Creative Entrepreneurship: Potential Careers | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Creative Entrepreneurship: Potential Careers

MCAD Career Development can help you find work and help employers find you. In addition to job listings, the staff is available to meet one-on-one with students and alumni to assist with career development. Services include assistance writing and editing resumes, cover letters, and other professional correspondences; career exploration and industry research; interviewing practice; networking strategies; and industry-specific practices.

Creative Business Owner 

Manages an existing organization, such as an art gallery, a business, or a non-profit, or open your own. 

Project Manager

Organizes and oversees creative projects—from hiring and supervising a team to ensuring that deadlines and budgets are set and met.

Copywriter

Creates the text or “story” for advertisements and other communications purposes. Helps create slogans or product names.

Strategist

Gathers, defines, and clarifies the insights that drive creative solutions.

Account Executive

Works as the liaison between accounts/clients and artists/creative people, pitching ideas, meeting client needs and interpreting them to creative staff, and participating in new business acquisition.

Account Planner

Works as the link between the agency and the client. Depending on the size of the agency and the size of the account, works individually or oversees a team. Pitches the agency's advertising campaign developed with clients to meet needs and goals. Understands client's products, sales process, market, competitors, and previous advertising campaigns.

Art Director

Develops advertising ideas and executes them as visual campaigns to sell products through radio, television, print graphics, and the web. Coordinates a number of creative individuals such as copy editors, photographers, and sound experts. Gives direction on how the final product should look.

Creative Director

Usually with an art director's background, manages all creative persons (art directors, copywriters, etc.) while overseeing several advertising accounts or clients.

Graphic Designer

Designs logos, corporate identities, packaging, and label design. Works on designs and layouts for promotional magazines or brochures.

Illustrator

Creates visual assets,  such as pictures and typography for advertising campaigns, and  typically turns them over to a graphic designer for use in the overall project.

Art/Media Buyer

Chooses the venues or channels to expose the client’s products to the correct target audience within a budget. Understands social media and websites as well as traditional media like television, radio, and billboards.

Media Planner

Ensures advertising campaigns are completed successfully within the given deadline and on budget. Coordinates the advertising team to work with clients and stakeholders.

Production Artist

Designs and places advertisements for publication in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment.

Fine Artist

Creates original pieces of artwork using a variety of media. Sells work to individuals, galleries, interior designers, architects, libraries, community centers, churches, banks, hotels, government, and elsewhere.

Developer

Translates software requirements into workable programming code. Develops and maintains apps.

User Experience (UX) Specialist

Sets up, runs, and reports on all aspects of qualitative and quantitative, user-experience research.

Communications

Works in marketing, brand management, public relations, interpersonal communication, employee engagement, community engagement, and more.