The Corporate Creative: Tips and Tactics for Thriving As an In-house Designer

by Andy Epstein

What Is a Corporate Creative? There is no unique branch of design known as in-house design, nor skills possessed solely by in-house designers. The corporate creative is a designer who simply works in an in-house environment. While there are benefits to working in a corporate environment (access to more resources, greater security, better benefits, more regular hours and camaraderie), in-house designers also have to deal with many frustrating and demoralizing challenges. This book focuses on key strategies and tactics to help you establish yourself and your team as powerful players in your company. Experienced in-house designer Andy Epstein shows you how Surviving--and more importantly, succeeding--as a creative in the corporate environment requires you to be a project manager as well as a designer, a businessperson as well as a creative. The Corporate Creative provides all the tools you need to achieve success.

Genres: Design, Business

211 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2010

Reviews

[Kylee Allred · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some really solid advice for in-house designers/creatives about communication, critique, etc. but overall the title is misleading. The book is written for creative management positions, not in-house designers. There was a LOT of information I skimmed over or skipped altogether about manager-specific tasks that aren't the slightest bit design-related, such as hiring, finances, etc. Might be helpful to me someday, but again, I read this book because it claims it's written for in-house designers. This is false.

[Nicapost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book and found myself nodding my head often and highlighting up a storm. I picked it up to read in preparation for a class I am teaching to creatives. While there was much to share with my students as they start out as fledgling creative professionals, I found this book much more advantageous for current leaders of creative teams in corporate, not junior team members or individual contributors. Leading Corporate Creative Teams would have been a more accurate title. Well worth a read though and I have already recommended it to a few people.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

My opinion of this book went up and down as I was reading it. It's an interesting topic and one worthy of attention, but ultimately The Corporate Creative lacks depth. There are some good ideas in here, but the majority are either common sense business principles, or incomplete thoughts. The book is divided into a number of very short chapters, and I really would have preferred quality over quantity. A few fully developed concepts would have been a lot better than a boatload that don't go much deeper than their headlines.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good reference with lots of tips and ideas on how to stay creative as a designer working in a corporate environment. I completely identified with a lot of the topics that the author addressed and have learned several ways to handle the many levels of authority who weigh in on daily design processes. I'd recommend to anyone who works in a corporate design job.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of this book is common sense, but it outlines some good approaches to working in-house design and art departments within larger corporations not engaged in creative work. A good read for in-house designers and artists.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of common sense in this book, but it was totally worth reading. Especially if you happen to be a lone graphic designer (or other creative) in a corporation. Very inspiring, and comforting at the same time.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for every in-house designer.

[Patricia Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great group lesson to share when building team.