Curious to know what different people do all day at their 9-5? We’re investigating job titles and diving deeper into day-to-day tasks to get the low-down on exactly what those roles really entail. Not sure how much to ask for your raise? Wondering what a VP in finance does in the afternoon? We’re uncovering the details behind jobs, along with the salaries and tasks that come with them, to help you figure out what you’re interested in. Below, read about how a creative director spends her day.
Age: 27
City: Stamford, CT
Industry: Marketing/Adverising
Job Title: Creative Director
Years of Experience: 7
Salary: $85k
What does your job title mean?
As Creative Director, I am responsible for overseeing all of the visual communications of our brand. Everything that goes out into the world must fit within the look and feel of the style guides I’ve created, so that we appear cohesive and on-message. It is a lot of checking consistencies, inspecting press proofs and giving my team direction on where we want to take our brand’s personality. Since we have a small team, I also wear a lot of hats: many days I do actually get to design and create work (instead of just managing!), like holding a photoshoot for our website and social media content, copywriting or designing new packaging. Creative Direction also requires a lot of strategic thinking. I really enjoy being able to work on every aspect of a brand’s identity from the visuals to the big picture of where we’re going next with our products.
When do you wake up?
After hitting snooze 5+ times, I roll out of bed around 6:30am if I’m doing well that morning. I try to fit in 20-30 mins of light yoga before hopping in the shower or packing leftovers for lunch, making a smoothie, gulping down my tea and vitamins and heading out the door. I’m so lucky to live a 10-minute walk away from my office so I also count that as light morning exercise!
At 9am I am…
Settled in at my desk, finishing my smoothie I carried with me to work and writing out my tasks for the day. Even with an art background, I am very Type A so I have to use the old pen and paper To Do list strategy to ensure I remain on-task to meet my deadlines from printers and other vendors we work with.
At 11am I am…
Hopefully finishing up more than one item on my task list and feeling accomplished! I love having the mornings to do actual hands-on design work while I feel most focused.
What does lunch normally look like for you?
I’ve always been that girl with “too much to do,” eating hurriedly at my desk, but lately I’ve been making a conscious effort to seriously separate out lunchtime. Our building has a great cafe with outdoor seating so even though I bring my own food every day, I try to convince a co-worker or two to come sit and eat with me outside (especially in the summer!). This also gives us a chance to connect outside of work and breaks up the day nicely. I feel so much more relaxed just stepping away for 20 minutes to eat and laugh!
At 1pm I am…
Usually taking a call with potential vendors or in a future planning meeting with my higher-ups about strategy or reviewing press proofs that have just been sent to me, with my Project Manager. I prefer to push all meetings until after lunch when I need a break from having my nose in my screen all morning.
At 3pm I am… 
Working on more To Do items, in a status call with an agency we work with or taking a walk with my team! We try to go for a 15-minute walk around the park loop across the street every day, if we have time. It is so refreshing and a great way to de-stress. Sometimes we do a walking meeting to discuss business or just chit chat!
At 5pm I am… 
Hopefully checking off that last To Do item and making sure anything that didn’t get done is properly pushed or re-prioritized. I also make sure to check in with my Marketing Director and Project Manager to make sure they don’t need help with anything before the end of the day. I strongly believe in teamwork and because we have so much overlap with our jobs, I’m happy to help them if I can to make sure we all get out the door at a reasonable hour.
How does a workday end for you? 
Most days, if I’ve worked consistently and been productive, I am able to leave a little after 5pm. After years of working in advertising agencies and never leaving before dark, I work very hard now to be able to leave at a reasonable hour. Work/life balance has been a major priority for me after experiencing how easy it is to be over-worked and under-compensated in the past.
What do you do after work?
I’m a homebody, so most days I just make dinner and meal-prep while listening to a podcast or FaceTime with friends or family who don’t live near me. I try to go to a yoga class for a bigger workout 2x a week after work….or sometimes I head to a happy hour with friends instead. My favorite nights are when I am still feeling creative and find the motivation to work on my own projects.
What do you do before bed?
Lately I’ve been pushing myself to go to bed earlier since I’ve always been a night owl and can easily get wrapped up in a project until 2am. So now I try to be in bed by 10pm, either watching Friends re-runs or reading the memoir of some female entrepreneur I admire. Some guided meditations help with the nights I’m having a hard time falling asleep.
Is there anything about your job you’d like people to know?
Having a creative job in the corporate world can be challenging: you can’t just turn on the inspiration from only 9-5, Mon-Fri, so I’ve found it’s important to make sure I take care of myself during the work day. Mixing up when I do art tasks vs management tasks helps me to not get burnt out and be able to come back to the design table with a fresh perspective. I’ve also found it helpful to educate the rest of the company a bit about how creative direction works so that they have realistic expectations when placing a request. That way we can all better manage our time and workloads!
 
 
 
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