During the last class we discussed again, the type of designers as well as the roll of people in an Ad agency. From the Copywriter and Senior Designer, to the intern and graphic designer everyone plays a part in different ways, while some have more risks and restrictions than others. For example, the Senior Designer has more of a risk of getting in trouble or losing their job, if a design is not to the clients satisfaction or not as successful as it was intended to be. The intern, being the lowest level of designer in an ad agency, they would be less likely to be in trouble with the client if something were to happen. The producer, is in charge of talking to the client as well as making sure everything goes smoothly, they are the highest level at the advertising agency. Although, some have higher risk than others when it comes to working with the client and getting the job successfully done, they all play a part in the final design. I also learned that the copywriter isn’t a stand alone person, They normally work within the agency alongside the editor, creative director and the project manager. Many times, depending on the size of the agency some of these jobs go hand in hand so at times people will do more than one job, so instead the copywriter will also be the creative director as well as the editor.

I also learned the difference between mystery and clarity and how they tie into each other. An Ad is no good if it is either one, an unclear mystery or unuseful clarity. When clarity and mystery get mixed up it becomes an unuseful mystery which in return doesn’t convey the message to the client nor the consumer the way it’s supposed to. One of the things Chip Kidd used as an example the Diet Coke can is a useful mystery. While you can only see two letters, it conveys a message and draws the consumer in. Useful Clarity is just something the reader can easily read and understand, the example used to explain unuseful clarity would be the New York Transit system changes posters. They’re unreadable and honestly hard to understand even for a native New Yorker. The thing that I learned the most, if not anything from Chip Kidd was to use and be inspired from things around you.

Chip Kidd was really great at using things around him to inspire his work. While being direct and taking a direct approach to things worked for him, it may not always work, nor will it work for everyone. But I did learn to use things around you to inspire your work. Often times, it’s hard for an artist to find inspiration, but even if you can just start with the obvious you can end up with something that is much more elegant as well as a useful design. Seeing Chip Kidd explain, his ideas and how he liked to be abstract, as well as direct helped inspire my own design. Knowing the difference between clarity and mystery help a lot because it allows me to know what the main goal is. To question the consumer is to intrigue the consumer and while, you don’t want have the consumer lost while looking at your design, you do want to grasp their attention for however long you can, but you don’t want to grab it for the wrong reasons. Which is one thing Chip Kidd taught me on how to defer the differences.