You pay us and
we'll get you paid.
That big sexy number is the average starting salary for DAD Grads. Try finding that kinda job right out of college with zero industry experience and a below-average creative portfolio.
This is why students come to DAD immediately after graduating college. Portfolio school helps you start your career off at the best agencies in a role you actually love at a salary you really deserve.
Art Direction
Denver Ad School tuition: $27,000
Average starting agency salary: $65,000
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.
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.
Art Direction sometimes feels like...
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
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.
The art curriculum.
The Big Idea
Typography
Design Foundation
Adobe I – Design
Q1
Q2
Campaign Development
Directing Art
Campaign Development
Strategy for Dummies
Adobe II – Layout
Campaign Development
Building a Brand Identity
Campaign Development
Culture Vulture
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.
How does
DAD stack up?
If you’ve researched portfolio schools, then you know – they’re expensive as hell and all basically seem the same. Well, until we came along and started shakin’ things up, of course. With our consistently killer portfolios quarter-after-quarter and big agency job placements, why exactly are you paying more at those other schools again?
Denver
Tuition
$27,000
Program Length
5 QTRS
Active & Experienced Teachers
ALL
Breweries Per Capita
10
Big Agency Job Placements
YEP
School Kickball Team
AWWWW YEAH
Full-Time Online Option?
ABSOLUTELY
Weather Situation
BEAUTIFUL
Miami
Tuition
$38,800+
Program Length
8 QTRS
Active & Experienced Teachers
SOME
Breweries Per Capita
2
Big Agency Job Placements
YEP
School Kickball Team
DOUBT IT
Full-Time Online Option?
NOPE
Weather Situation
HUMID
Virginia
Tuition
$55,502+
Program Length
8 QTRS
Active & Experienced Teachers
SOME
Breweries Per Capita
5
Big Agency Job Placements
YEP
School Kickball Team
DOUBT IT
Full-Time Online Option?
NOPE
Weather Situation
SEVERE
Don't forget to check the work.
Choosing between post-grad portfolio schools? We get it, there aren’t a ton of options out there. But if you can’t decide, let the work speak for itself! After all, what better way to judge a portfolio school than by the quality of the portfolios they put out? We’re so confident in ours that we wanted to make it super easy for you to compare, so smash the links below and decide for yourself what kind of standard you want your own portfolio to live up to.
Art Direction Application
