Continuing Education: Online Advertising Portfolio. Instructors / Creative Directors: Rich Pels, Neil Raphan
Student Portfolio Work
Portfolio Tips
Student Work
Student Portfolio Work
Online: Continuing Ed
Advertising Portfolio Course
ONLINE LIVE
SESSIONS
This 10-session School of Visual Arts Continuing Ed live-online course is designed to help you create an outstanding copywriting or art direction advertising portfolio without having to commute every week to midtown New York.
The goal? Getting you a great job at a creative agency.
What you'll get:
👍 A live Online Course taught by an award-winning Creative Director team (CD Copywriter/CD Art Director)
👍 Classes designed for conversation, face-to-face live critiques and class interaction.
👍 Learn the best ways to begin or improve your copywriting and art direction skills and think strategically, conceptually, and creatively.
👍 The added value of inspiring curated and downloadable asynchronous content.
👍 Ten evenings, ten different assignments across all media to diversify your portfolio.
👍 Free Adobe Creative Suite programs.*Photoshop, Firefly, etc. Plus direction to strengthen and execute your ideas.
👍 Design & Layout assistance for copywriters (and art directors too).
👍 Options to prepare your work to be shown digitally for your portfolio.
👍 Continued input from Creative Directors after classes end until your portfolio is ready.
“Thank you for an amazing class.
I have only great things to say about it, and I learned a ton.
I feel like I now know more tips and tricks of the trade.”
Instructors:
Neil Raphan SVP, Creative Director, Art Director, Adjunct Professor
Richard Pels EVP, Creative Director, Writer, Adjunct Professor
Combined Agency Experience Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB, BBDO, Oglivy, DeVito Verdi, and more.
Clients Pepsi, Doritos, Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Crowdstrike Cybersecurity, P&G, Tide, Old Spice, Iams Pet Food, General Mills, Cheerios, Fruit Snacks, Seagrams.
Awards One Show Golds, Best of Show, Cannes Lions, Clios, Art Director's Club, Effies,
Ad Club of NY, CA Annual, Mobius.
Is this an Online Copywriting class or an Art Direction class?
Both. Before you write and before you have a visual, you need an idea, a fresh advertising concept. That is where this course lives and breathes. We focus on concept first, so your ideas connect, stand out, and persuade in any media or digital platform. Good ideas will be guided into great ideas and campaigns. You will learn to think better, write better, and art-direct better.
Our critiques are not lectures. They are conversations with both a CD Copywriter and CD Art Director team about how to make your work better and how to leave your not-so-good ideas behind and come up with fresher ones. You will leave this class with a portfolio of fresh ideas.
Depending on your level of commitment this is generally between 3 to 5 campaigns.
Do I need to know Photoshop, Canva?
First, stop worrying about all the programs you may not know how to use. Your initial goal for this class and to become a successful creative is to understand how to come up with great advertising concepts. Once your ideas are portfolio worthy we can focus on how to execute them.
There are several workarounds for writers and beginning art directors unfamiliar with Photoshop and other apps. We'll guide you with options to execute your final ideas and get them online.
Also, Adobe Creative Suite programs, Photoshop, Adobe Express, Firefly AI, and more are free for our students who prefer to use them but are not at all necessary for this course. Not using Creative Suite won't hold you back here, as this is not a technical class, but if you have the skills, we'll push you further.
How about AI?
AI technology evolves daily to make realistic photographic images and stylized illustrations. In addition to providing resources for images to execute your ideas, we'll guide you through AI image creation in the last two class sessions. Generative AI is a useful tool for your comps and is here to stay. However, using Artificial Intelligence for ideas is ridiculous and prohibited, so don't try because you'll be doing yourself a disservice.
"True creativity is not algorithmic. And it takes time.
You must be challenged to think better to get better. It's that simple. And it's also fun."
“Thanks again for the class. It helped me a lot to grow my skills in art direction.
The guidance from both of you provided me with a strong foundation for my future career”
- Zoe Wang, Art Director
“The way you and Rich collaborated in designing the class and critiquing the work was a great window into the copywriter/art director dynamic.”
Guidance and critique by two award-winning Creative Directors in live online sessions that will improve your ideas and your approach.
We use a combination of the best technology for online learning, including Zoom, our class portal, a Virtual Wall to upload your work, mobile app, and additional collaborative software. Students can attend and interact in live online classes and also view asynchronous content and presentations at a time of their choosing.
Each week, there will be an assignment to create an ad campaign for a product, service, or cause-related event/company.
The assignments cover a range of products and services in a wide range of media. This will help you begin your advertising portfolio or enhance your current portfolio. We encourage using social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, etc, or content creation, pr, and other consumer touch points along with your big idea.
For graphic designers seeking to bridge the gap between design and advertising, this class will help you raise the bar and improve your portfolio through fresher persuasive concepts and executions, bringing your work and abilities to the next level.
Having a top-level creative portfolio is the best way to begin your art director or copywriter career and the best way for current art directors and copywriters to improve their careers.
“Thank you again for a wonderful semester.
This class has been really eye-opening and I've really been enjoying the asynchronous content as well"
- Brian Chen, Art Director
We combine our real-world experience at many of New York's top creative ad agencies with our teaching experience at SVA.
Throughout our careers, we've always made time to give back and teach. Our classes continually adapt as the industry evolves. We focus on ideas first, in any manner you can express them. Then we dig deep into your ideas to give direction. This is not a 'that's a good ad/that's a bad ad' class. Or a lecture class.
Our in-depth conversations and reviews will bring the best out of your advertising ideas across all media and any platform. If you cannot attend a session or live in a different time zone, your work will still get reviewed, and the critique and advice will be available online from our video-recorded class sessions.
Generally, students leave with several final campaigns for their advertising art director or copywriter portfolios and the ability to set up an online portfolio. But it's not magic-- you need to put in the work. The best options and technical guidance on putting your portfolio online will be discussed toward the end of the semester.
Who takes this creative advertising class?
Anyone interested in pursuing a creative career in advertising as an Art Director, Copywriter, current Junior Art Director, Graphic Designer, aspiring Creative Director, or simply those interested in experiencing what a creative career in advertising is like.
We've had students from around the world provide an eclectic mix of ideas: From New York City, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Boston, Ohio, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Rochester, and Hoboken, to Vancouver, Brazil, Italy, Korea, China, Japan, Spain, London, and France.
“The learning experience and valuable feedback went above and beyond what I expected from an online course.”
- Linda S., Art Director/Designer
“It seriously might be my favorite class I've ever taken; The insights, feedback, and critiques are so thorough and eye-opening”
“Thank you so so much!
I appreciate you guys endlessly.
Class was such a delight, and I loved the work.”
“The best online class I have ever taken.
Apart from your good teamwork,
I think the selection of brands is vast, entertaining and engaging.”
- Kay Deng, Art Director
“Thank you both so much for such a great semester...
I learned a lot and we'll definitely be working on editing our three campaigns...”
- Audrey Siaw-Asamoah, Copywriter
“I wanted to express my gratitude to you for your class and ongoing support.
I’d say the ROI was above and beyond what I could have hoped for.”
- David Hoffman, Art Director
What else?
We will discuss relevant topics and news related to advertising and building your portfolios. Including reviews of current and past creatively awarded advertising campaigns, how to see things differently, enhancing stock imagery, options to put your portfolio online, job-seeking tips, interview tips, top 20 creative agencies, inspiring videos from leaders of the ad community, media relevance, tons of asynchronous content for ad hounds, and more.
We strive to help you master your craft in a creatively rewarding career.
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Why SVA?
The School of Visual Arts Continuing Education department leads the creative advertising education field.
It is grounded in the school's heritage of innovative conceptual advertising that can integrate across all media.
SVA continues to launch and revitalize the careers of countless copywriters, art directors, and creative directors.
Instructors/Creative Directors:
Neil Raphan, CD Art Director. Rich Pels, CD Copywriter.
Agency experience:
Raphan: Senior Vice President Saatchi & Saatchi. DDB. Ally.
Pels: Executive VP Saatchi & Saatchi. SVP Group Head BBDO. Oglivy. DeVito Verdi.
Clients: Pepsi, Doritos, Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Crowdstrike Cybersecurity, P&G, Tide, Old Spice, Iams Pet Food, General Mills, Cheerios, Seagrams.
Awards: One Show Golds, Best of Show, Cannes Lions, Clios,
Art Director's Club, Effies, Ad Club of NY, CA Annual, Mobius.
Sample session screens: Online Advertising Portfolio course
SVA Advertising mantra
