Advertising art director

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/

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.

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 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 .

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 (IPA) .

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

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.