What I Wish I Had Known When I Graduated College
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But What I Really Want to Do is Direct
- @zeldman
- Founder & Executive Creative Director
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- Bio on Happycog.com
In my apprentice days, I worked for Marvin Honig, a Hall of Fame copywriter who created indelible commercials for Alka-Seltzer, Cracker Jack, 
and Volkswagen during the 1960s and 1970s, and who assumed creative leadership of Doyle Dane Bernbach upon legendary founder Bill Bernbach’s death. It was not one of those bloody successions that stain the pages of history and advertising. Bill chose Marvin to carry on in his place.
By the time I met Marvin, he and I were toiling at Campbell-Mithun-Esty. He had been brought in to radically upgrade the financially successful but talent-challenged agency’s creative product. I was there because it was the first job I could get in New York.
Marvin was gentle. He never told you how stale your ideas were or how disappointed he was in you for not working harder. He made you believe you were the future, not only of the place, but of the profession.
Besides his warmth, what I remember most is a piece of advice he gave me: “If you’re not a creative director by the time you’re 40, get out of the business.”
I worked for all kinds of creative directors before I became one. Most were tough and many were silent. Sal DeVito would give you an assignment in the morning. Then, you and your partner would spend the next ten hours sketching and writing, probably on park benches because there weren’t enough desks at the agency. As night fell, you would humbly and silently present your stack of sketches to the master.
Sal would flip through them, stone-faced, quickly discarding anything remotely resembling an idea he had seen before—and he’d seen everything. Once in a while, he might stop for an instant and ponder a particular layout. You wouldn’t dare move a muscle or betray your faint hope that the ad in question might perhaps be found worthy. We’d watch his eyes. There! Just there! Was that the briefest flicker of amusement or approval? Was he, if only for an instant, considering accepting your work?
Like sex for men, it was over in a moment. The ad would join its brothers in the reject pile.
After days of this, Sal might buy something. A buy was when he stopped leafing through your work like a housewife rejecting lettuces, let his hands linger on the ad for a second or two, and allowed a thin smile to flicker on his lips. Did I say housewife? It was more like working for a Clint Eastwood character. Wait, did I just second-guess my own metaphor? See, I’m still submitting my work to Sal and I’m still afraid of his judgment.
During the dot-com boom they were handing out creative director titles like crack, but I avoided getting one until 1999. Five months into the gig, I quit to start Happy Cog. I left because I wanted authority over the work, and I was the kind of guy who could only get that working for himself. Or so I thought.
Once you become a creative director, you realize that authority is an illusion. You’re a negotiator between the client’s taste, the designer’s ego, and the user’s need. You succeed when all three are satisfied.
I sometimes fantasize about becoming a Sal-DeVito-style creative director but my personality is more like Marvin Honig’s. A Jeffrey-Zeldman-style creative director is one who wins the right client, assembles the right team, offers the right initial insight or two, and then interferes as little as possible. I think of myself as a motive wind that gives the little sailboats a gentle first push.
The problem with the little sailboats is, if you later have one teeny suggestion to offer, they will likely say no and tell you why your idea is stupid. Then you go off and ponder. First, you figure out if they were right. They often were. Next, if they were wrong, you figure out whether it matters. If it’s about your ego, it doesn’t matter; if it’s about the work, it does.
That’s how I do things in my little zone, but each of our creative directors has their own style. No matter how you may approach creative direction, remember, it’s always about the user. It’s never about you. You are the thing it is the most not about. If you think being a creative director is about power, quit now, because this job will bum you out so much. To the rest of you, cheers!
22 Responses
When navigating the seas of creative direction, what type of captain are you? @zeldman explores in Cognition: #fb
Thu, May 26, 2011 11:19:29
So very true and applies just as well to every activity where there is a value-exchange. It is easy to imagine many freedoms when one does not actually play a new role More →
Thu, May 26, 2011 12:40:35
One of my favorite @zeldman articles, and it's all about being a better creative director (which I care about immensely):
Thu, May 26, 2011 1:13:56
Being a Creative Dir. by 40? I'd miss having my hands in the code and the design too much. How do you balance that?
Thu, May 26, 2011 1:14:43
@BrettBearce I always keep some design and code jobs for me.
Thu, May 26, 2011 1:34:30
Best summary of I've read in a long time of what it's *really* like to be a creative director.
Thu, May 26, 2011 2:36:58
http://cog.gd/22z according to @zeldman its time for me to "get out of the business." I'm 43 and still a "designer." OUCH
Thu, May 26, 2011 3:23:53
Great thoughts from @zeldman on the different styles of Creative Directors and how he balances taste, ego and needs
Thu, May 26, 2011 3:26:00
Ah if all managers of designers had the maturity of @zeldman
Thu, May 26, 2011 3:44:19
"You’re a negotiator between the client’s taste, the designer’s ego, and the user’s need." @zeldman On Creative Direction
Thu, May 26, 2011 4:47:50
Mr. @zeldman did it again. What a fantastic piece: But What I Really Want to Do is Direct
Thu, May 26, 2011 6:37:00
Reading @zeldman On Creative Direction "You’re a negotiator between the client’s taste, the designer’s ego, & the user’s need."
Thu, May 26, 2011 9:31:18
Creative Direction is "negotiation between the client’s taste, the designer’s ego, and the user’s need." via @zeldman
Fri, May 27, 2011 1:18:15
"You’re a negotiator between the client’s taste, the designer’s ego, and the user’s need." @zeldman strikes again!
Fri, May 27, 2011 8:27:38
"it’s always about the user. It’s never about you." - @zeldman
Fri, May 27, 2011 8:53:28
Nice article on being a creative director: (via @zeldman)
Fri, May 27, 2011 4:26:25
.@zeldman writes an article that hits remarkably close to home. The work is never, ever about the creative director.
Fri, May 27, 2011 7:28:32
@zeldman talks about the illusion/realities of being creative director. things always seem more glamorous than they are
Sun, May 29, 2011 10:14:44
@zeldman - Great article, well put, and I completely agree.
Tue, June 07, 2011 5:34:29
This article does two things for me. First, it is comforting that I don’t have to be a cutthroat ad guy to become a creative director. This is good because I am not a cutthroat anything. It’s good to know that there are all kinds of successful creative directors. More →
Tue, June 21, 2011 2:05:10
Im 27 & I see myself going this way. Not for power, I want what we make to be the best & more. Thanks for writing this.
Sun, July 10, 2011 9:09:21
Sage wisdom on negotiating with your ego during the creative process. Via @zeldman http://t.co/tfMSdSm6
Wed, December 14, 2011 6:45:29