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by Erin Stamm on 1.13.2011 in Company News, Creative 0

Every day it’s something different, and it seems like every week I’m learning something new.

As a Junior Art Director, it is my job, along with our wide-ranging creative team, to concept and design advertisements, banners and other promotional materials for our clients. Every new project begins with a creative strategy session to ensure our design objectives align with the client’s needs and goals. As a visual thinker, I typically turn to pen and paper for my initial concepting. Once I have a strategically sound plan, I begin the project design.

One of the challenges in art direction can be mental blocks to concept emergence. If I am struggling to visualize the artistic piece, I often manipulate a few ideas on Adobe Photoshop or work with our team members to brainstorm new concepts.  Although, when I least expect it a solution comes to me and I have that “a-ha” moment. Maintaining a creative outlook can be difficult in a busy agency, but by managing priorities I am always able to finish projects that our agency and our clients can be proud of.

One of the most unique opportunities I’ve recently worked on was creating car wraps.” A car wrap acts as a driving billboard for an advertisement. The entire vehicle is literally wrapped in a removable sheet that depicts the brand image. For this project, I designed a car wrap for a Toyota Rav4 which depicted all six brands of the Natura Brand Pet Foods as well as the pet supply store that carried the brands. This was exciting because my design was put into a real-life setting and is driving around Tampa, Fla. Since the initial wrap for Natura, I have extended the project to wraps for distribution trucks as well.

In my experience, perseverance and time management are critical to success as an art director. Supplemented with creativity, patience, software skills, a keen attention to detail, these traits will enable any young professional to thrive in the industry.

Every job is work, but it can be a lot of fun, especially at Brighton because I see my creative projects come to life in advertisements and other campaigns. Finding a career that is exciting and team-oriented goes a long way in helping you get out of bed every morning. At Brighton, we all work collectively to produce a finished product, and even though we aren’t the largest agency, we are extremely capable of handling a massive workload with a smile. When we work together, we always create something fantastic and something we are honored to show a client.

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