The Blog of Dylan Thomas, Art Director
I’m really excited. In recent weeks, I have received a bunch of emails and had some great phone conversations with prospective Ad School students who found me through this blog, both about Miami Ad School specifically, and ad school in general.
To help everyone out, what questions would you like answered in this space? Send me an email or, even better, leave a comment on this post.
When designing a grid for a book, be sure to include all of the following in your “worst case scenario” layout.
Creation rarely happens in a single iteration.
What happens in-between is critique, a close examination by yourself and others regarding the concept, assumptions, and execution of your idea.
A constructive critique is collaborative, creative, and directed. When done well, it can be productive and incredibly gratifying, and it requires only the engagement of its participants. In this post, I suggest some simple strategies for engaging in good critique that also serve to jumpstart a lethargic group. Over time, these strategies will increase your critical awareness and improve both the quality and usefulness of any critique you participate in.
It can be hard to overcome the inertia of silence. Group members can be lazy, distracted, or self-conscious of their opinions. In this situation, a substantive critique is unlikely. Fortunately, it only takes one person really engaging with the material to put everyone on the right track. Take control. By making it a point to speak when others will not, you single-handedly overcome the inertia of silence, and if you say something useful, provide points of reference for others to launch from. Someone who disagrees with your assessment, or who feels validated by it, will feel more comfortable chiming in once the discussion has already begun. Once jumpstarted, critiques tend to feed on themselves and continue until they’ve run their course. More times than I can count, a single speaker, with one or two good comments, transformed a silent room into a cyclone of activity.
You’re stumped. What now?
This is important, because this first impression is the closest you will get to how a consumer would experience the work.
Do you like it? Do you dislike it? Are you indifferent? Can you articulate why?
If you like it, say so immediately and, if possible, elaborate on why. You can take your time with the “why” and don’t be afraid to change your mind, but talk it out.
If you don’t like it, hold off speaking until you have something specific, and constructive to say. You can always come back to the piece later which demonstrates continued thinking on the subject.
If you’re indifferent, say nothing and try another strategy.
This will force you to look beyond your first impression, to be more thorough. Believe there is something good about it. Keep looking until you find it. It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be good. “I like the color palette,” or “Your choice of illustration style really sets the tone that you are going for,” are sufficient.
Anyone can find something they don’t like. When unqualified by solutions or positive feedback, it becomes a demoralizing negative spiral. If you can find something legitimately good in everything, people will value all of your opinions more, and it softens the blow when you have to deliver the really bad news. Additionally, positive comments tend to garner solutions, while negative comments breed more negative comments.
Any piece of work is the result of countless decisions. If you are curious about something, ask about it. Even if you are not particularly curious, asking a question is a good way to get somewhere else.
Try to avoid questions that start out with, “Did you think about…” because not only are they yes/no questions, too often people use the construct just to say anything or to make the presenter look stupid. If you find yourself about to pose a question like this, try to rephrase it. You’ll likely get a better response.
Ask yourself, if you were to take over production from here, what would you do, and why. Try to present your ideas not as suggestions or judgments, but as “feelings.” They should act as a transient jumping off point for discussion, not as point to be argued.
Some quick examples:
I just found out that I’m going to London next quarter. I’ll be working at Saatchi & Saatchi London learning to do advertising the British way.
From what I have heard, little, if any work gets produced. You refine marker comps like crazy. Then you do them again. Then again. Then again. You come back with a binder of killer ads, vetted and waiting for production. While this bothers a lot of people, it doesn’t bother me a bit because I’m going to London to develop conceptually, and production takes time and focus away from that. It also means that when I get back, I can choose only my best work to produce.
This production-focused attitude is unfortunate, and all-to-common among students eager to have pieces to show. By focusing on producing an ad early, the concept often doesn’t have time to fully bake. If you produce before you’re sure it’s a winner, to quote an industry adage, “You’re just polishing turds.” Although sometimes you get lucky.
Unrelated to advertising, the huge downside of going to London is that I’ll be 6,000 miles away from my fiancee for 10 weeks, missing both Valentine’s Day and our 4 year anniversary. Between the distance and the time change, it’s going to be really hard, and I am extremely thankful she’s willing to make this sacrifice for me. That’s just one of the reasons I’m the luckiest guy in the world. Hopefully I will make it worth both our whiles in the long run.
One of the advantages of Miami Ad School is its extensive Quarter Away program where students can take classes and intern all over the globe. It lets you learn new things, meet new people, and try out new cities. The locations vary from quarter to quarter, but there are usually about 20 to choose from. While getting your top choice can be a challenge, a remarkable number of students do.
After your first 4 quarters, you are eligible for Quarter Away, and can spend some or all of your next 4 quarters away from your “home” campus.
For internships, housing (or a stipend) and a scholarship are provided. At some school locations, housing is available. Currently I am living in the Minneapolis student housing, conveniently located one floor above the school in Downtown Minneapolis.
A good one is the Intuos 4×6″. You an get them used, or new for about $200. You can get a Graphire for about $100. It also makes a great birthday/Christmas present.
As an art director, this is one of the few professional tools you have (other than your camera and laptop). Treat it as such. You can use your Wacom for many years to come.
.In addition to working on perhaps the most in-demand and lacking skill for art directors, you will save yourself time and money. You won’t need “Intro to Flash” taking up your time and tuition in later quarters when you’d rather be making stuff.
EVERY QUARTER, at LEAST one person I know has a complete hard drive crash. Some of them have had good backups, some haven’t. Hard drives are mechanical devices. They fail. All the time. Don’t be caught without a backup of your work. I generally suggest an external hard drive with backup software (more on this in another post). Forget about CDs, DVDs, and flash drives. They don’t have the capacity, speed, or reliability you need.
Follow these 3 simple pieces of advice and you will be miles ahead of your 1st Quarter Art Director brethren.
I been to many classroom and guest speaker Q&A where I was embarrassed by the questions being asked. The answers you’ll be given get depend on the politeness, honesty, and age of the person asked. Here are some old stand-bys that always come up, and the real answers.
Q: How much money will I make when I get out of school?
A: It depends. Somewhere between $12K and $70K depending on your location, your awesomeness, how likable you are, how much they need you, and a million other factors. On average, you can expect to make ~$35K in your first job. A wise advertising guy once told me:
For the first half of your career, you will be grossly underpaid. For the second half, you’ll be grossly overpaid.
Q: What if I’m offered an amount of money that I cannot live on?
(not to be confused with being underpaid, see above.)
A: It’s up to you. No one else can make this decision for you, but my advice is to find another job. It’s an ethical issue. To perform in a job, you need to be able to eat. Anywhere that does not support that is not someplace you, or anyone, should be working.
Q: How many pieces should I put in my portfolio?
A: This is usually asked by two types of people: the green, and the graduating.
For the newbies, it doesn’t matter at this point, focus on getting great work done, then read the below.
For grads, the questions is only valid if you are interviewing with the actual person you are asking the question. If you ask 10 creative directors (and I’ve seen it) they will vacillate and give you 3 answers a piece. I’ve heard of people getting hired with with riveting 600 (and 10) page portfolios.
They don’t really care, it just has to be awesome.
Q: What kind of stuff should I put in my portfolio?
A: A follow-up to the previous question. Again, it depends. If you are going to a shop that specializes in print, you want to have alot of print. At an online agency you’ll have to have banner ads and microsites. You will want to tailor your book for each interview, if possible.
A Few Points:
Q: Is there more I need to know?
A: Yep, but this is a good start. Take control of your career. Be a student of the industry and how it works, not just what it makes, and you’ll be fine.
I am currently a 5th Quarter Art Director at Miami Ad School (I also spent some time at Academy of Art University). My first 4 quarters were in San Francisco, and now that I’m in Minneapolis with a 1st Quarter roommate, I find my experiences catalyzing into advice I wish I’d had in the beginning.
Some of this advice is specific to Miami Ad School, but most of it applies more generally, whether you are attending VCU AdCenter, Academy of Art, Texas Creative, Creative Circus, et al.
I know from experience that information about what ad school is hard to come by. Hopefully these posts will help you decide if it’s for you, and help you make better use of your time as a student. The better your information, and the more complete your picture, the better decisions you can make.