Our graduates are busy... in the advertising industry

Michal Nováček is a graduate of Prague College now working as an Art Director at international advertising agency Wunderman.

Michal, what does your work involve?

My job at Wunderman is purely creative. I am not only a Graphic Designer but I work as an Art Director and Photographer. The difference in big advertisement agencies is that an Art Directors are supposed to be more creative and all concepts are made by them from the beginning. Graphic designers fall under the Art Director and they make all the designs according to him. My work at Wunderman involves creating ads. All processes work exactly the same as in Prague College. First we have a brief which explains what client really wants. After I am done with that we start brainstorming and sketch out our ideas. We present those sketches to the client and when they pick one we start creating our designs in Adobe.

What kind of projects have you been working on recently?

Actually I have two jobs. I work for Wunderman and then I have my own photo studio. At Wunderman I’m in charge of advertising for Sony Playstation, Komerční banka and RWE. An example worth mentioning is Playstation. We just made a concept that took super players from all over the Czech Republic. These players were photographed and then incorporated into billboards, banner and flyers.

What is the most challenging or difficult aspect of your work?

The most difficult aspect of my work is that I have to be creative all the time. My brain is not able to stop thinking, even at night and I started to have serious sleeping problems. Even if my idea is already perfect I end up pushing it much further. The most challenging aspect of my work is probably creating many concepts for one client. For example imagine a bank that has an offer and every month you need to create different concepts on the same topic. You might create two to three creative concepts - but what then?

Do you feel that your education at Prague College prepared you well for this kind of work?

It's often said that students can finish school and still know nothing. Not in this case. Prague College prepares you to go into work right after you finish your course. Of course you have to work really hard and not only rely on the diploma from Prague College - you constantly have to develop your skills and never stop. But Prague College definitely prepared me very well for working in an Advertising Agency.

Why would you recommend Graphic Design / Prague College to somebody who is applying for university?

Art directing is highly creative and funny... My friends tell me all the time that they would do anything to get a job like mine. The best way to achieve this is to study at Prague College. There are many graphic design schools but in my experience I know that we do not employ people from just any kind of school. More often than not, they know nothing.