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I recently joined TCS but I was moved into very different project which was told during hiring. Also they told me for joining incentive but later after 65 days of joining they didn't give saying your business aproval got rejected. I really want to be with TCS but due to project dissatisfaction, I am looking for different job. I am not sure if I can leave the organisation soo soon(4 months) and it should not effect my carrier.
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Hi fishes! I volunteer with The Art of Good, a creative collective helping small businesses affected by the pandemic. They are seeking a little help from a media professional. Need an SEM POV for a small business looking to change their name and relaunch their brand. This is non-paid. More about giving back while in-between gigs. :) If you can help out or want to learn more, please reach out to me via LinkedIN. Thank you!! www.linkedin.com/in/karenkohn/
Chief
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Tell your partner or bosses you do 80% of the work and see how that lands. Perhaps you need to take a look at where you are at. As a writer I do a lot of the work ahead of time, I write the decks, and sometimes work with strategists or account. Nthe AD might write some bullet points for their thoughts but I craft them. Edit. Give the last look. I usually organize all our thoughts as we concept, and do a lot of the research and finessing of the ideas. I also write the casting and work with producers. Sure, ADs do a lot of work and it is time consuming, but 80% just shits on the rest of your team.
Pro
do not do this.
tell your boss that you are overloaded having to do production and design work, in addition to the concepting work you were hired to do. then, propose a solution or ask them for help figuring one out. your copywriter partner can’t help with what you’re doing, so don’t burden them with it.
do not say you do more work than someone else or throw anyone else under the bus.
Wow, there's a lot of whining in this thread...
Personally I like that I have control over pretty much everything that goes out the door. If that means working a few more hours than my writer, so be it.
I guess if you don't, maybe you shouldn't be an art director.
You arent expected to write, design or retouch.
@OP Look, I’m a woman AD. But some of the best CWs I know are women and some of the best ADs I know are men.
You’re feeling overwhelmed and under appreciated which is fair. It seems like you need to find a new partner and a new agency. I’ve worked with a lot of juniors who thought they could do it all and thought they were good at everything. They couldn’t and weren’t. Take a step back and decide what you want out of your career because you’ll never perfect your craft by trying to do it all.
And the attitude of not working well with others and I’m going to do it all won’t get you far. I’ve seen it bite some of the most talented people in the ass.
You are correct, sadly. Luckily, you saw this early in your career.
Make a choice: do you like design or concepting? If design, double-down on that discipline and aim for being a Design Director. Maybe even Product or UX Design too.
If you prefer concepting, I suggest switching over to copy. I know a number of people who switched over.
If you stick to being an AD, this is how it’s going to be for a long time until you rise up to CD.
No prob, CD2. Agencies are shooting themselves in the foot by overloading their ADs. Sure, they can bill the client more by making an AD do everything, but in the end it makes the work suffer and causes the AD to want to quit. The better agencies let their ADs direct a group of people who handle the nuts and bolts of execution, but that setup is nearly extinct now.
The best art directors I know don’t do it all. They focus on what they love and perfect it.
It gets better because with practice you get faster. What takes you hours as a junior will take you much less when you’re a senior.
Don’t give up hope, it gets better. Maybe it’s just your agency...
SCW1 not editing, art directing and coming up with treatments for broadcast or other video components of campaigns (OLV, social, long form etc). Lately that seems hard to find at my current place and I miss working with editors, directors, and producers. Would like to get back to focusing on big concepts and overseeing visual components instead of making one off layouts. Maybe it’s also the current industry climate. I’m not complaining, just want to keep working and moving my career forward
Pro
are you at a smaller shop?
i agree, coming up as an art director, i did the same at smaller places. (aside from the writing which you shouldn’t do) you do it because you have more technical skills than a copywriter. you can do more, so you’re asked to do more.
but that doesn’t mean you’re the best at doing all of that. or that you should be doing all of that yourself. the larger the shop, the more resources they have, the more people. then, you’ll find you focus on concepting and visual expression, then direct a team to execute upon that.
keep in mind, this gives you more employment opportunities. you may not want them, but if you needed to, you could be a retoucher, a designer, an art director, a manager, etc.
that’s why i’ve found creative directors who were art directors are better at managing people, because we’ve done it throughout our career.
however, most CDs became CD because they were promoted based on creating, not management.
Pro
it doesn’t reward anyone. it just takes advantage of those that it can, so you just think it’s rewarding others.
I think your gripe is with your current position/team/partner. I have never asked my AD to write anything. Ever. And she is always provided robust studio support.
Maybe it's time you find a different match. Your partner should concept and write. And often I find as a writer that I carry much of the presentation and client wrangling during shoots.
Having this kind of attitude as a junior really does not bode well. It's better not to make sweeping comments like that in the future.
Maybe. But given the comments of other art directors on this thread, it doesn’t seem unique to me. And yes I agree, maybe I shouldn’t be art director. I love the work but I also want to have a life.
I feel you and can mostly agree with your comment.
Blame the agencies for not properly staffing the department and not offering you support you could use and most likely need.
Rising Star
This is relatable af. On top of staying up to date with all the different softwares, working through mindnumbing menial tasks that no one else wants to do, we’re still expected to have a sIdE hUsTLe/passion project and bring in proactive stuff. The list of requirements on job postings just get longer and longer. It’s also frustrating to hear when people say ADs are less conceptual. I don’t have a partner now so I’m doing everything from comping to writing up scripts. Sometimes it just feels like we’re spread too thin but still under-appreciated.
This. Pixel pushing logos on banners for six rounds before client approval.
Maybe this would all be a little better if CWs could maybe fire up InDesign to modify and output their own decks (and ADs to be ok with that) but lol what am I thinking
Pro
canva and google slides. you’d be amazed at how good it can look and how little you need to learn.
Oh my god, yes! Love what I do but it can be so draining when all of the pressure is placed on you and with even higher expectations.
At the last place I worked, I didn’t have a partner so I was expected to do it all...AND still bring in award-worthy proactive ideas. I had mental breakdowns on a weekly (if not daily) basis. It was a top shop with few creatives.
And it’s insane because there’s this bizarre perception that copywriters are the best ones at concepting, but that’s not true whatsoever from my experience. Art directors have to be able to concept and more. And I find that a lot of copywriters like to write way too much, so it’s up to me to have them condense it, which takes up quite a bit of time.
Helps that I was a writer before...So I’m more like a concepter, writer, editor, art director, animator, designer, illustrator, etc. Sad this industry doesn’t value how much work we do and the value we have.
Totally! And I love all the stuff and I’m good at it but then we become Swiss Army knives which ultimately works against us when we want to freelance or look for opportunities that are outside the AD/CW binary.
Art director used to be the best job. You would actually direct other people that were professionals at their special disciplines. Now thanks to the likes of Gary v and such the art director is a one man ad/strategy/production/animation/what else? shop.
I’ve been there. My first job had me writing, retouching, animating, concepting, video editing, designing, etc. I felt like I couldn’t become an expert on anything because I was doing everything. I’ve since moved on and now have more concentrated responsibilities that are more in line with a traditional AD role. Just wanted to echo the sentiment that it might not be the career itself but the place that you’re currently working. Sounds like they are exploiting you and need to hire other roles.
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https://joinfishbowl.com/post_1k6f9x
Why don’t you quit and be a writer then?
Chief
I feel ya. When it comes to these things I just speak with traffic and my project team beforehand and say that I need a designer on the project. If they're okay with something rudimentary like a scamp for this round I'm happy to do it, but if they want something more polished I know I won't be able to achieve the same result as a trained designer in that time, so they'll need to bring one in.