Start your creative journey.
No matter where you want to end up, we’ve got a path to help get you there. Our comprehensive programs are best for future art directors, copywriters, and strategists who are serious about their portfolio, strive to work at the biggest and best ad agencies, and want to be fully-prepared to hit the ground running when they get there. Choose your destiny below…
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Copywriting
Tuition: $27,000
5 quarters | 15 months | full-time workload | online or in Denver
Agency copywriters best express their thoughts using words.
They brainstorm lots of ideas with their art direction partners, write a ton of headlines, write scripts for tv commercials and digital videos, craft epic brand manifestos, write website and social post copy, and anything else that involves the act of assembling individual letters into words that are then recognized by other English readers as coherent thoughts.
If you...
have a strong opinion on the Oxford Comma, fly into an unhinged rage when you spot a missplleing, spend your free time on thesaurus.com, think music lyrics are poetry (sure, even Machine Gun Kelly), can pen the wittiest of prose on Instagram like some sorta social media Shakespeare, and are able to distill large complex thoughts into succinct and impactful messages that people can easily understand and enjoy
...then you’d probably make a good writer.
The copy curriculum.
The Big Idea
Insight Mining
Writing for Space
The Craft of Writing
Adobe I – Design
Q1
Q2
Campaign Development
Writing for Tone
Campaign Development
Adobe II – Layout
Campaign Development
Writing for Screen
Campaign Development
Viral Executions
Adobe III – FX
Q3
Q4
Campaign Development
Campaign Execution
Campaign Development – Fire Drill
Campaign Execution
Adobe IV – Motion
Campaign Assembly
Getting a Job
The High Art of Selling
Adobe V – Portfolio Prep
Q5
Look like fun? Click below to get more info along with in-depth class descriptions. Or if you can’t wait don’t let us stop ya, go ahead and apply below.
Are you secretly a copywriter?
check the flow
Are you big into music lyrics? There's a certain flow to the words in songs and it doesn't always have to come from a simple rhyme. This can be a sign you're capable of writing in a more unique voice than normal writers, inserting more energy into your words that demand they not be just read but heard and felt.
You, like, really get it
Do you know the meanings behind your favorite songs, writers, or lines of dialogue in a show or movie? Can you discern what the artist is really saying? This is the ability to read between the lines and understand what we call subtext, an underlying theme or message in a piece of writing. This is what good copywriters do – deliver deeper messages through creative advertising.
say it without saying it
It’s one thing to clearly communicate an idea, but copywriters also need to put a clever and creative spin on the thought so it gets noticed and is remembered. Do you write similes that are as hot as hell? Do your metaphors cut deeper than a knife? Or are allusions your Kryptonite?
write all damn day long
Do you write veritable novels inside birthday cards? Should people take a seat and get comfortable before diving into one of your epic emails? Could you write until your hand falls off at which point you’d just find someone to transcribe your words while you continued relentlessly talking? Spoiler alert – you should be able to write a fuck ton each day if you want to be a copywriter.
always (over)think it through
Do you dive into a subject in search of deeper critical and emotional understanding? Can you imagine people or characters with multiple points of view or motivations? Do you have keen observation and perception skills? What are you writing? Why are you writing it? What is the true purpose? Are all these questions bothering you or are you totally loving this right now?
Copywriting sometimes feels like...
Stand-up comedy • Philosophy • Songwriting • Being a real estate agent on Million Dollar Listing • Writing for SNL • Directing a movie • Working as a translator • Tweeting all day and getting paid for it
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Art Direction
Tuition: $27,000
5 quarters | 15 months | full-time workload | online or in Denver
Agency art directors best express their thoughts visually.
Just like a graphic designer would, art directors communicate through art, visuals, and designs. But while all art directors have graphic design skills, they also brainstorm lots of ideas with their copywriting partners, make decisions on typography and color, design layouts for print ads and billboards, help develop a brand’s logo and identity, plan out photography, pick commercial locations and wardrobe, and direct the overall visual look and feel of an ad campaign.
If you...
experience a rage blackout whenever you see someone use the Hobo or Papyrus fonts, can match the hues of random objects to colors on Pantone.com, have always wanted to direct a music video, are proud to say your idea of a good book is the 1975 NASA brand style guide, and can create a visual look and feel that fits with a brand and the story they’re trying to tell
...then you’d probably make a good art director.
The art curriculum.
The Big Idea
Insight Mining
Typography
Design Foundation
Adobe I – Design
Q1
Q2
Campaign Development
Building a Brand Identity
Campaign Development
Adobe II – Layout
Campaign Development
Directing Art
Campaign Development
Viral Executions
Adobe III – FX
Q3
Q4
Campaign Development
Campaign Execution
Campaign Development – Fire Drill
Campaign Execution
Adobe IV – Motion
Campaign Assembly
Getting a Job
The High Art of Selling
Adobe V – Portfolio Prep
Q5
Look like fun? Click below to get more info along with in-depth class descriptions. Or if you can’t wait don’t let us stop ya, go ahead and apply below.
Are you secretly an art director?
all about the aesthetics
Is your Instagram or VSCO feed a gorgeously curated vibe to behold? Can you decorate the hell out of a room? Are your Pinterest boards all kinds of moody mood boards? Can you reference the directors of photography or cinematographers behind your favorite films?
art speaks to you
Can you go to the art museum and invent a story behind all the artwork there? Is there a message in the piece? Is there a deeper meaning? Or can you sense the overall vibe of the artwork? Good art directors don't just make things that look cool, their visuals also say something.
doodle all damn day long
Can you draw or paint a little bit? A lot? Or maybe not at all but it sounds like fun? Not every art director is an artist at heart, but they do eventually find some sort of canvas on which to express themselves visually, whether it’s a page or a screen.
lock eyes with logos
Do you refuse to buy a product if it's got a terrible logo? Are you the first to notice when a business gets a new look? Do you geek out over a slick packaging design? Are you big into merch drops or apparel brands? You'd be surprised by how few people notice these things – if you do, then that's a big sign.
taste what's good
Can you tell the difference between good and bad design? Do you recognize that your own designs aren’t perfect because you’ve got an eye for what’s really perfect? This is what's called having good taste. We don't care if you don't have any knowledge or skills in the Adobe Creative Suite, we can teach you all that, but you need the artistic vision and taste to be a good art director.
Art Direction sometimes feels like...
Graphic design • Being a social media influencer • Crafting • Photography • Shooting a movie • Collabing with your favorite brand on a merch drop • Pretending to be a famous artist • Redecorating your entire apartment
Strategy
Tuition: $27,000
5 quarters | 15 months | full-time workload | online or in Denver
Agency strategists best express their ideas with critical thinking.
Part anthropologist, psychologist, complexity simplifier, problem identifier and most importantly, muse, strategists thrive on solving business problems through creative solutions. They mine for insights and develop creative briefs to give creative teams a launch platform for advertising ideas. They research audience demographics to determine who ad campaigns should target, track trends in business and culture, identify insights into human behavior and how they relate to brands and products, set up focus groups to test hypotheses, write project briefs that help inspire the creative teams to develop an ad campaign, and work together with the account and creative teams to sell an idea to a client with reasoning. Strategy is the exact intersection of art and science in advertising.
If you...
have a subscription to both PAPER Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, routinely crush even the nerdiest of nerds at trivia night, often hear someone question “why” and respond back with a 10-page Keynote deck, pick which trendy sneakers to wear each day based on the brand’s opening bell valuation, and you enjoy being a cultural anthropologist who strives to find the human truths that fuel big ideas
...then you’d probably make a good strategist.
The strat curriculum.
The Big Idea
Insight Mining
Strategic Planning
Research Design
Adobe I – Design
Q1
Q2
Brief Building
Insights and Culture
Brand Storytelling
Adobe II – Layout
Campaign Brief
Campaign Development
Comms Strategy
Adobe III – Motion
Q3
Q4
Campaign Brief
Campaign Development
Thought Leadership
Campaign Assembly
Getting a Job
The High Art of Selling
Adobe V – Portfolio Prep
Q5
Look like fun? Click below to get more info along with in-depth class descriptions. Or if you can’t wait don’t let us stop ya, go ahead and apply below.
Are you secretly a strategist?
creative, but not hands-on creative
Are you a good writer, but penning quippy headlines is not your thing? Can you spot good design, but aren’t a Photoshop wiz? Strategists help inform and guide the creative work at its inception, they don't make the final creative themselves. Maybe you make art outside of work, but in an agency you leave that part to the creatives.
culture vulture
Do your friends ask for your recos in movies, TV shows, food, fashion, music, or art? Do you routinely crush even the nerdiest of nerds at trivia night? Do you know about past trends, what’s trending now, and what will trend in the future? Guess what – that's a big part of what strategists get paid to do.
explore humankind
Do you often wonder what makes people tick? Why do they like the things they like? What fuels their fiery hatred for certain brands or products? Are you not a licensed sociologist, but you could play one on tv?
get hype
Are you persuasive as hell? Can you rally a team and give a rousing locker room speech? If someone in your life needs convincing, can you make a powerful argument that gets them hyped beyond belief? Great strategy inspires great creative, so can you channel your inner inspirational public speaker?
never stop digging
Do you ask a million questions? When presented with a "why?" do you search for a concrete answer? Are you an expert at thoroughly researching every single little goddamn decision in your life? Do you enjoy talking to people so much in an effort to get to know them better than they know themselves?
Strategy sometimes feels like...
Living in a creative commune and being an artist’s muse • Anthropology • Psychology • Investigative documentary filmmaking • Market analysis • Doing the weather on the local news, but instead you’re forecasting cultural trends • Being a hotshot celebrity lawyer
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