What Exactly Is a Creative Director, and Do I Really Want to Become One?

Creative directors lead teams of creatives who are responsible for conceptualizing, developing, and producing work that addresses a client’s communications challenges. You will find creative directors in many different fields from advertising and design to fashion and broadcast. In terms of advertising and graphic design, most of the work that a creative director is responsible for creating comes in the form of TV spots, out-of-home advertising, advertising and branding campaigns, websites, brochures, package design, logos, and other collateral materials. Many times the creative director is tasked with managing an interdisciplinary team which includes graphic and web designers, copywriters, web designers and developers, and social media content developers. A creative director does not have to know everything about how a creative project is developed; however, they must know how to motivate and lead a team of creative professionals that does. In any given day a creative director’s input may be solicited on any number and types of assignments from an advertising campaign to a brand refresh, a website design to an out-of-home execution, a TV shoot to a radio recording session, a brainstorm session to new business pitch. Knowledge and versatility are key to being a good creative director. You must be able to quickly assess the assignment given to your team, brainstorm and work with them to find the creative “sweet spot,” motivate them to develop visuals and messaging that stands out in a crowded marketplace, gain approval and support from your agency team, present to a client and sell them on the idea, and be ready to start all over again.

Creative directors are considered upper-level management and as a result work under a great deal of pressure and strict deadlines. They must deal with personnel, budgets, and profitability as well as ensure that all creative products that leave the agency represent in a good light and meet deadlines, while also addressing client challenges. That said, one of the benefits of being a creative director is it usually comes with a good salary along with a good deal of creative control over the output of your team.

Here is my take on a creative direction career trajectory. Like all careers, you’ll start at the bottom, and through drive and determination, can climb up the ladder. Let’s take a look at a typical career progression:

Junior Art Director / Designer / Copywriter—Entry-level

Degree Level: Associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree.

Design Major: Advertising, Branding, Communication Design, Graphic Design.

Copy Major: Journalism, Advertising, Communications, Creative Writing, Professional Writing.

Experience: College degree and/or previous work experience.

Key Skills: Must be visual thinkers who have a strong desire to work through a creative process in a team environment to produce work for clients. They must have the ability to execute designs and production files: the role is entry-level, very “hands-on,” and often extremely busy.

Art Director / Designer / Copywriter

Degree Level: Associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or in rare cases previous work experience.

Design Major: Advertising, Branding, Communication Design, Graphic Design.

Copy Major: Journalism, Advertising, Communications, Creative Writing, Professional Writing.

Experience: 2–4 years; agency, studio, or in-house experience.

Key Skills: Must be good at listening to instructions, contributing to brainstorm sessions, working as part of a team, understanding how to solve visual or writing problems and executing instructions. Must have a desire to work with creative teammates to understand and address clients’ needs and desires. Should be familiar with a variety of elements for projects such as papers, fonts, colors, photos, and so on. Often produces work that is conceptualized by the senior-level team members.

Senior Art Director / Designer / Copywriter

Degree Level: Associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or in rare cases previous work experience.

Design Major: Advertising, Branding, Communication Design, Graphic Design.

Copy Major: Journalism, Advertising, Communications, Creative Writing, Professional Writing.

Experience: 5–10 years; agency, studio, or in-house experience.

Key Skills: Must have the ability to confidently consult with clients during projects’ initialization, revision, and support stages. Must have the ability to create designs and production files. Must seek out opportunities to gain managerial experience. Must be able to develop the conceptual and visual development of designs. Must be able to guide and mentor junior creative team members to execute deliverables. Must have the ability and expertise to work with vendors such as photographers, print houses, typographers, and other professionals associated with the industry as support partners.

Associate Creative Director

Degree Level: Associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or in rare cases previous work experience.

Design Major: Advertising, Branding, Communication Design, Graphic Design.

Copy Major: Journalism, Advertising, Communications, Creative Writing, Professional Writing.

Experience: 6–10 years; agency, studio, or in-house experience.

Key Skills: The ability to lead a team is key. Must have intermediate interpersonal and managerial expertise. Must be able to listen to and speak with staff and clients to ensure that the employees’ creative ideas and clients’ desires for different assignments are in alignment. Must be skilled at conceptualizing interesting and innovative ideas and developing those ideas into marketing solutions. Must be able to explain those ideas and rationale to staff, agency teammates, and clients.

Creative Director

Degree Level: Associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or in rare cases previous work experience.

Design Major: Advertising, Branding, Communication Design, Graphic Design.

Copy Major: Journalism, Advertising, Communications, Creative Writing, Professional Writing.

Experience: 8–12 years of experience.

Key Skills: Must have advanced interpersonal and managerial expertise. Must be versed in coordinating with various agency departments to assist with the successful ideation, development, and production of all assignments. Must have expertise in ideation, development, and management of creative ideas while leading multiple projects through their various stages with the creative team. Must be able to manage departmental budgets. Must be able to sell ideas to clients and maintain beneficial and profitable relationships with them.

Do I Need a Bachelor’s Degree?

While there are a few rare individuals who are able to enter the industry and are somewhat successful without the benefit of a bachelor’s degree, the majority of creatives that make it to creative director hold some type of degree, in some cases, an advanced degree such as a Master of Arts or Master of Fine Arts. Beyond the benefit of enrolling in classes that will help you hone your creative skills, included in any degree plan are general education requirements that help develop creatives into well-rounded thinkers, not just do-ers.

Spending time in courses beyond the obvious art or writing classes provides creative directors with a deeper well from which to pull their thoughts when it’s time to brainstorm. Information for a brand may be pulled from something learned in a history class. Inspiration might come in the form of a memory from math class. Wherever the insight comes from, a well-rounded student can arrive at solutions that are well thought out and go to a deeper level. Creative directors must use their knowledge and experience to lead their teams to develop consistent brand vocabulary for their clients. From matching fonts and colors to developing brand appeal, a well-rounded education informs a creative director’s ideas and inspiration.

In terms of jobs, most employers prefer to hire creative directors with knowledge of marketing techniques as well as knowledge of art and graphic design. A bachelor's degree in design, advertising, or writing can serve as a foundation for a creative director depending on whether their specialty is visual or verbal.

If you’re reading this book and you are still in school, these tips are for you:

• Take courses outside of your major to broaden your thinking process. Every creative in the industry who attended college will take the mandatory creative classes. What separates creatives once it’s time to get a job will be not only be what’s in portfolio, but how intelligent your work is and whether you can intelligently explain the rationale behind it. While the pretty picture will get someone’s attention, the intelligence behind the work and the manner in which you speak about it will get you the job.

• Experiment while you are in school. Everyone will be trying to create work that looks like the stuff they see in Communication Arts, HOW, Print, or Archive. Honestly, that’s boring. Stand out by having your own voice. You’ll have your entire career to create work within client constraints. Use your college years as an opportunity to experiment with mediums, viewpoints, visuals. You have no budgets to stick to. You have no clients telling you to “make the logo bigger.” You also have much more time to develop your work than what you’ll have in the real world. Make a statement before you are confined to client’s approvals. Push the boundaries of creativity while you can. Experiment. Have fun!

• Take a public speaking class. I strongly suggest that you take a public speaking class because all creatives, especially creative directors, will be required to give presentations at some point in their careers. Your presentation skills can make the difference between your agency winning or losing a pitch. You’ll also need practice to remove those dreaded verbal pauses. It drives me crazy when a person’s presentation is filled with more verbal pauses than actual content. Oops… I digress.

Whether you’re a student or a seasoned creative looking to go to another job:

• Create a stellar online portfolio. Make sure you have an online presence because that’s where everyone will look first. Get your work up and present it in the best way possible. Your work should load quickly whether someone is looking at it on their computer or their phone. Unless you’re trying to get a job working in broadcast developing TV intros, don’t worry about cutesy transitions or flashy intros. They are distracting and will annoy anyone who visits your page more than once. Keep it simple. Keep it clean.

• Have a leave-behind portfolio. When you head to your first interview, be sure to leave a printed and bound sampling of your work (or school work) that your potential supervisor can pass around to others who will need to provide input on your employment. I recommend a clear acetate cover with a black back and a coil spine (you can get this at FedEx Office). Don’t go the staple, paper clip, or binder clip route. Your leave-behind portfolio will speak for you when you are not around. Make it sing your praises.

Is Experience Required?

Employers typically prefer applicants with some experience. Not many employers—whether agency, studio, or in-house department—want to pay to train creatives. While in school take advantage of any internship opportunity you can. Most internships are not paid, but sometimes you’ll luck out and find one that is. Either way, get your name out there and build a reputation as a hard-working, intelligent, creative person. If you’re lucky, there will be a position at one of the places where you interned. If you busted your ass while you were there, you will have a leg up on the competition. At the very least, you will have people who will be willing to write great recommendations for you when you need them.

Once you’ve made it to the senior art director level, take every opportunity given to you to manage someone else. Ask your creative leader for supervisory opportunities. Whether it's implementing a training program to mentor junior-level creatives, leading random or scheduled brainstorm sessions, or supervising freelancers, do it. You need to gain experience leading others in order to progress up the career ladder.

When you start interviewing for creative director positions, I guarantee the people interviewing you will ask about your supervisory experience. You’d better have an answer if you want the gig. There won’t be opportunities for you to learn how to supervise people once you are hired as a creative director. Even rudimentary supervisory experience is something you should have gotten before you interviewed for your potentially new position. The people who will consider hiring a creative director will expect that you already know how to supervise. You will also need to know how to lead a team and delegate. If you are unsure of these basic requirements of being a creative director, you won’t last long.

Do I Need a Graduate Degree?

Honestly, most of the creative directors I know don’t have a graduate degree. They reached the position with a bachelor’s degree and lots of experience. Now don’t get me wrong, an advanced degree certainly will help you along the way. When you are pursuing a master’s degree you are narrowly focused on the specific degree criteria instead of having the broad overview that came during your undergraduate studies. Sometimes, creatives will find that pursuing a graduate degree in an ancillary topic would benefit them.

For example, a friend of mine at GDC Marketing + Ideation, Carey Quackenbush, one of the best creative leaders I’ve worked with, started his career as a copywriter. As he worked his way up the ladder he decided to pursue a Masters in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing Management. Now as Chief Ideation Officer of GDC, he utilizes what he learned while studying for his MBA along with his creative leadership skills to ensure that their client’s messaging not only is creative and stands out, but also exceeds the business requirements of his client’s marketing effort.

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of creative directors or chief creative officers out there with a bachelor’s degree. I am not saying that everyone needs to have a graduate degree in order to be successful. However, because of the level of study that is involved with the pursuit of a graduate degree, I believe it can help develop and broaden your level of thinking and helps you bring more to the table when it comes to ideation and leadership.

Is Advancing to Creative Director the End of the Road?

Advancing to creative director is the culmination point for some careers, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the line. When you’re in a small city or working at a small shop, the highest level you can achieve might be creative director. However, there are larger cities with larger agencies where you will find group creative directors, executive creative directors, regional and worldwide creative directors. If you’re interested in reaching those heights you will need to be in a big market to do so. What are the big markets? Think New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Washington, DC.

Landing a creative gig in those large markets could prove to be a challenge if you’re in a smaller market. Your chances may be very slim unless you’ve got something amazing to offer. New York is a particularly hard egg to crack as a creative, because there are more creatives in and around New York City than anywhere else in the world. Why would New York agencies hire someone from outside the area when there are already thousands of qualified creative people in the city, unless the creatives seeking employment had something unique to offer? ¿Me entiendes?

If you want to get into the big agencies, you need to start doing your homework now. Reach out to the agencies. See if you can find someone to connect with. Believe it or not, you may know someone who knows someone who is related to someone who works at SuperFaboo Agency. See if there is someone there with whom you can make a connection. Start a conversation. Don’t get all stalker crazy, but at least reach out and find things in common.

While you’re making connections, build your personal brand story. What makes you unique? What will make you a valuable addition to their company? How will you produce creative work that is different than any of the thousands of other creatives out there trying to get the same position? You must get out in front of people show them what is unique about you and your abilities. It’s a jungle out there. Only those who are driven and smart will survive. You can do it, if you really want it.

Is There an Accreditation for Creatives?

This is a question that most creatives don’t even think about. Currently there is no accreditation or certification process for creatives in the United States. Several years ago as a member of the Graphic Artists Guild, I heard talk of pursuing some form of accreditation for designers, but it never went far because many creatives don’t feel the need for any kind of certification system.

In Canada, however, there is a certification program for graphic designers. Graphic Design Certification (GDC) is Canada’s national certification body for graphic and communication design and, since 1956, has established standards for design professionals, educators, and leaders. Through their certification program, GDC licenses the unique CGD certification mark to members whose creative services meet rigorous, standardized criteria. The CGD certification mark is recognized across Canada as the mark of professional services and ethical business conduct.

Of course, whether Canada has a certifying authority or not doesn’t stop people or agencies from practicing. They claim that the accreditation allows members to say they are part of a larger organization that maintains the highest business ethics and design communications professionalism. I am not sure if something that is not governmentally mandated can have a significant impact on the design community, but they believe it can. Maybe they are right. Who am I to argue?

Is Professional Experience Mandatory?

What role does professional experience play in the development of a creative leader? Plenty. Time and time again I have seen people who claim to be a creative director, but don’t meet the criteria. I’ve heard things like, “My title is multimedia designer, but really I’m a creative director.” Or “I started my own design studio so I decided I will be creative director.”

Here are my questions/thoughts based on creative directors I have come across:

• Are you really a creative director without a creative team to direct?

• Can you really be a creative director when you just graduated from school?

• How can you be a creative director when you’ve never worked in an agency, a studio, or even an in-house creative department?

• Sure, when you start your own company you can give yourself any title you want. But you can’t really be a creative director just because you say so.

• You can’t be a creative director without any practical experience leading a group of creatives to successfully address client challenges.

Bottom line, you can call yourself a creative director if you want. You can get business cards made that say you’re a creative director. You can even create a portfolio website that says you’re a creative director. Be careful not to claim the position and then be commissioned for a job where they expect you to lead. It could not only cause you some embarrassment, but it could cost you money.

Real creative directors have earned that title and position through a combination of education, career, and life experience. You can gain experience by making your way through the ranks with hard work, dedication, and creativity in an agency, studio, or in-house department. It will take time… as well it should.

Do Creative Leaders Really Need Management Skills?

Management is one of the elements that are key to the success of any creative leader. You must learn to manage people and in some cases manage budgets. How do you acquire management skills?

You can do any of the following:

• Take night courses at a local college or university.

• Enroll in online course at www.lynda.com , www.skillshare.com , or the like.

• Find a mentor and pick their brains. Honestly, this is the least successful way to do it, but it can be helpful.

• You can start small in your department with little management tasks and work your way up to larger ones.

The thing that differentiates a good leader from a great leader is the ability to drive accountability in the team. Who wants a team full of creatives who sit around and wait for the traffic manager to tell them what to do, where to go, and when to finish?

A good manager can use accountability to drive their team’s performance and clarify expectations for the members of your team. You should set clear expectations for your team so they understand exactly what is expected of them and how their actions impact the entire team. I believe the key to good management is good communication.

You must be able to communicate what your expectations are to the members of your creative team as well as your agency teammates. If you can communicate them in a way that’s clear you will do well. However, even with good communication skills there will be issues with personnel. Keep communicating so they know what you expect. Keep the lines of communication open. Encourage your team and work to resolve any issues that may crop up before they become major obstacles. If they are successful, give them sincere praise. Do it in private and public. Don’t go over the top, but be sure to recognize them and let them know that they are appreciated.

If the unfortunate happens and someone falls short of your expectations, correct them. Do it quickly, but in a professional and respectful manner. Corrections should be done in private so you don’t humiliate or embarrass anyone. Be sure to let them know what they did correctly, then let them know what needs improvement. Give them recommendations on how to correct the problem and prevent it from being a reoccurring issue. Correcting your team is sometimes difficult. It’s never comfortable to have to correct someone, but it must be done. Be sure to follow up with the team member later to ensure that they are now doing what you have asked them to do in the manner in which you want it done.

If you have to correct someone more than once, it’s time to put something in writing. When you write someone up be sure that you detail the cause of the letter and how they can improve. Additionally, you will need to outline possible consequences if they fail to take corrective actions. Conclude the letter with a timeframe in which they must make the correction. Be sure to follow up to check on their progress. If they correct the behavior, good. Be sure to praise the behavior. If they do not, other measures will need to be taken.

I could go into detail about management scenarios that you may encounter as a creative leader, but that might be the topic of another book. I highly recommend checking out www.lynda.com or www.skillshare.com . They have several management courses that you can watch.

In a Nutshell

Becoming a creative director is not a golden ticket to stop learning. You will not keep your job long if you stagnate and cease growing, learning, and improving. While you don’t have to understand how to do the nuts and bolts of different creative jobs, you should understand how to integrate them into a cohesive whole that solves your client’s marketing challenges. The world is constantly changing. You should make every effort to stay informed about new technologies and techniques. If you don’t keep abreast of things as they are developing, you will be left behind and could risk being replaced by someone that is more informed.

Whether you go back to school, take online courses, or simply read lots of books and magazines, do not let the grass grow under your feet. There are hundreds of creatives out there looking to replace you as creative leader. You can never afford to become complacent. Younger creatives don’t want to hear about what you’ve done in the past. They don’t care about the success you achieved 10 years ago. In some cases they don’t care about what you did 5 years ago. They only care about the knowledge and creativity you bring to them right here right now. How can you lead them to greater heights if you are still living in the past?

You must become a student of creativity, not only of your craft, whether it’s design, copywriting, web design, and so on; in addition, you must constantly learn everything. Become a sponge not only of our industry, but of the world around us. If Michelangelo (you know the guy who carved David and painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) was quoted as saying, “I am still learning” when he was already at peak of his mastery, who are we to believe we can’t learn more as well?

Once you’ve reached a position of creative leadership, do yourself a favor: don’t get lazy. Keep learning. Keep pushing the boundaries of creativity. Be an early adopter of programs or apps and figure out a way of integrating them into the fabric of your creative work. Look to inspiration outside of your craft to get great ideas. Don’t get too comfy with your new title. Getting comfy puts you at risk being replaced by someone who is hungrier.