Art directors design the visual side of advertising campaigns for all kinds of media including film, TV, web or print.
£18,000 Starter
to£100,000 Experienced
38 to 40 a week
evenings occasionally
You can get into this job through:
Employers will often expect you to have a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:
You'll usually need:
You can start as a junior creative to develop your skills on the job and work your way up through training and promotion.
You could get some experience before applying for your first job. This will give you a better understanding of the industry and is a good way to make useful contacts.
You can contact agencies directly to ask about placements, and make industry contacts through relevant groups on social networking sites like LinkedIn. You can get more advice on how to approach advertising agencies from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
In larger advertising agencies, you may be trained through a structured graduate scheme, if you have a relevant degree.
Your creativity and ability in art and design are the most important things to many employers.
When looking for jobs, you'll need to show a portfolio or 'book' of your work to potential employers, as you'll be employed on the strength of your artwork and ideas.
You can find out more about becoming careers in advertising from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
You'll need:
Your day-to-day tasks may include:
You could work at a recording studio, in an office or at a client's business.
Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time.
With experience, you could progress to senior art director or creative director.
You could also work freelance or set up your own agency.
Some art directors move into directing for TV or film.
We can't find any apprenticeship vacancies in England for an advertising art director right now.
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