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Advertising art director
Creative
Art directors design images for ad campaigns, including film, TV, website and printed adverts.
Average salary (a year)
£18000.0
Starter
£45000.0
Experienced
Typical hours (a week)
38.0 to 40.0 hours
a week
Work Hours
evenings
occasionally
How to become
Explore the different ways to get into this role
You can get into this job through:a university course; an apprenticeship; working towards this role; graduate trainee scheme
University
Employers will often expect you to have a foundation degree, higher national diploma, degree or postgraduate qualification in
graphic design, advertising design, illustration, fine art
With your degree you can apply for graduate training schemes in advertising companies.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
  • 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
More Information
equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
student finance for fees and living costs|https://www.gov.uk/student-finance
university courses and entry requirements|https://www.ucas.com/
Apprenticeship
You could apply to do an apprenticeship, which may help you to get a trainee or assistant role with a company. They include
Junior Advertising Creative Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship, Advertising Creative Level 6 Apprenticeship, leading to a professional qualification
These apprenticeships typically take around 2 years to complete and are a mix of learning in the workplace and off-site study.
Entry requirements
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
    Work
    You can start as a junior creative to develop your skills on the job and work your way up through training and promotion.
    Volunteering
    You could get some experience before applying for your first job. This will give you a better understanding of advertising and is a good way to make contacts.
    You could contact agencies directly to ask about volunteering opportunities. You could also make contacts on social media channels like LinkedIn.
    You can get more advice on how to contact advertising agencies from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
    More Information
    Career Tips
    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 of examples of your creative work. Some agencies recruit creative teams rather than just individuals. You could work with a copywriter and create ideas you can pitch together.
    Professional And Industry Bodies
    You could join the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising to find training opportunities and make industry contacts
    Further Information
    You can find out more about careers in advertising from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and Discover Creative Careers.
    What it takes
    Find out what skills you’ll use in this role
    Skills and knowledge
    You'll need:
      Knowledge of media production and communication
      The ability to sell products and services
      To be thorough and pay attention to detail
      Excellent verbal communication skills
      Knowledge of the fine arts
      Thinking and reasoning skills
      The ability to come up with new ways of doing things
      The ability to organise your time and workload
    Digital Skills Level
    to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
    What you will do
    Discover the day-to-day tasks you’ll do in this role
    Day to day tasks
    You could
    work closely with a copywriter to create adverts that your client wants, create storyboards or sketches of your ideas, present your ideas to a creative director or account team, choose studios or locations and attend photo or film shoots, make sure that budgets and deadlines are met, manage the final editing of the finished adverts
    Working environment
    You could work in a creative studio, in an office or at a client's business.
    Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time.
    Career Path & Progression
    Look at progression in this role and similar opportunities
    With experience, you could
    become a senior art director, work freelance, set up your own advertising agency, move into directing for TV or film
    Job profile data provided by The National Careers Service.
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