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Best creative director certifications

Creative director certifications allow job seekers to demonstrate their competency as an creative director to employers. However, not all creative director certifications provide the same value for job seekers.

The best certifications for a creative director are Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS), Professional Certified Marketer (PCM), and Certified of Medical Illustrator (CMI).

Below is a list of the best creative director certifications. Obtaining an creative director certification will give you a leg up when you apply for jobs and increase your potential salary.

5 best creative director certifications

1. Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS)

The PPAI Professional Development Certification Program Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS) Certification is a PPAI industry credential awarded to promotional products professionals with at least three years of promotional products industry experience, and who have met rigorous educational course and testing requirements-demonstrating exemplary commitment to their profession. Professionals who have earned their CAS provide the highest standard of conduct and integrity.

Certification details
  • More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
  • More than two years of work experience required? Yes
  • Oral or written exam required? Yes
  • Renewal required? Every 3 year(s)

2. Professional Certified Marketer (PCM)

Being a top marketer means continually enhancing your skills as well as highlighting your accomplishments. The American Marketing Association's Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) program gives you a tangible, convenient way to do both. You can earn the PCM designation by passing a comprehensive exam covering the key areas of marketing. Developed with input from hundreds of marketing experts, the PCM program meets strict national professional certification criteria and standards for excellence in marketing.

Certification details
  • More than two years of education or training after high school required? No
  • More than two years of work experience required? No
  • Oral or written exam required? Yes
  • Renewal required? Every 3 year(s)
Certifying organization
American Marketing Association

3. Certified of Medical Illustrator (CMI)

The Board of Certification of Medical Illustrators administers a certification program for illustrators who seek a recognizable means of credentialing. The designation of Certified Medical Illustrator (CMI) denotes this voluntarily earned credential and provides a recognizable means of signifying a practitioners current competency in the profession of medical illustration. Certified Medical Illustrators have passed examinations dealing with business practices, ethics, biomedical science, drawing skills, and have undergone a rigorous portfolio review.

Certification details
  • More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
  • More than two years of work experience required? Yes
  • Oral or written exam required? Yes
  • Renewal required? Every 5 year(s)

4. Web Graphics and Multimedia Certificate

Equips the student for work as a Web graphic artist, creating illustrations, pictures, buttons, and other images for use on the Web, as well as the ability to create interactive multimedia designs in Flash or other programs.

Certification details
  • More than two years of education or training after high school required? No
  • More than two years of work experience required? No
  • Oral or written exam required? No
  • Renewal required? No

5. Certified Blockchain & Digital Marketing Professional

Certified Blockchain and Digital Marketing Professionalâ„¢ is a unique training and certification specially designed to demonstrate how Blockchain can revolutionize digital marketing. This course focuses on the core concepts of digital marketing and Blockchain technology. It discusses how Blockchain can overcome the challenges faced by digital marketers in the current scenario. The course will render expertise on eliminating digital marketing middlemen, eliminating online ad fraud, building trust and transparency while giving customers full control of their information with the use of Blockchain technology. Certified Blockchain and Digital Marketing Professional training will prove to be your USP and will act as a catalyst to accelerate your career growth.

Certification details
  • More than two years of education or training after high school required? No
  • More than two years of work experience required? No
  • Oral or written exam required? No
  • Renewal required? No

What is the best certification for a creative director?

The best creative director certification is Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS). The Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS) is awarded by the Promotional Products Association International. This certification corresponds to a specialty within a recognized occupation.

Here's a bit more background on how to obtain this creative director certification:

  • To become a certified Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS), you need to pass the exam.
  • This certificate requires more than two years of work experience.
  • Renew certification every 3 year.

What certifications can impact a creative director career and salary?

The Certified Graphics Communications Manager certification will help you to secure a user experience designer position, which will increase your pay and career trajectory. A user experience designer's average salary is $93,114 whereas creative directors make an average salary of $137,779.

Best certifications

The most common combination of creative director certifications include: Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS), Professional Certified Marketer (PCM), and Certified of Medical Illustrator (CMI).

Online courses for creative directors to earn certifications

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1. Visual Design (Part Time)

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Gain the vocabulary and tools to tackle diverse design challenges on the job. Kickstart your portfolio and create beautiful, responsive designs for the web. This course is offered in person and live online, in a remote classroom setting...

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Creativity & Entrepreneurship will help you tap into your inner creativity and learn how to leverage it for career development or business innovation. Presented by Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship founder Panos Panay, this course features interviews with world renown entrepreneurs, innovators, songwriters, producers, creative directors, educators, performers, visual artists and chefs as they discuss parallels between the creative and entrepreneurial journeys. The course...

3. Creativity Toolkit II: Creative Collaboration

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Creativity requires us to collaborate with others, and this course helps you be a better creative collaborator. We need to be able to pitch our creative ideas so that others are excited rather than baffled or dismissive by them. We need to be able to evaluate the ideas of others so we identify rather than miss creative solutions. We need to be able to work with our teams such that creativity thrives rather than is suppressed. This course addresses each of these needs, identifying challenges and...

4. Creativity Course by a Creativity Coach Art & Innovation

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Adobe Creative Cloud Ultimate A-Z Guide. Go From Basic to Advanced with Creative Cloud and 10 Projects From Scratch...

6. User Experience Design with Disney Creative Strategy in Miro

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By the end of this project, you will be able to guide teams to come up with creative ideas and an action plan to support them by applying the Disney Creative Strategy to User Experience design. To do this, you will gain hands-on experience structuring a brainstorming session to attack a design challenge from three unique mindsets to arrive at the most viable and creative idea. You will do this work in the Miro online visual collaboration platform for teamwork. Note: This course works best for...

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A totally new learning experience that will teach you 365 creative skills...

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9. Creative Thinking Exercises: Improve Your Creative Thinking

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13. Creative Writing For Beginners - Writing Creative Prose

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14. Graphic Design using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign

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Learn the fundamentals of the 3 most important design applications in the creative industry...

15. Creative Writing - Get Writing, Keep Writing

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Unlock your creative writing ability...

16. Graphic Design Mastery- AI, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign

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Graphic Design for beginners including Graphic Design Theories, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, AI & Creative Thinking...

17. Masterclass in Design Thinking, Innovation & Creativity

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Learn the Design Thinking process from inception to validation. Understand users, uncover insights, prototype & test...

18. Graphic Design Bootcamp: Advanced Training Using Adobe CC

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Project-Based Learning For Intermediate Designers: Use Photoshop, Lightroom, and Other Adobe Creative Cloud Programs...

19. Disciplined Dreaming: Lead Breakthrough Creativity at Work

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Use Josh Linkner's Disciplined Dreaming system to learn how to use creativity & innovation to drive results...

20. HTML5, CSS3 & JavaScript Workshop: Build 7 Creative Projects

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Learn real world web development & design skills to build up a website from scratch with 7 incredibly creative projects!...

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