At Humber, the Advertising Art Direction (AAD) graduate certificate program offers you a portal into the advertising industry as an art director. If you have a background in graphic design, digital or visual communications, branding, visual and creative arts, interaction or digital experience design, film or photography and want to specialize in art direction within the ad industry, this is the program for you.

The AAD program offers focused classes to build skills and hone your craft in art direction. Just like the real world, our program models real agencies through collaborative courses with the Advertising Copywriting and Advertising Account Management programs. Our faculty are expert, industry-based professionals ready to develop your skills through a variety of hands-on strategies in the classroom – your networking begins day one.

The program is designed to equip you with a comprehensive understanding of advertising art direction, design and copywriting combined with marketing, branding and strategy development. This combination of skills enables students to create effective communication and advertising solutions across a wide range of media – both emerging and traditional – to build a portfolio of creative work that reflects the industry standards required for field placement and entry-level art director positions.

Our program allows you to develop strong conceptual and creative skills in art and design to work in the advertising industry as an art director. From these first steps, you can look forward to growing your career as a creative director and moving up to executive positions.

Upon graduation, your competitive advantage will include:

proficiency in art and design for advertising
experience creating campaigns, from concept to execution for all forms of advertising, including traditional touchpoints, digital and social platforms, and interactive media
a focused and comprehensive art director portfolio developed through agency-style, studio-based classes
experience working on creative teams with aspiring copywriters, account managers and strategists to develop campaigns for real clients supplied by BuildingF – Humber’s internal advertising and communications agency
participation in national and international advertising and design competitions
a strong industry network through faculty connections, industry guest speakers and a final portfolio showcase