
What to choose, what to choose @ChristianAasber
By Christian Aasberg
When I first found out that I wanted to go into the wonderful world of advertising, I was pretty sure I wanted to be an art director, there was no one who could tell me otherwise, I wanted to have ideas and craft them beautifully.So we have to choose between being a copywriter or an art director. I must be honest and say that I find it pretty hard to do so.
Then I started working at an agency, and at the beginning, I was still sure that I wanted to be an art director.
Then I talked to a fellow creative, and we got around the subject that I used to write poems, he read some of them and told me that I would make a great copywriter.
But still, I was sure that I wanted to be an art director. Now it happened a few more times, and I started to wonder if maybe I should be a copywriter, so I started writing copies for fun, but never showed them to anyone.
Then I had to write some copies at the agency I was working at, and thought that it was actually kind of fun. So now I was confused, should I continue my path to becoming an art director or should I take a new route and start to become a copywriter. I meddled with this thought in my head for a few months and then decided to discharge it because I was a partner with an amazing copywriter, and I decided that I could never be as good as she was.
Flash forward to when I started at SCA, and people started asking, are you copy or art?
What to say, what to say, I decided to say that I was art, that was why I started getting into advertising and I was going to stick with that. And when the time came for us to say if we wanted to be art directors or copywriters, I as I had done every time, chose to say that I was an art director.
It is not that I doubt my choice, I want to be an art director, I want to make visuals that make people say “fuck that’s good”, but then again, I kind of also want to be a copywriter.
So I came to a decision, I have picked up a few books regarding copywriting and I am going to start spending more time with copywriter mentors.
I am still going to specialise in art direction, but who says that you can’t be both.
I am a creative, and creativity does not limit itself to art direction or copywriting, I will challenge myself in every way I can, and I am going to prove to myself that I can be both.
I might call my self an art director, but I will stick to the fact that at some point, I will also be able to write amazing copy,
This does not mean that I don’t need a partner, that I can do everything myself, far from it.
I need a great partner by my side, to teach me things that I didn’t know and to take our ideas that extra step in a direction I would never have thought of.
It just means that I will not limit myself to only doing art direction.
And I think that it is something every creative out there should consider.