So you want to be a Designer at an Ad Agency

I designed my first ad in 1985. Before the internet, before computers, before electricity.

A lot has changed since then, but one thing has remained the same...have a great book. It’s the first step to getting your foot in the door at an advertising agency. I’m talking about your portfolio, the collection of work you put together in school, freelance projects or work as a result of an internship.

There are many ways to build a good book. I’m not going to debate about art school versus a 4-year liberal arts degree or 2-year degree or any degree for that matter. An art school’s main goal is to guarantee its
graduates leave with a well put together portfolio. But art school is not cheap and not always an option.
So don’t feel like you don’t have a chance if you didn’t attend a top art or advertising school.

With that said, study good work. Communication Arts Magazine is one of the best sources to view top award winning ads, logos, brochures, package design and web design. This is just one source. There are many publications and websites that are devoted to good design. Get to know them well. If possible, intern at an agency. If you know the software programs well, then you might actually get to do some production work and not just gofer.

When putting your book together, be selective and include only your best stuff. An Art Director isn’t going to have hours to look through tons of work. And you don’t want to bore them. When deciding what should be included, think about where you’re interviewing and try to include what would be the most applicable.

An ad agency would love to see awesome ads you have designed. If you don’t have a lot of experience with ad design try to create some on your own. Take a bad ad you’ve found in a publication and turn it into something great. Then during the interview you can talk about the benefits of the product, its target market and how your design is better and gets the job done.

Don’t include a bunch of fine art like drawings, paintings and sculpture. I once interviewed a guy that had a book of tattoo drawings (?). Interesting work, we just didn’t have an opening for a tattoo artist. By the way, now it’s easy to prescreen work before the interview and check out portfolios online. Is your’s on there?

Be prepared to talk about your work and how it satisfied the project goals.

Know your core design software programs well. That would be InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Photography knowledge is a nice plus. If you can write copy that is a big plus. If you know web design, Dreamweaver and or Flash that is a big, big plus. (You’ll probably get the job.)

Do a little home work before you show up for an interview. Familiarize yourself with their client list. Look over the work they do. Can you see yourself fitting in with that group? You might even learn a little tidbit that would go a long way during the interview. For example, if you read the bios on our site you would learn that Missy and I both love thumbprint cookies. (hint, hint)

Good luck job interviewing and remember to shower and smile.   : )