Related Posts
Can anyone give an opinion about joining Cognizant Bangalore now ? I have 1.8 YoE and they are offering a pretty good hike but I have heard news like there's managerial changes happening rn and many people are leaving the firm. Your opiniors will greatly help me in making a career decision.
Am I the only one who is happy I got into IT?
More Posts
Let’s get their together.
Any agile coaches here ?
Subject Expert
When the partner asks why I missed his deadline
Additional Posts in Creatives
Going in-house full-time ✌🏻
Community Builder
GSP San Fran or Leo Chicago?
What questions do you ask at the interview?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Don’t.
Learn to animate?
Here’s my generic advice, if they want to be an art director: https://www.peterjwagoner.com/genericadvertisingadvice
Wow @jeremy carson in all kindness general rule of thumb is never believe any job is easier than yours.
Long story short I would recommend he becomes a producer/project manager, because they have an eye for design, and you don’t need hard skills. An eye is really not enough. You need yeeeeaaarsss of experience DOING. Not looking. Producer is perfect! He needs to know to crack the whip and have basic people skills and get shit done.
About digital creatives and why he should stay away from that:
@Jeremy I agree though that a lot of digital creatives are not conceptual, because they are called designers. They design. Conceptual digital creatives are the same as traditional but unfortunately the titling system creates confusion and you never know if your digital art director is conceptual or if they just graduated from being a designer. It’s really a case by case situation.
OP digital is full of passionate nerds who have bathed in digital since they were babies/kids so at 39 he’d be competing with folks who have about 20+ years of digital experience and are 25-35. They’re fast, sharp, great at craft, and usually know how to animate in After Effects, edit in premiere, basics of coding, typography, illustration. They are passionate about design trends. I’m 35 and I already think I’m an old fart. Thank goodness there’s the 22 yos who know everything.
So no experience in digital is tough/i would say impossible seeing the competition and the skill set/passion needed.
Good luck to your friend!
That being said if he REALLY wants to design he could try “production designer”: where they design the different banner ad formats, once a designer has already given the direction.
And places like pharma.
He just would end up making more money as a producer/project manager and his age would play in his favor because you got that confidence and wisdom going for you. And he could always do design on the side for friends.
Digital design is very agist just by the nature of the beast is all I’m saying. You need to be a huge digital and design nerd to compete, so if he hasn’t started, it shows he isn’t.
Oh, I missed the part where we established the friend was a male.
digital advertising has a massive space for execution-based art directors (less “big idea” and more towards design), so i think they can get into that side easily.
if they want to do conceptual digital, then they need to have concept in their book or nobody will hire them, even as a junior.
i never said it was easier than mine, only that it would easier for OP’s friend, since as a designer, they’d be closer to an execution-based digital creative vs a conceptual digital creative, since they have no conceptual experience. not sure where you got “better."
kinda obvious that their skill set translates more easily to that. going into production or project management is a completely different set of skills. i’d highly recommend against that if they’re more creatively-leaning.
good notes about being a production designer, though my guess is that if their friend is a designer, they’re looking for more than pure execution.
Thanks for everyone's tips.
My friend has a formal undergrad degree from a top design school in Graphic Design, so the foundation is there. She has a solid grasp of type, composition, tension, all the good stuff, and it's apparent in all of her personal projects, but she wants to do more than freelance on random projects and design wedding invitations for clients from time to time.
I think all of your advice is helpful so I going to pass it on.
Advertising is indeed ageist. Sadly I agree that she might be over her head competing with 22 year old design wiz kids. For me, I am having a hard time imagining where I would place her and against what account, even as a junior production designer, but I want to help her out and give her options.