BECOME AN ART DIRECTOR
ON BRINGING YOUR
CREATIVE VISION TO LIFE
12 JUL 2022 - 18 AUG 2022
Duration:
6 WEEKS
TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS
5 PM PST / 8 PM EST
Learn how to create campaigns strong enough to stand on their own.
Viral advertising creative Joel Arzu of Ogilvy and Wieden + Kennedy shows you how in 6 weeks, live online.
THIS COURSE IS FOR
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YOU'RE MAKING THE LEAP TO ADVERTISING
If you struggle to get actual value from creative and design briefs, you're in the right place.
Or this: you have endless creative ideas, but your base knowledge of color, typography, and composition isn't, well, stellar.
You'll learn the method behind creative big ideas and expand your portfolio with a complete, integrated campaign.
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YOU'RE PROVING YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL
You already did school, so why do you still feel like a freshman? Crank up your creative power with the same creative strategies used by Ogilvy's Joel Arzu to make magic happen.
Go inside the process of visual and video production step-by-step. Learn how to get your ideas heard. Think of this course as the brief for your first serious advertising job.
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YOU'RE A FIRST-TIME CREATIVE LEAD
Developing your own creative ideas was definitely your vibe, but now that you're in a management position, you've found that bringing together a whole team's creative ideas is actually hard.
In this course, Joel breaks down production of creative assets step-by-step. You will also work in teams to create creative materials, enhance presentation skills, and practice giving constructive feedback.
You heard "inspiration" is the secret to successful campaigns?
That's fake news. Learn how to do the work behind the campaigns that everybody's talking about: briefing, ideation, technique, and collaboration.
Let's get real about how a lot of online courses leave you hanging.
This course keeps it practical and includes a professional review of all your coursework.
Since you're learning live, you'll build connections in the industry, including with an acclaimed art director. So there's that.
How do you get from a brief to a big idea? Or from a big idea to the campaign you've imagined? Learn the creative problem solving strategies that Joel Arzu uses every day for the likes of Nike, Allstate, Delta Airlines.
Learn the new rules for advertising and start winning earned media for every campaign. Find out Ogilvy's secrets for helping their clients go viral, then make creative assets for your own campaign.
Make your online portfolio stand out with fresh creative assets and professional guidance. Joel will also teach you how to maintain consistency in your personal brand and seek out agencies that best fit your style of work.
ARZU LinkedIn Profile
- Associate Creative Director at Ogilvy, the bedrock agency of modern advertising and 2021's Agency Network of the Year
- Leads viral, value-adding campaigns for world-famous clients and agencies including ESPN, Nike, Delta Airlines, McDonald’s, Allstate, and Leo Burnett Group
- Launched his career as an art director at Wieden + Kennedy, one of the most awarded creative agencies in the world
- Won early recognition in AdAge's Top 30 Under 30 while still a design school student
- Co-founder of CoVoice, the “Uber of translation services”
COURSE INTRODUCTION
Joel will discuss the habits of well-rounded art directors and introduce award-winning advertising campaigns from the past and today.
- Designer vs. art director vs. creative director
- Essential skill sets
- How to work: Collaboration vs. solo
- Case study: How to recognize a good creative
Assignment #1: Pick one creative you like from Joel's Resources page or your own references folder and briefly answer:
- What do you like about the creative piece of work you picked?
- What do you think the insight is?
- Who do you think the target audience is?
What separates a good brief from a bad one? Learn how to interpret and write briefs for two types of projects: design-based and creative-based.
- What is a brief? (Examples of briefs)
- Creative briefs: Essential elements
- Brand, Challenge, Considerations, Deliverables/Mandatories, SMIT, Timing, Budget
- Design briefs: Essential elements
- Logo and stationery design
- What does a bad brief look like?
Assignment #2:
- Solve for a creative brief for 4Ocean, a company that wants to save the ocean from plastic.
- Propose a few ideas that answer the company's needs (writeup only).
Get armed with the tools to build and grow your creative thinking as you tackle the first job of art direction: solving for the brief.
- Problem solving principles and techniques
- Ads that nail the right idea
- Workshop: In groups, apply the principles you've learned to conceptualize a few ideas across any medium to answer the Casper Mattress brief.
Assignment #3 (Group work option): Come up with a few ideas using the insight-driven techniques taught in class to solve for one the provided briefs. Before the next class, watch the quick guides on color from Joel.
Learn how to enhance the effectiveness of your creatives and create moods through astute use of color and shape.
- Quick guide to color
- Quick guide to shape
- Case study: Logos, posters, websites, and packaging design
- Review Session: Students will present and discuss a few of the submitted creatives
Assignment #4: Design a simple illustration-driven ad for one of the provided case companies. Before the next class, watch the quick guide on typography from Joel.
Guiding your viewers' eyes and emotions can be as simple as knowing which typography to use and where. This class teaches you how to do it.
- Quick guide to type
- What voices do we hear when we look at a certain typeface?
- Case study: Logos, posters, websites, and packaging design
- Workshop: Brainstorm a type-driven ad idea for Duolingo
Assignment #5: Use letter and color theory to design a print or OOH ad for Duolingo or Headspace app. Before the next class, watch the quick guide to imagery from Joel.
Explore photography styles and treatments so that you can implement these as references in your own work.
- Quick guide to imagery
- Great photographers of advertising
- Case studies: Photography in OOH, poster, and print ads
- Workshop: Brainstorm a print or OOH ad idea for Tide Detergent
Assignment #6: Based on the idea brainstormed in the Workshop, design a print or OOH ad for Tide Detergent. Before the next class, watch the guide to layout and composition from Joel.
Joel teaches you how to add layout and composition on top of color, shape, and typography to give your work structure and make it easier to navigate.
- Quick guide to layout and composition
- Layout across platforms and websites
- Case studies: Logos, posters, and websites
- Creative principles and techniques
- Review Session: Students will present and discuss a few of the submitted creatives
Assignment #7: Bringing together everything we’ve learned on photography, layout and composition, color, and type, build a campaign out of your ideas. Come up with one creative extension to the chosen ad.
Learn the step-by-step process for getting a video idea produced, from initial concept to final spot. Joel will teach you what collaboration between functions and creatives looks like at Wieden + Kennedy, Leo Burnett, and Ogilvy.
- Storyboards
- Picking (and managing) the right director
- Director’s treatment, casting, wardrobe, location
- Post-production: Color correcting and editing
- Other types of creative collaboration
Assignment #8 (Group work): Work in teams to storyboard a video idea for one of the provided case companies.
In this lesson, Joel teaches you client presentation structure and how to handle feedback.
- Presentation structure
- How to handle questions and objections
- Constructive criticism
- Workshop: In breakout rooms, practice pitching your storyboard assignment to each other. Next, try out Joel's tips for receiving and responding to feedback as you critique the storyboards.
- Review Session: Students will present and discuss a few of the submitted creatives.
Assignment #9: Use Joel's constructive feedback and input from your peers to revise and improve on your group's storyboard.
You’ll learn non-traditional ways to generate creative ideas that have high potential to get earned media.
- What does a viral idea look like?
- Working with small budgets
- Case studies: Earned media concept
- Non-traditional advertising
- Case studies: Advertising in the world
- Workshop: In breakout rooms, come up with ways to get earned media for your project.
Assignment #10: Elaborate on your thinking based on the workshop ideas. Design your own Earned Media Strategy for one of the provided case companies.
Joel breaks down award-winning campaigns with strong “big ideas” behind them. You’ll also learn how to come up with “big ideas” for your own projects to build integrated campaigns.
- Building an integrated campaign with legs
- Understand how a big idea lives across all platforms
- Case studies: Big ideas across industries
- Review Session: Students will present and discuss a few of the submitted creatives
+ Course Project: Your Integrated Campaign
Assignment #11: Build on your existing project ideas to generate a campaign with a “big idea” at the center. Present your concept in Google Slides or Keynote, including TV, billboard, and social media executions for them.
What are advertising agencies and design shops looking for when they hire entry-level creatives? Get your portfolio in shape with tips from Joel's 15 years in art and creative directions.
- Self-branding
- Case studies: Good and bad portfolios
- Top advertising agencies and design shops
- In-house vs. agency work
- How to know your right fit
- Demo: Building a portfolio on Wix
- Review Session: Students will present and discuss a few of the submitted creatives
Assignment #12: Build your online portfolio using Wix or the website builder of your choice. Upload your finished projects and submit to Joel for feedback.
What our students say
"Joel has wonderful energy and has shared his wealth of experience with the class. His candor and authenticity make me feel comfortable about asking him any question."
"The course has a great structure to it. Each lesson slowly builds on previous instruction. The syllabus was well designed."
"The access to the whole class directly in Discord has been a really great tool. Having the ability to so easily connect either as a team for classwork, or to network or share ideas really enriches the course."
"I'm surprised at the breadth of content we've been able to cover, along with Joel's feedback on our individual assignments. I've found that my moments of education have come from his direct feedback on my work."
"I like Joel's enthusiasm. He's a natural teacher."