Honest question. Creative seems to be such a broad term and more of a descriptor than anything. If you fall into the category of Creative what exactly do you do?
From my experience “Creative” is a term that could either describe an art director or copywriter in the advertising industry with some crossover skills in strategy / concepting. It’s typically used by freelancers whose skills are broader than just copy or art
Art director/ animator. Most of it is keeping on brand. But there is a hefty dose of color theory and composition design. As well as all of the Disney animation principles. Which apply to alot more than just animation.
It’s usually used to describe design / media people. The term originated in the advertising industry to contrast with business focused roles. Outside of that context it sounds cringey as hell
Visual Designer / Creative Director. Focus mostly on how my company expresses it's brand visually (illustration, logos, marketing materials, etc) with a bit of UI/Product Design in there as well.
Copywriter/content strategist/brand stuff Basically, come up with ideas or campaigns (that may overlap) and create them. Could be 6 words for a billboard, a script for a video, a series of emails, etc. Also think up/manage tone and voice stuff across all content. It's an interesting gig, with interesting people. A lot of learning, conversing, and creating. And then...the measuring. A lot of this is done with/for marketing/product/UX teams.
My background is in business management and I specialize public relations, advertising, and marketing. I’m the Chief creative Officer at my company and I offer various creative and business services as a contract consultant.
From my experience, colleagues with the broad title as “Creative” typically work in the advertising space as that shit isn’t billable on the brand/in-house side of the industry. They’re multifaceted across art and copy, have a solid foundation on concept development and strategy yet don’t pass a true design test. Basically you come up with ideas and have partners with finer skills bring it home.
Barista. Honest answer.