go to school in San Francisco

Culture. Cuisine. Incomparable beauty. 

Most Americans would say that San Francisco is the most beautiful city in the USA. European visitors would say it’s the most European of American cities. Everyone agrees, it’s extraordinary. Rows of Victorian gingerbread houses; Golden Gate Bridge; a cable car to Nob Hill; a glass of wine at a small cafe on North Beach. Fog and fog horns. 

The school is in the middle of the “ad ghetto” where most of the city’s  world- famous  ad agencies and design firms are within a couple of blocks. Still, you’ll have and occasional chance to glimpse the city’s beauty on the way to school. Located in a great neighborhood of antique shops, poster dealers, galleries and old book stores, only a block or so from City Lights bookstore where Ferlingetti and Ginsberg read “beat poetry” under Telegraph Hill and between North Beach, Chinatown and the financial district- you’re only a block away from “Grumpy’s” the watering hole of all the ad guys here.  

But this city is also the seat of the digital revolution. And while the hi-tech bloom wilted a few years back, the roots are still strong and new growth is sprouting up everywhere. It’s a good time to be in San Francisco. It’s a really good time to be a Miami Ad School student in San Francisco.

You can follow Miami Ad School San Francisco's Twitter feed here.

We’re far ahead of most schools in digital education. Ad Age magazine says our school is one of a select few that “gets it” (in digital). That’s because our students are totally involved in pop culture. And pop culture today embraces every thing that’s digital. Texting, twittering, facebooking, blogging, GPS-ing. emailing,Youtubing and every other digital innovation coming full-stream in a wire-less world. Our students quickly learn that the old formula of doing TV commercials and prints ads doesn’t apply in the advertising and design world they will be joining.  There’s a problem to solve and a sharp creative mind will find the appropriate media to use get attention in a crowed environment. Chances are it will have an on-line component and a digital structure.

The really bright students will search out the latest trends in Beijing, Instanbul or Indiana. How about the latest garage band in Iran? What’s shaking and moving the pre-teens in Bahia these days? What’s underground in Budapest? Seen any good porn lately? The trick is to use the latest trend or media before someone else uses it first, but also using it in a way that enhances the product or persuades someone to try it. That means talking to them in their language or their music or their culture. Or introducing them to a totally new cultural experience that’s somehow “sexy’ to them. 

What a fun way to make a living. Forget the old terms of art director, copywriter, or designer. How about Pop Culture Engineer?

Programs taught in San Francisco:

• Art Direction 
• Copywriting

Bootcamps:

• Bootcamp for Account Planning (Fall)