How to Begin a Career in Advertising

The advertising career can be approached from a few different angles. An artist, writer, secretary, telemarketer, or salesperson can choose the advertising field. With this in mind you could make advertising a career choice by majoring in a few different fields in college such as:

1) Art
2) English/Literature/Creative Writing

3) Education - Teaching
4) Psychology
5) Any liberal arts education

Art

It you are planning a career in advertising, Art would be the most likely choice, especially Commercial Art or Graphics Design.

In Commercial Art and Graphics you learn all the basics of creating good advertising copy by creating and designing mock advertisements.

You first do a thumbnail sketch of your advertisement. You are usually given a theme and then try to work up an advertisement to sell or market your theme. You will work up your theme through a combination of graphics and writing.

You will begin to create cute little jingles that advertise your product. You also will draw, sketch, copy, or trace the graphic to go with the jingle.

Advertising copy is a work of art. Your work must be professional. In commercial art classes you are taught how to make your work look professional and you are also taught the concept of getting your work in on time.

Getting your work in on deadline is absolutely essential to the field of advertising, so in commercial art classes you may be docked a whole grade for getting your work in late. This prepares you for the true field of advertising.

The advertising copy you create will also include lettering or blank lines for the lettering with specifications for the typesetter or printer.

Your painting and drawing is done with designer ink. It can also be done in pen and ink or in pencil. Depending on the type of advertisement you are doing.

Today advertising art is changing with the advent of technology and the computer. Now there are computer programs that can help create designs without the actual drawing of the artist.

English/Literature/Creative Writing

If you major in any of these disciplines you know about good writing. Advertising needs good writers and editors. Many people majoring in these disciplines work in advertising as editors or copywriters.

Education

Education is always a good major. You can concentrate on a teaching subject, which is like a secondary major. So you could major in Education and concentrate

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