Assistant or Junior Art Director?

Submitted by functioncreep on Fri, 2008-09-05 19:23.

Member's Forum

My co-worker and I are billed as Assistant Art directors in our magazine design department. We follow a basic template, but generally use our own discretion in finding/manipulating/creating art for the features. We have not consulted with the art director on our designs since the first few months of our employment.

She insists we should be called JUNIOR art directors because of this autonomy.

What would be the benefits of arguing for a title change?

Thanks.

your personal

Submitted by gwells on Fri, 2008-09-05 19:36.

your personal satisfaction?

honestly, i don't think there's any real difference in the titles. to me, it's just a semantic difference. if you're going for another job, i seriously doubt anyone reviewing your resume is going to think more or less of you based on which title you have. and if they did, you might worry about what it would be like to work for them.

then again, i don't really care what my company's title is for me, as long as they give me good work to do and pay me well for it, so take my opinion for what it's worth.

Agree 100% with gwells. I've

Submitted by 3dogmama on Fri, 2008-09-05 19:47.

Agree 100% with gwells. I've been doing graphics since the typesetter/waxer-blade days and during my career have risen through the ranks, including owning and running a design agency. However, I've ever only had one title for my designation: GRAPHIC DESIGNER. Period. Your work will sell you, not your title.

However, if you want an alternate title why not go for the gusto and have some company memo pads and business cards printed up with El Presidenté on them. Then your insecure art director wi'll feel a little better that you're not gunning for her job or trying to run on par with her. :)

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."
— Frank Zappa

I insist on all my clients

Submitted by mbennett2 on Tue, 2008-09-09 19:38.

I insist on all my clients calling me "El Conquistador". I give them no choice.

There's a third option:

Submitted by natobasso on Fri, 2008-09-05 21:48.

There's a third option: Associate Art Director.

I don't think there's a real difference. Any title that isn't Art Director is just that: Not Art Director.

I'd rather be an Associate Art Director than a Junior one, as that word connotes an air of inexperience. Let's be honest: it's really the money that matters. If you're not being directed and your responsibilities have increased: Ask for more money! You're doing more work.

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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"

YIKES - associate...

Submitted by functioncreep on Sat, 2008-09-06 00:57.

...reminds me of back when i worked as a clerk in office Max. Oh! I mean, when i was an 'associate' for Office Max.

You are right about the money - i am currently doing additional work that is totally unrelated to what I was hired to do (still doing that too) and would rather have the money than ruffle anyone's feathers about titles.

And if it matters not on my resume then I will not pursue it.

Titles worth nothing and you

Submitted by Ivan on Sat, 2008-09-06 15:03.

Titles worth nothing and you should not care about it. Simple as that. It's all about what you can do and what you can show to your future employer in your porti.

I do know exactly how you feel

Submitted by onegirlcreative on Tue, 2008-09-09 21:04.

I worked for a company—and this drove me CRAZY—that insisted my title was Advertising Assistant. And guess what I did for them? Graphic Design work. That's it. I designed two inserts (16+ pages, including all ads, layout, cover designs—everything), flyers, ads within the bi-weekly paper, logo designs for two of their off-branch companies, et al, but yet they still insisted on titling me advertising assistant. I don't know about you, but when I hear/see the word assistant in anybody's title (regardless of what their resume is), I assume they're a friggin' secretary. I HATED it.

After I left, they changed it to the appropriate title. It drove me crazy, especially because the three guys in the creative dept. that I worked with were Production Manager, Creative Director and Art Director. So what is the big deal of calling me, oh I don't know—GRAPHIC DESIGNER??? Ugh.

I even returned my business cards that said Advertising Assistant back to the HR department and said I would NOT hand them out.

My husband used to think I was insane for being so anal about it, but it drove me crazy. Hell, I didn't get my degree in design to be called a friggin' assistant.

I feel your pain, I really do.

Only in bum-f#ck Colorado.

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"The name's Bond, James Bond."

www.onegirlcreative.com

Try being called a

Submitted by natobasso on Thu, 2008-09-11 19:28.

Try being called a Marketing/Graphics Coordinator. My worst title ever.

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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"

Sorry, I win on this one...

Submitted by onegirlcreative on Thu, 2008-09-11 22:00.

I think being called an friggin' Advertising Assistant is the ultimate LOW!!!! Especially when I was doing the work of a graphic designer, not an assistant.

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"The name's Bond, James Bond."

www.onegirlcreative.com

Without a doubt the worst

Submitted by natobasso on Fri, 2008-09-12 16:09.

Without a doubt the worst title ever.

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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"

my very first design job was

Submitted by gwells on Fri, 2008-09-12 16:27.

my very first design job was on a government consulting contract. they hired me as a graphic designer, but because there was no labor category for graphic designer on that contract, they had to shoehorn me into a labor category that existed. thus my original title in my first graphic design job was... technical typist.

Hey, at least you got

Submitted by natobasso on Fri, 2008-09-12 21:13.

Hey, at least you got "technical" in your title. :)

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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"

yes. i refuse to do personal

Submitted by gwells on Fri, 2008-09-12 22:09.

yes. i refuse to do personal typing for anyone else. but technical? i'm all about that!

Oh wow...that is bad

Submitted by onegirlcreative on Sun, 2008-09-14 14:39.

Don't know which is worse, technical typist or advertising assistant. Ugh!!!

People JUST DON'T get it.

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"The name's Bond, James Bond."

www.onegirlcreative.com

Def ad assistant is

Submitted by natobasso on Sun, 2008-09-14 20:22.

Def ad assistant is worse.

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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"

My boss has never looked

Submitted by pokie on Tue, 2008-09-16 12:12.

My boss has never looked over or critiqued ANYTHING I've ever done since ever working here. I am just a lowly "graphic artist" level blah blah...

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Submitted by onegirlcreative on Tue, 2008-09-16 16:35.

I hate the term/title graphic artist. Don't they get it, what we're doing is not as an artist, but a designer? Because as an artist, we're doing it for ourselves, not for the client.

Does that frustrate you that he/she calls you that? Or am I just being a bit OCD here?

--------
"The name's Bond, James Bond."

www.onegirlcreative.com

I've heard that a lot on

Submitted by pokie on Tue, 2008-09-16 17:53.

I've heard that a lot on this forum. I prefer artist to designer, personally. I mean, I have an Art degree, not a Design degree.

The majority of the artists here don't ever design anything. We mainly just adjust stuff for printing to make it print well. I have been doing things far out of the artist realm here lately. It's a nice break. I have been passing out jobs and picking who can handle what. It's kind of fun.

In my opinion

Submitted by onegirlcreative on Tue, 2008-09-16 23:21.

When you're working as an artist, you're creating work that suits YOU, not the client. That's why we're painters, photographers, illustrators, etc. to create for our own personal passion, not because some schmo wants a friggin' burst added to his logo. KWIM?

As a designer, you're creating something to suit the client, not necessarily you, the designer. I guess it's like you say tomato, I say tomato (I guess it doesn't have the same effect when you're typing it, as opposed to saying it—but you get the idea). LOL

But, this could be commented on a different thread entirely since we're a bit off subject. ;)

BTW, my art degree says BFA—Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major Art—concentration Graphic Design. I guess all universities are different.

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"The name's Bond, James Bond."

www.onegirlcreative.com

Pretty much the same degree

Submitted by pokie on Wed, 2008-09-17 14:35.

Pretty much the same degree here.

I just prefer Artist. ;)

The worst is when you see an

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2008-09-16 19:49.

The worst is when you see an ad for a Graphics Artist (with an S). Jeez that drives me up the wall.

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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"

OH, me too

Submitted by onegirlcreative on Tue, 2008-09-16 23:18.

I had this job as an in-house designer a few years ago, and they kept referring to me as their "graphics designer." I'm like, WTF?????? It's GRAPHIC (no S) designer. Ugh!

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"The name's Bond, James Bond."

www.onegirlcreative.com