Designers with an interest in advertising have a new avenue for advancing their education and careers in the field.
The Digital Media Institute at lnterTech (DMII) has launched a one-of-a-kind Advertising Design associate degree program. The two-year curriculum presents the fundamentals of modern advertising for traditional and new media platforms. The program includes advertising theory and practice taught through a portfolio-driven model. Students will learn career skills and apply them to a capstone project that includes real-work experiences and employers.
“We are going to select and train the all-in-one ninjas everyone wants to hire,” said John Miralles, Executive Director of DMII. “This is the kind of person the modern employer wants to hire.”
Students who enroll in the Advertising Design program will learn to design for interactive platforms, motion media, 3D animation, digital photography and video. They also will learn the business of advertising, marketing and demographics as they create digital and social media campaigns. Graduates will leave DMII with a compelling multicomponent portfolio and be ready to take advantage of our placement assistance.
“We are a unique, small school,” Miralles said. “We have a very narrow focus on the programs we offer. Modern companies want to hire someone who understands how to design, how to sell and how to create campaigns on different media and social platforms. The need to know how to deal with design constraints, how to monitor, update and improve performance, to create digital, web and social campaigns that funnel people into the business.”
The new degree already has captured the attention of local advertising professionals.
“It’s exciting to have this unique approach to advertising education coming to our area,” said Amy Jones, President of the American Advertising Federation Shreveport Bossier chapter. “We hope this program will attract a diverse group of students who will remain here after graduation and contribute to local advertising community.”
AAFSB is dedicated to education and professional development for the local advertising industry. AAFSB offers advertising students learning opportunities through conferences, its annual Agency Crawl and the National Student Advertising Competition.
“AAFSB is focused on engaging these students while they pursue their degree,” Jones said. “Through our student-centric events like CommNEXT coming this fall and Agency Crawl in spring 2020, we hope to bridge the gap between students and professionals and show local advertising students what the Shreveport-Bossier advertising industry has to offer.”
Advertising Design will be the first two-year associate degree DMII offers. Miralles said students will learn the advanced skillset they need in a fundamentally modern environment. The program will prepare graduates to work in small or large advertising
agencies, corporate marketing departments and for companies across most industries and verticals. The accredited two-year program is taught on the state-of-the-art DMII campus at 2031 Kings Highway in Shreveport, with general education courses taught online.
“One of the unique things about DMII is that we are a very professionally oriented environment and staff,” Miralles said. “We are people who have done this work in the real world before. We are qualified and engaged with the students and employers in ways traditional schools can’t be. We went out and talked to local companies including the R&P agency and others and got input into the occupationally driven curriculum. It’s a selective enrollment program that really doesn’t have a peer here.”
Scholarships and Federal Financial aid is available, Tops-Tech and the GI bill are also accepted. For more information about the program and about DMII, visit dmi.edu.