se nior peo ple who taught you the nu ances ofcut ting and past ing. We’d get type set ting from a type set ter, andwe’d have to cut be tween ev ery line of type; in some cases, we’dcut be tween ev ery let ter and rewrap those. If we did n’t like itwhen we got to the bot tom, we’d start again at the top, un til thetype was per fect.

The com puter has taken over that pro cess now, with peo plecom ing out of school know ing all these pro grams, which is as itshould be. Use the best tool avail able at the time. If there’s anycrit i cism now on my part, it’s that kids are com ing out of schoolwith the abil ity to pro duce the whole thing from start to fin ish.Ap pren tice ships are few and far be tween. Stu dents have to hit the ground run ning. I think there’s a lot of sink or swim go ing on outthere.

I went through a se ries of moves and job changes, first as agraphic de signer and art di rec tor, then as a cre ative di rec tor. Ior ga nized and built cre ative teams for sev eral ad ver tis ingagen cies, and we did a lot of award-win ning work to gether.

I worked at agen cies where they’d lose a big ac count andstart lay ing peo ple off. Af ter one lay off, I started do ing free lancework for that agency, and then I added a cou ple of staff ers. I tried

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to turn my de sign stu dio into an ad agency, but one of my cli entswas al ready an ad agency. She asked me if I would come on boardas a part ner and com bine our re sources.

Af ter a few years, I looked at what I had got ten my self intowith the part ner ship and I was n’t happy with it, and sud denly awhole new op por tu nity pre sented it self to help start a pub lish ingcom pany.

By that time I had worked for 12 dif fer ent ad ver tis ingagen cies and had pretty much had enough of the agency life. So Ijust jumped ship and went to work on the cli ent side. And it’sin ter est ing, be cause I’ve been able to build a cre ative group that is not typ i cal of in-house cre ative de part ments. I say that be causead ver tis ing agency creatives have this thing that if you’re notwork ing for ad agency, you don’t count. That’s why at mypub lish ing house I’ve tried to build a de part ment that is pos i tivefor cre ative peo ple to work in.

Pub lishing has been a very nice spot to land ca reer wise. Ithink I was lucky. I fit my skills very well to my ca reer. Whetherthat’s by de sign, I don’t know, or by fate. I was ad ven tur ousenough to go for it and make the right moves. I can’t say thatev ery job I had was won der ful, but they all added to gether to getme into pub lish ing where I have a va ri ety of skills to ap ply to thework.

Ev ery body has to find a men tor. If you don’t have one, getone. Some body has to get you ex cited. My uni ver sity pro fes sor did that for me.

Look through award books to see what good de sign andty pog ra phy is. With ev ery thing done so eas ily on com puter, someof the im por tant is sues like read abil ity have been lost along theway.

Study print graph ics – mag a zine ads, news pa per ads, di rectmail, bro chures, and cat a logs. These me dia are go ing to bearound for a long time, so there are op por tu ni ties for some onewho has a good eye for print de sign.

Kids who are build ing their own Web sites are learn ing part of the trade even though they don’t know it.

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Col lege or art school is the way to go. It’s a sys tem atic way tobuild your port fo lio, and you need to be con stantly work ing onthat.

If you have a dy na mite port fo lio, you may get a job with a big ad agency re gard less of a de gree. Your port fo lio should bepre sented in a very pro fes sional, clean way. It should be per fect.It’s okay to have pages of ideas to go along with it. You don’t have to be a great de signer to be a great art di rec tor, but in the smallermar kets you will have to do both con cept and fi nal de sign, sowork on that.

When peo ple in ter view with me and show me their port fo lio,they’ll say, ‘Well, I did this in school, but now I would do itdif fer ently.’ I tell them, ‘Why did n’t you redo it be fore you came to me?’ Don’t make ex cuses. What you’re show ing me is the bestwork you could have pos si bly done up un til five min utes ago. I’llask, ‘What were you do ing?’ ‘I was eat ing.’ ‘Oh, so eat ing is moreim por tant than get ting a good job?’ Ap pli cants don’t even thinkabout that. Did you stay up un til mid night mak ing your port fo liobetter so maybe I’d like it more? Be cause you only get one shot atme. One shot. That’s it.”

I Was a Graphic De signer at aNews pa per and Now Own My OwnGraphic De sign Busi ness “I al ways knew I wanted

to be in volved in the arts and paint ing. When I was a kid Iorig i nally wanted to be a car toon ist and have my own car toonstrip. I al ways had car toons in the high school news pa per.

I was a paint ing ma jor at the Uni ver sity of Iowa. I had a finearts back ground al though I also had a mi nor in jour nal ism. I knewthat in fine arts I might need to have some thing to fall back on, sothat’s why I took a lot of jour nal ism. I worked on the cam pusnews pa per do ing car toons. When I grad u ated I got a job at thecity news pa per. That’s how I got into ad ver tis ing, lay ing out adsfor a news pa per.

From the ad ver tis ing de part ment I even tu ally worked my wayinto ed i to rial. The ed i tor of the pa per saw my work and wantedme to do ed i to rial car toons and page lay outs for the ed i to rial

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sec tion. That’s on the other side of the fence in news pa pers. Youlit er ally have the ad ver tis ing de part ment on one floor and theed i to rial on the other. I wanted to be in ed i to rial be cause that’sthe heart and soul of a news pa per.

As a graphic de signer for a news pa per, I ba si cally came upwith the best dis play to help ex plain the story. I used my tal ents inthe de sign field so things were laid out pro por tion ately, us inggood type faces that are pleas ing to the eye. At times I had to callon my tal ents as an il lus tra tor to pro vide a spe cific draw ing for astory.

I also used my tal ents in pro duc tion work ing with desk toppub lish ing sys tems. There’s a trick to that, be ing able to build apage, mak ing sure all your fonts are work ing cor rectly, andknow ing what you have on screen can even tu ally be printed to anout put de vice with out a lot of tech ni cal snafus. And on dead line.

You have very tight dead lines at news pa pers. It’s a daily thing. The vol ume of work you put out is un be liev able, one page af teran other, one il lus tra tion af ter an other. You’re work ing so fast. Youlearn how to work un der the gun with lim ited re sources and make the most of it. I learned to think three steps ahead in or der tomeet the dead line.

Around that time, USA To day was com ing out. Whenev ery body saw that, they wanted to turn their pa per into a fullcolor, very graphic in ten sive daily news pa per. That meant splashylay outs, fac toid boxes, and in for ma tional graph ics.

Jobs for graphic de sign ers just ex ploded in the 1980s. Youcould go any where in the coun try be cause news pa pers werelook ing for peo ple right and left to add piz zazz to their pa per. Thenews pa pers be gan to have a fresh new look re flec tive of theirau di ence. You could n’t get enough de sign ers to fill thesepo si tions, and peo ple were hop ping from one pa per to the other,tak ing their bag of tricks.

So I got an other job at an other pa per, not just do ingil lus tra tions and lay ing out fea ture pages, but re de sign ing thewhole pa per and work ing my way up into man age ment.

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Then the 1990s hap pened, and two-news pa per towns werebe com ing one-news pa per towns. My pa per closed. I had been innews pa pers for about 15 years. I de cided I re ally wanted to trythings on the com mer cial end. Go back to my ad ver tis ing roots.

So I started my own com pany. I had my own stu dio by my self. There were n’t that many peo ple who had their own high-end Macwith a big screen, so I al ready knew all the elec tronic end of itfrom the news pa per. I took all that dead line-savvy ex pe ri ence andap plied it to the com mer cial world where I could turn thingsaround quickly for cli ents.

I just took all these dif fer ent ex pe ri ences – fine arts, tech ni calknowl edge, lay ing out an ad, lay ing out a page, think ingcompositionally how things have to fall in place – and used thatpart of my brain to think on my feet. Be cause of that I was able tohold down ex penses. It was re ally great – I picked up one cli entaf ter an other.

That was 10 years ago. Now I have a staff of five andpur posely keep my staff small – cler i cal, ac count ing, and apro duc tion worker. It is oc ca sion ally frus trat ing to have to put onthe man age ment hat and deal with em ployee is sues, but if youget your self sur rounded by pro fes sional peo ple who like whatthey’re do ing and you give them a good work ing en vi ron ment,then you don’t have to con stantly han dle ev ery body.

If you want to work in ad ver tis ing art, you’re go ing to have to know a lit tle bit of ev ery thing. The thing I no tice the most is that Isee very few de sign ers who can draw. They can’t do a typ i calnap kin draw ing, or pen cil out an idea. I’ve al ways found that kindof lim it ing for peo ple.

As an em ployer, I want to be able to look at some body who isa di a mond in the rough, very cre ative. You have all this tal ent justspill ing over, and you can go in any di rec tion that any one canpos si bly throw you in.

Most of my men tors were peo ple whose work I stud ied andad mired. I rarely had di rect con tact with them. I did learn frompeo ple in the man age ment end. I liked the way they worked withpeo ple.

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You have to be Macintosh ori ented. Once you have thatback ground, you learn Photoshop for photo ma nip u la tion, AdobeIl lus tra tor or Free hand for draw ing, and Quark or Indesign forlay out. There are many other ap pli ca tions, but those are your main core pro grams. You’ll usu ally have them all open at the same timeon your com puter and you just pop be tween them as needed.

Keep your self think ing out of the box all the time. I still read alot of news pa pers. When you go to the mall, look at post ers anddis plays in the stores, try to see the trends, what the new colorpal ettes are go ing to be for the next few years. Just take in asmuch of your en vi ron ment as you can.

There are a lot of great schools, but I would have to say thatone of the best schools is “ex pe ri ence.” I also think you get awell-rounded ed u ca tion at a uni ver sity. In stead of go ing to aschool that just gives you a fo cus in art and de sign, at a uni ver sitythere are dif fer ent ar eas for you to fall back on.

I think what’s hap pen ing now is the need for de sign ers whoare well rounded. It does n’t mean you have to be a Mi chel an geloin ev ery sin gle area. Once you find your area of ex per tise whileyou’re in school, try us ing it di rectly. Maybe get a job with a smallfirm or a news pa per. Then when you grad u ate you have this smallcom mer cial port fo lio rather than things that were just done in theclass room. You can say you de signed this sta tio nery for this doc tor or you did lay outs for this weekly com mu nity news pa per. When Isee peo ple’s port fo lios, the ones that stand out are usu ally theones who did ac tual work.”

I Am an Art Di rec tor, GraphicDe signer, and Am Now VicePres i dent, Cre ative Di rec tor, andPart Owner of a De sign Stu dio “I al ways knew I

wanted to be some kind of art ist, and for tu nately my par entssup ported and en cour aged me. I took fine art courses, and in myju nior and se nior year in high school I took com mer cial art. Iworked on the year book and school news pa per.

Af ter I got my as so ci ate’s de gree in graphic de sign, my firstjob was as a ju nior de signer in a very small ad agency.

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I started out as a pro duc tion art ist, ba si cally lick ‘em and stick‘em. Oc ca sionally they’d throw me a bone: Here, do a logo, do anad, what ever. That was re ally good for me be cause I was work ingwith some un be liev ably good de sign ers, and one of the ways tolearn how to de sign well is to study re ally good work and askques tions: Why did they do it this way? Why is this head line thisbig? Why did they line all this stuff up over here? If you startthink ing about some one’s good work, a lot of the cre ative pro cess will hap pen through os mo sis. I was amazed at how much I hadlearned from those guys and did n’t re ally know it.

There were three of us when I started. We were do ing about$1.5 mil lion a year in bill ing. The art di rec tor was this older,sea soned guy of 28. He’d worked at all these big agen cies and was awe some. He taught me how to think stra te gi cally and how towrite head lines.

I did an un usual thing in my ca reer. I would go from de signstu dio to ad agency, then back to de sign stu dio. And ev ery time Iswitched it was a con scious de ci sion. It was like, ‘I think I’velearned ev ery thing I could here, and now I’m go ing to learn aboutde sign.’ I’d learn more about de sign, and I’d feel like I was a better de signer, but then I wanted to do ad ver tis ing again.

For tu nately, job-hop ping works for you in this ca reer,espe cially to get a raise, and es pe cially when you’re young. Mydad, who worked for the same com pany ba si cally his whole life,thought I was crazy. Ev ery three or four years I was chang ing jobs,and even that’s a long time in this in dus try to stay at one job. He’d say, ‘What are you do ing?’ And I’d say, ‘Dad, I nearly dou bled mysal ary on that last move.’

I’ve had jobs as an as sis tant art di rec tor, art di rec tor, graphicde signer, and cre ative di rec tor. Now I’m part owner of afull-ser vice de sign firm. My hap pi est days – and these are rare –are when I can spend two or three hours ac tu ally work ing on ade sign prob lem, or do ing high-end con cep tual stuff. Com ing upwith themes for an ad cam paign, tag lines, things like that. Iwould say maybe once or twice a month that will hap pen. Myother fa vor ite days are pho tog ra phy di rec tion. Going out on a big, big shoot and mov ing peo ple around.

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Most days I’m man ag ing peo ple, bud gets, and ac counts, andwrit ing sched ules, mak ing re vi sions, and do ing a lit tle bit ofde sign. It’s ironic that you’re in an in dus try where the better youget at what you do, the less you do of it.

When we do our job right, the cli ent’s happy and we’rehappy. If ei ther party’s not happy with the fin ished prod uct, thensome thing was wrong. We were n’t lis ten ing. Some thing brokedown some where.

What’s weird is that many of our more so phis ti catedac counts, the ones that have big mar ket ing de part ments, will say,‘We want to do an ad and we’re go ing to tell you what you needto know and you can go off and do a cre ative work plan, but wewant to see sketches first. We want to see your thought pro cess,the raw stuff.’ So they still want to see sketches.

With so many of these youn ger de sign ers, even if they candraw, they can only draw in ter nally. It’s not some thing you wantto show a cli ent. It’s re ally not pre sent able. Here’s the irony of it: Ilook at Gen Xers and Gen Yers, look at what they can do on acom puter, and I’m just in awe. But then I throw a bunch ofthumb nail sketches and con cepts at them and they’re just in awe.

There are some de sign ers who grew up in both worlds, theones who can do it all. They can sketch it out, write the head lines,then jump on the com puter and pro duce it. Those are the peo plewho are go ing to do re ally well.

I’ve seen only one stu dent book lately that im pressed me. This gal was a good thinker. She had come up with some re ally cleveryet stra te gic so lu tions to prob lems. Her de sign was nice and tidyand clean, with a lot of at ten tion to de tail. She was an all aroundnice per son, too. I tell stu dents you may get hired on yourport fo lio but that’s only half of it. They’re go ing to be look ing atyou as a per son, ask ing them selves, ‘Is this a per son I can hangwith eight hours or more a day?’ The best de signer in the worldcan walk in and throw down the best port fo lio in the world, but ifyou’re a jerk no body is go ing to hire you.

Mentoring is a two way street. Usually the youn ger per sonhas to be con scious of that ar range ment and know that the reallearn ing starts af ter school. You need to grab onto some body

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who’s been there and pick their brain as much as you can with outdriv ing them crazy.

I’ve had four men tors. They were in tel li gent, goodcom mu ni ca tors, and they were n’t all de sign ers. The first onetaught me the im por tance of cli ent re la tion ships and how to buildtrust through be ing eth i cal, hon est, and al ways de liv er ing on time. The sec ond taught me how to solve de sign prob lems. The thirdone taught me how to de sign, and the fourth showed me how tobe more cre ative.

Learn to draw well. I would rec om mend the book Draw ing onthe Right Side of the Brain. Just do ing some of those ex er cisesre ally sharp ened my draw ing skills. Good ad ver tis ing de sign ispay ing at ten tion and mak ing con nec tions.

Mas ter the com puter and as much graphic soft ware as youcan, par tic u larly the three main pro grams – Quark, Photoshop,and Il lus tra tor. If you want to do Web work, learn Dreamweaverand Flash.

Push your self. Find de sign heroes and em u late their work andthought pro cesses. Learn to write head lines that sup port yourvi su als.

Take what ever job you need to get in the door. If you have tostart out as a com puter pro duc tion per son, then do it.”

I Am an As so ci ate Pro fes sor ofAd ver tis ing at a Ma jor Uni ver sity “I grew up in

New Or leans. I got a de gree in jour nal ism, worked as a re porterand writer, then taught high school for three years. I went tograd u ate school at a ma jor uni ver sity and thought I wouldcon tinue in jour nal ism. But I re al ized that this cre ative stuff I wassee ing in ad ver tis ing was very cool and I liked that.

I earned a PhD in ad ver tis ing, and I was hired as a pro fes sorright out of the PhD pro gram. One of the ar eas I teach is port fo liode vel op ment for art di rec tors and copy writ ers.

Stu dents usu ally pick a ma jor in their soph o more or ju nioryear. Those who de cide on an ad ver tis ing de gree then de cide if

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they want to get on a man a ge rial track, a cre ative track, or are search track. So there are spe cial ties within this field.

For the cre ative part, stu dents are look ing at writ ing or artdi rect ing. That’s not cre at ing the art as such. Rather than be ing an art ist, it’s about be ing a con cep tual thinker. It’s about be ingcre ative, stra te gic, eth i cal, all those things.

For our pro gram, in the ju nior year stu dents ap ply to get intoa cre ative pro gram. Then they take a se quen tial pro gram of threeor four port fo lio build ing classes. At the end of those, they have astrong con cep tual port fo lio of 15 to 20 pieces. Now they’veprob a bly made 60 to 70 pieces over three or four se mes ters, butthey’ve nar rowed it down to the best of what they have. Some ofthe work was pro duced in di vid u ally, some with a part ner, andsome work ing in teams.

The call ing card for the art di rec tor is the port fo lio. That is theentrée to ad ver tis ing agen cies, and it has to be won der ful.Cre ative di rec tors and cre ative man ag ers don’t care what de greeyou have. They want peo ple to be able to work and play well withoth ers, but they also have to be able to do the job.

In ad ver tis ing it’s not so much about tak ing the pho to graphor draw ing the art, as much as how to com mu ni cate a stra te gicmes sage, and then find ing the right art ist, writer, pho tog ra pher, to help you re al ize it. That’s what we con cen trate on in our port fo lioclasses – com ing up with vi sual mes sages.

We do a lit tle bit of cam paign dis sect ing. I think it’s wise toknow what has worked and what has n’t. We study all kinds ofcul tural ephem era from post ers to films to prod uct la bels. Re centcam paigns I’ve liked are Po lar oid, Fox Sports, Microsoft, and somewon der ful stuff com ing out of North Carolina tour ism. And Nike’scam paign is ex cep tional.

Tech nol ogy has re ally changed the pro fes sion. Stu dents aremost def i nitely ramped up elec tron i cally and dig i tally, and that’sdif fer ent. There are more pos si bil i ties with the in ter ac tive world,and the kids are teach ing both agen cies and pro fes sors how to doit.

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Quark, Photoshop, Il lus tra tor – you have to know them. Butthe ideas have to come from some one’s brain. They don’t start inthe com puter. Some school pro grams have come to rely too muchon tech nol ogy and not enough on idea mak ing. It’s still anin dus try of great ideas, and, yes, those things can be taught. Ibe lieve you can open doors. You can re mind, re ig nite, and in spirepeo ple to go out and push it fur ther.

We have found that vi sual peo ple write out their ideas asmuch as lan guage peo ple. Their sketch books are full of pic tures,but they’re also full of lan guage and notes. I worry if I don’t seesome one with a sketch book. It tells me that they’re us ing thecom puter too much. I think those good old-fash ioned skills ofbe ing able to for mal ize, ar chive, and cap ture thoughts in a jour nal are very im por tant. I have kids us ing Palm Pi lots, but they still have to have a sketch book.

Where do grad u ates start af ter school? It de pends where they end up work ing, on the size of the agency. In larger agen cies there are a lot of things to be done, col lat eral ma te rial and print workthat might be lower on the food chain. At me dium size agen cies,kids on their first jobs might work on a tele vi sion spot in their firstyear.

Ap pren tice pro grams don’t hap pen much any more. They mayhap pen un of fi cially in terms of a mentoring re la tion ship, andwe’re al ways look ing to make that kind of magic hap pen.

An art di rec tor will part ner with a writer, and to gether theywill come up with a con cept that fits the strat egy. I think it’sin ter est ing that in these part ner ships now, the art di rec tor thinksin words and the writer thinks in vi su als.

An art di rec tor will con sider the best use of space, the lay outof an ad, the ty pog ra phy, all those things. They go on photoshoots and di rect the ar tis tic con cept. There may be a tech per sonwho co mes in to help build the vi sion in Quark, or art di rec torsmay just do it them selves, de pend ing on the size of the staff. Atthe en try level you could be work ing up to 80 hours a week.

With our grad u ates, we’ve had peo ple go on to big agen ciesand work on Nike and Microsoft. These stu dents are so am bi tiousand so bright, and are do ing great stuff. We have a large pool of

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grad u ates at won der ful agen cies, who we see as ex tended fam ily.We place peo ple in jobs all over the US.

The mar ket is very com pet i tive at this point. En roll ment ingrad u ate classes also goes up in bad eco nomic times. Peo ple say,‘I’ll just wait it out in grad u ate school.’

There is a type of stu dent who does n’t make it. In the cre ativearea of ad ver tis ing, it’s some one com ing in with a mind set thatsays, ‘This is ex actly how it works, this is the for mula I have to useto make a good ad.’ That’s the kiss of death. Some one who is n’tflex i ble and ready to roll with the punches is go ing to have a hardtime in this field. Some one who’s very con ser va tive – not in thepo lit i cal sense – but in their think ing, some one who lim its whatthe pos si bil i ties are.

I think I’m see ing more stu dents who are re ally se ri ous aboutmak ing ca reers out of mak ing ad ver tis ing better. We preach thatagain and again. Ad ver tis ing is not go ing to go away. Let’s make it better, more use ful, en ter tain ing, and eth i cal.

Mentoring is very im por tant. It may not be a for mal sit u a tionas much as it is look ing for peo ple who can show you what’s re ally go ing on and what good work is.

Be flex i ble. If some one says ‘It’s all about PageMaker – I’m not go ing to use Quark.’ That’s not how it’s done. You have toelim i nate the feel ing that there’s only one way of do ingsome thing.

I think con tin u ing ed u ca tion is go ing to the res tau rant andwatch ing how peo ple read a menu, read ing, and go ing to greatmov ies that you might have never have gone to. Traveling. For somany creatives, they’re work ing in ad ver tis ing at the same timethey’re writ ing nov els, or do ing their own art, and they’re feed ingthat cre ative side.

I want my stu dents to be cul tur ally cu ri ous, to read ev ery thing from Harry Pot ter to Ad ver tis ing To day to the clas sics. I want them to be well read on a wide, won der ful level. That’s whatstrength ens their think ing.”

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PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

AD VER TIS ING ART IS A CA REER FILLED with high highs and low lows – the abil ityto go with the flow and stay grounded is ab so lutely es sen tial. Ad ver tis ingis of ten de scribed as a first cousin to show busi ness, and many of thesame qual i ties needed in per form ing will serve you well in ad ver tis ing. It isa ca reer for the en er getic, the tal ented, the open minded, and theper sis tent.

Above all, you have to love the arts and pop u lar cul ture – tele vi sion,mag a zines, news pa pers, books, the Internet, mov ies, mu sic, the ater,fash ion – be cause the work you pro duce will al ways be com pet ing for thepub lic’s at ten tion. Read ing, ob serv ing, writ ing, and draw ing should bepart of your ev ery day life. You should be en thu si as tic, in volved, and awareof cur rent trends in ad ver tis ing while re spect ing the out stand ing andground break ing work of the past. A strong sense of color, bal ance,pro por tion, and an eye for de tail are im por tant.

You need the abil ity to vi su al ize in dif fer ent styles and me dia, and tocom mu ni cate that vi sion to oth ers in a group set ting. Pre sen ta tion andspeak ing skills can be taught and prac ticed, but if you have a hard timevi su al iz ing things, you are prob a bly in the wrong field.

Prob lem-solv ing skills are im por tant, be cause your de signs will notex ist in a vac uum. They have to help the cli ent solve a busi ness di lemma,in crease mar ket vis i bil ity, bring in more money, or in tro duce a newprod uct.

Other qual i fi ca tions in clude The abil ity to think things throughlog i cally, re al is ti cally, cre atively, and eth i cally - and do all of that un derpres sure. The abil ity to think young no mat ter what your age.

Are you able to han dle crit i cism? Ad ver tis ing is not for thethin-skinned. Staying or ga nized and on task, man ag ing your time, andmeet ing dead lines. An un der stand ing of your own cre ative pro cess is amust, along with the will ing ness to learn from and re spect oth ers.Flex i bil ity, pa tience, a sense of hu mor, and a pas sion for do ing your bestwork. Al ways giv ing more than what is ex pected of you. If the cli ent wants three sketches, give them five. If they need four so lu tions to a prob lem,give seven.

You must have ex cel lent in ter per sonal skills to suc ceed in this field. No mat ter how tal ented, if you can not get along with co-work ers and cli ents,and are not hon est in your re la tion ships, ad ver tis ing will be an un wisechoice. The ad ver tis ing world is rel a tively small and word gets around ifyou are dif fi cult to work with.

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ATTRACTIVE FEATURES

HERE ARE SOME AT TRAC TIVE FEA TURES de scribed by pro fes sion als in the field:

This is a field full of awards. You can start winning them in collegeand you can just keep winning them. I’ve won over 100 awards, and then I stopped entering competitions because I was more excited about enteringthe things my staff was doing. When you’re young and win that firstaward, you say that’s something I want to do more of. And you’ll fightthrough the process to get it.

This is one industry where it’s okay to job-hop. My advice is todo some of that. You’ll expand your network of people, and if you’re alikable and talented person, people will get to know who you are andyou’ll get more job offers.

It’s pleasing to be able to sit in front of a computer movingthings around and doing layouts. When I go and do a press check at theprinter, I get into the smell of the ink, the feel of the paper, and seeing theimage that I created.

Every day I get to do something I really enjoy, and not everyoneis lucky enough to do that as a vocation.

Being creative and coming up with exciting work that solves the client’s problem well.

There’s no such thing as a typical day. Every day is different.

To help foster a new way of looking at something in theculture. I think Nike has done that well. They’ve branded Nike, but at thesame time they’ve made us understand the heartfelt consideration of whatit means to “just do it.” That’s pretty culture changing, especially when itspeaks to something so positive.

My favorite clients are the ones who give you all pertinentinformation, turn you loose, and trust you to solve the problem. Then theypick your favorite idea, publish it, and it works. They share the results withyou and congratulate you for doing such a good job. Those are the idealclients.

All of my students volunteer in some way, using their talents foreverything from breast cancer awareness to homelessness. The other goodpart is this vital, wonderful, fun, passionate way of making ideas every day. That is so cool. And there’s money to be made.

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UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES

HERE ARE SOME UN AT TRAC TIVE FEA tures as de scribed by some of thepro fes sion als:

There’s very little job security in any creative workingenvironment. You can think you’ve got the greatest position, thegreatest client, and for some reason the client goes away and the agencylays you off. It may not have anything to do with your skills. That’s one ofthe reasons there’s a lot of hopping around from job to job. But that’s one of the risks that comes with the excitement of being in the industry.

You run across a lot of flakes and poor management. Creativepeople are not necessarily the best managers. They’ll start their ownbusiness and the management part of it falls short.

You’re not alone in your design. You may want it a certain way andyou’re not going to get it that way. Sometimes you have to get a piece ofwork past the account executive, the creative director, the client, theclient’s wife, the client’s friend, whoever, and they don’t like the color blueor something. So you really have to work your way through a maze ofcritics constantly attacking your good work.

You have to give and take, so what you feel is your best work is notalways accepted, because the client is always right.

Getting caught technically when dealing with computers. It’s11 p.m., you want to go home, a file crashes on you, you can’t get thepage to print because some image is corrupted, and you want to put yourfist through the computer monitor.

You get tired of sitting in front of the computer all the time.You don’t get to do as much work with your hands. You’re at the keyboard rather than physically doing things.

The worst part is dealing with details – budgets, schedules, billing, and client revisions.

For about a year I worked with a very arrogant accountexecutive who was impossible to please and got great joy out of makingme feel like I was stupid.

Advertising can be ugly – shilling products that are less than perfect.I’ve heard horror stories where people quit entirely and moved on to a jobwhere they didn’t have to sell what they didn’t believe in.

Deadlines – deadlines – deadlines!

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RECOMMENDED EDUCATION AND TRAINING

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A DE GREE to get a job in ad ver tis ing art, but it ishighly rec om mended that you get some for mal de sign train ing, whether it is at a uni ver sity, com mu nity col lege, an art school, a ca reer/vo ca tionalschool, or a port fo lio de vel op ment school.

The ma jor ity of pro fes sion als in the field have an un der grad u atede gree or some col lege ed u ca tion. A for mal ed u ca tion shows that you arecom mit ted to build ing a de sign port fo lio and that you are will ing to learnfrom ex perts in the field. Ad ver tis ing is a tough and highly com pet i tivein dus try, and al though gen u ine cre ative tal ent will al ways shine through, a de gree or other train ing could give you that ex tra edge.

More over, some gov ern ment agen cies and uni ver sity sys tems mayre quire all em ploy ees to have an un der grad u ate de gree to work in theirad ver tis ing cre ative de part ments. These de grees can be in art, jour nal ism,de sign, Eng lish, mar ket ing, psy chol ogy, or busi ness.

A Bach e lor of Fine Arts de gree pro gram may in clude courses such asprin ci ples of de sign, art and art his tory, paint ing, sculp ture, me chan i caland ar chi tec tural draw ing, ba sic en gi neer ing, fash ion de sign, andsketch ing.

If you plan to teach ad ver tis ing, art, or graphic de sign at the col legeor uni ver sity level, you will need a post grad u ate de gree (a mas ter’s or aPhD) in art, ad ver tis ing, or a re lated field.

For most jobs in the pri vate sec tor, how ever, em ploy ers will be look ing at your abil ity to think, cre ate, pro duce, and even tu ally man age oth ers –more than any spe cific for mal ed u ca tional back ground.

Macintosh com puter pro fi ciency in de sign soft ware such asPhotoShop, Quark, and Il lus tra tor is man da tory. Con tinuing ed u ca tionpro grams, on line learn ing, or de sign schools (go here for a list:www.graphic-de sign-schools.com), can pro vide these spe cial ized courses.

More than 100 col leges and art schools of fer pro grams ac cred ited bythe Na tional As so ci a tion of Schools of Art and De sign(www.arts-ac credit.org/nasad). Be fore choos ing a school, check to seehow the courses are sep a rated into fine art and com mer cial art, andchoose the one that most closely suits your goals and in ter ests.

Other sources of in for ma tion about graphic de sign schools are the Art School and Pro gram Di rec tory (www.artschools.com) and Graphic De signEd u ca tion (www.sensebox.com).

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In an un der grad u ate col lege or uni ver sity, the main sub jects toin ves ti gate are busi ness, jour nal ism, and com mu ni ca tions ma jors thatcover all ar eas of ad ver tis ing from both cre ative and man a ge rialstand points. Check ing out a list of col leges and uni ver si ties(www.uni ver si ties.com) will help you find a list ing of de gree pro gramsof fered by each school.

If you don’t yet know your pri mary in ter est, a lib eral arts ed u ca tion oran as so ci ate’s de gree at a com mu nity col lege is a good start. Orin ves ti gate the var i ous art of fer ings at ca reer schools(www.tech ni cal-vo ca tional-trade-schools.com).

Colleges and universities offering degree programs inadvertising

Uni ver sity of Texas – Aus tinwww.ad ver tis ing.utexas.edu

Syr a cuse Uni ver sity, New Yorkwww.newhouse.syr.edu

Iowa State Uni ver sity, Ameswww.jlmc.iastate.edu

North west ern Uni ver sity, Chi cagowww.studorg.north west ern.edu

Pepperdine Uni ver sity, Mali bu, Cal i for niawww.pepperdine.edu

Wash ing ton State Uni ver sity, Pull manwww.libarts.wsu.edu

Uni ver sity of North Carolina, Cha pel Hillwww.ibiblio.org/jomc/

Uni ver sity of Florida, Gainesville www.jou.ufl.edu

Art and Design Schools

School of Ad ver tis ing Art, Ohiowww.saacollege.com

Acad emy of Art Col lege, San Fran ciscowww.academyart.edu

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School of the Art In sti tute of Chi cago www.ar tic.edu

Art In sti tute of At lanta www.aia.artinstitute.edu

Art In sti tute of Hous tonwww.aih.aii.edu

Art Cen ter Col lege of De sign, Pas a denawww.artcenter.edu

Art In sti tute of Cal i for niawww.artinstitutes.edu

Pratt In sti tute, New Yorkwww.pratt.edu

School of Vi sual Arts, New Yorkwww.sva.edu

Min ne ap o lis School of Ad ver tis ing, De sign, and In ter ac tive Studieswww.adschool.com

Portfolio Development Schools

The Port fo lio Cen ter, At lantawww.portfoliocenter.com

Mi ami Ad Schoolwww.adschool.edu

The Cre ative Cir cus, At lantawww.creativecircus.com

School of Vi sual Con cepts, Se at tlewww.svcseattle.com

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EARNINGS

EARN INGS VARY GREATLY, WITH en try-level jobs at ad ver tis ing agen ciesin small mar kets start ing around $25,000. In terns might work for start ingsal a ries of about $400 a week in or der to gain ex pe ri ence.

Your sal ary will de pend on sev eral vari able fac tors: the size of theagency or in-house com mu ni ca tions de part ment, the size of the mar ket you live in, years of ex pe ri ence, and whether your du ties will be pri mar ilygen er at ing ideas, cre at ing your own de signs and/or pro duc ing the work of oth ers, and even tu ally your abil ity to man age a de part ment.

The fol low ing ranges de pend on re gion, with west ern US ad ver tis ingagen cies pay ing the high est sal a ries:

Art di rec tors: $50,000 to $60,000

As so ci ate cre ative di rec tors: $85,000 to $100,000

Cre ative di rec tors: $100,000 to $125,000

Ad ver tis ing art ists who work on the cli ent side are sub ject to sim i larvari ables, al though some con tend that you can make more work ing for acli ent than an agency. Sal aries are de pend ent upon the size andprof it abil ity of the com pany, the im por tance they place on cre ativepo si tions within the com pany, and fluc tu at ing mar ket con di tions.

If you are an owner of your own ad ver tis ing art and de sign busi nessyou will make what ever you can af ford to pay your self. Very suc cess fulfreelancers or own ers of small firms can make $100,000 or more.

Changing jobs is a fact of life in ad ver tis ing, and ca reer ists who aretal ented and in de mand have been known to in crease their sal a riessig nif i cantly by mov ing around.

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OPPORTUNITIES

EM PLOY MENT OP POR TU NI TIES FOR AD ver tis ing art ists and graphic de sign ers areex pected to grow in the com ing de cade, es pe cially in com puter graph ics.This is in line with the growth in the de sign field in gen eral, ac cord ing toex perts. Sta tis tics also in di cate that more art ists work in ad ver tis ing than in any other field.

There are about 10,000 ad ver tis ing agen cies in the United States.New York and Chi cago dom i nate the global agency mar ket, along with Los An geles, De troit, and San Fran cisco. High-pro file cre ative work is alsocom ing out of Min ne ap o lis, Boston, At lanta, Se at tle, Mi ami, and Dal las.

The best news about ad ver tis ing, how ever, is that it is lit er allyev ery where. In fact, ad ver tis ing agen cies can be found in just about ev erycity of any size. The larger ones have branch of fices all over the world.

In tern ships are the best and most-sought-af ter way to get that firstbreak. The Amer i can Ad ver tis ing Fed er a tion’s col lege con nec tion pro gram(www.aaf.org/col lege/in dex.html) has 260 af fil i ated chap ters through outthe United States and abroad. The pro gram in cludes 6,000 un der grad u ate stu dent mem bers and more than 250 fac ulty ad vis ers. AAF’s pro gramsfea ture more than 1,000 in tern ship op por tu ni ties, schol ar ships, ca reerguides, in dus try men tors, and net work ing with top agency and cor po ratere cruit ers.

The Na tional Net work for Art ist Place ment (check out their Web site at www.artistplacement.com) pub lishes the Na tional Di rec tory of ArtsIn tern ships. Col lege or uni ver sity ca reer cen ters may have a copy.

A ca reer in ad ver tis ing art is not lim ited to jobs at ad ver tis ingagen cies. Many art ists and other creatives choose to work cli ent-side in anin-house com mu ni ca tions de part ment. Ad ver tisers in the US spend about$200 bil lion a year. The top 10 ad ver tis ing ex pen di tures are in re tail,au to mo tive, food, fi nan cial ser vices, tele com mu ni ca tions, en ter tain ment,travel, trans por ta tion, res tau rants, and me dia (tele vi sion, ra dio, etc.). TheStan dard Di rec tory of Ad ver tis ing Agencies, the “Red Book,”(www.redbooks.com) lists agen cies and their cli ents.

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GETTING STARTED

THE PORT FO LIO IS THE MAIN STAY OF EV ery cre ative ad ver tis ing pro fes sional, and it’s never too early to start one. When pro spec tive em ploy ers ask to seeyour “book,” they are re fer ring to your port fo lio. It is the only way to becon sid ered for se ri ous work in ad ver tis ing art: No port fo lio, no job.

To view ex am ples of port fo lios by in dus try pro fes sion als, go toCom mu ni ca tion Arts Web site at www.commarts.com.

How do you build your own port fo lio? Ev ery thing you do in art,de sign, or com puter graph ics class is po ten tial ma te rial. Also any thing youde sign for clubs, or ga ni za tions, and ex tra cur ric u lar ac tiv i ties. Keep cop iesof all of your work, and se lect the best for your book, dis card ing andre plac ing as needed.

Other things you can do to get started:

Talk to your art teachers and school counselors about your interestin advertising art. Work on the school newspaper and yearbook. Check out library books on advertising art and history, graphicdesign, and typography.Watch television commercials, study magazine ads, visit museums,go to the movies, and read as much of everything as you can.If your circle of family and friends includes professionals inadvertising, public relations, journalism, or art, start looking for amentor. Ask your school to include creative advertising professionals in their next Career Day.Build your own Web site if you haven’t already, using free spacefrom your Internet service provider. Learn the three main programsdiscussed here – Photoshop, Quark, and Illustrator – but don’t stopthere.

Finally, look around you. Start look ing at the world in terms of howprod ucts and ser vices are sold, and who is cre at ing the most ef fec tivemes sages to do that. Get ex cited about think ing dif fer ently andcom mu ni cat ing a mes sage vi su ally. A ca reer in ad ver tis ing art isstim u lat ing, re ward ing, and chal leng ing. Good luck!

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ASSOCIATIONS

nThe Amer i can As so ci a tion of Ad ver tis ing Agencieswww.aaaa.org

nAmer i can Ad ver tis ing Fed er a tion www.aaf.org

nAs so ci a tion of Na tional Ad ver tisers www.ana.net

nThe Art Di rec tors Club, New York www.adnyc.org

nThe Ad ver tis ing Coun cil www.adcouncil.org

nThe Ad ver tis ing Ed u ca tion Foun da tionwww.aded.org

BOOKS

nAd ver tis ing To day by War ren Berger

nThe Art Di rec tors An nual

nTwenty Ads That Shook the World: The Cen tury’s MostGround break ing Ad ver tis ing and How It Changed Us All by James B. Twitchell

nFive Star Mind: Games and Ex er cises to Stim u late YourCre ativ ity and Imag i na tion by Tom Wujec

nThe New Draw ing on the Right Side of the Brain by BettyEd wards

nA Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be MoreCre ative by Roger Von Oech

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PERIODICALS

nAdweek www.adweek.com

nAd ver tis ing Agewww.ad age.com

nCom mu ni ca tion Artswww.commarts.com

nPrintwww.printmag.com

nHow Mag a zine

WEBSITES

nThe Ad*Ac cess Pro jectwww.scriptorium.lib.duke.edu

nArt Di rec tion Fo rum www.artdirection.com

nLinks to the World of Ad ver tis ingwww.ad ver tis ing.utexas.edu/world/his tory.html

nNine teenth Cen tury Ad ver tis ingwww.ad ver tis ing.harpweek.com

Copy right 2006 In sti tute For Ca reer Re search CHICAGONetLibrary@ca reers-internet.org

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