Day in the life of an Art Director

Day in the life of an Art Director

Published: September 4, 2019 by LoSasso
Categories: B2B marketing, LoSasso
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Behind every website, print ad, brochure, digital campaign, infographic, video—we could go on forever—is a designer. They are the ones bringing our ideas and our solutions to life visually. As part of our creative team, they work hand-in-hand with copywriters to entertain, engage and educate audiences far and wide.

At LoSasso, our design team includes: a senior art director, art director, production designer and design intern. One of these photoshop-wielding, pixel-counting, illustrating masterminds is Emily Holle, our Art Director. Emily has been at LoSasso for just over two years, working on everything from RV selectors to pitch decks to social content. Today, she gives us a glimpse into her typical day—take a look!

7:00 a.m.: Snooze my alarm a few times.

7:15 a.m.: Get ready for the day, say good morning to my cats, take the dog for a quick walk if my paramedic husband is on a 24-hour shift and whip up a smoothie to toss in my backpack.

8:15 a.m.: Hop on my bike and weaving through 4 miles of North side Chicago traffic to the office. I’m most likely listening to a podcast episode of one of the following: Reply All, 99% Invisible or My Favorite Murder.

8:45 a.m.: Get to my desk (a little after our 8:30 a.m. start time because hey, it’s the creative department) and start organizing my to-do list for the day. I check in with the other designers on the team to make sure we’ll hit all our deadlines and then toss a treat to Naiya, our pit-bull-mix mascot.

9:00 a.m.: Mock up a new product logo on a tool crib for one of our industrial clients.

10:00 a.m.: Attend a bi-weekly internal status meeting for our RV client.

10:30 a.m.: Chat with members of the CeLobration Committee (our culture and events group) to finalize details and deposits for some upcoming events. We have a Cubs viewing party cookout on the deck and a summer cocktail cruise from Navy Pier coming up.

11:00 a.m.: I have some open time while waiting on client feedback, so I watch a tutorial for Adobe XD by TipTut. He’s one of my favorite tutors for Adobe software.

12:00 p.m.: Meet with our web developer Rob to discuss updates to a landing page for our client's upcoming brand campaign.

12:15 p.m.: Edit a headshot for the People page on our website. This includes isolating the person, color correcting, applying some flattering airbrushing (actually described and requested specifically as “the full Kim Kardashian airbrush photoshop treatment”) and adding colorful effects to match the style on the site.

12:30 p.m.: Once the headshot is done, I put together a “Meet the Team” Instagram story to celebrate the recent promotions and new hires. You can catch all of our team happenings in our page highlights.

1:00 p.m.: Head to an online training course for our foodservice equipment and supplies association client to onboard some of the newer team members.

1:30 p.m.: Lunch! I’m more productive in the mornings, so I prefer to take a later lunch. I also usually eat 2-3 small breakfasts so I’m not hungry until the afternoon anyway. On some days, I’ll squeeze in a quick 2 mile run at the gym across the street which is a great way to reset and release any creative blocks.

2:00 p.m.: Work on layout for an RFP (request for proposal) and prep some finished files to hand off to our design intern so he can fill in content.

3:00 p.m.: Head to a one-on-one meeting with our design intern, one of the two people that I manage. We’re narrowing down options for his internship project (kind of like a capstone) that aligns with the agency’s goals as well as his personal and professional ones. Next steps are to set a timeline with incremental project milestones.

3:30 p.m.: Create icons for an online customization tool we’re creating for an agriculture client.

4:30 p.m.: Continue finessing templates and layout of the brand guidelines doc for another agriculture client.

6:00 p.m.: Bike home, feed the cats and shower.

8:00 p.m.:  Have a beer while cooking dinner—hamburgers and oven-baked potato wedges. After dinner, my husband and I watch an episode of HBO’s Chernobyl.

10:00 p.m.: Time for sleep!

While this day only captures some of the duties and responsibilities, it gives you a glimpse into what the role of an art director entails. For everyone here at LoSasso, every day is different and that’s part of the excitement for us.

Want to know more about what different members of our team are up to? Check out a day in the life of a Senior Account Manager too.