Within the past year, Anna Ward, a designer at leading advertising agency Nelson Schmidt Inc., received the Gold B2B Rising Star Award from the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) New York Global Ace Awards and the Silver Rising Star Award from TheNetworkOne’s Indie Awards. Both award shows recognize the very best advertising talent and work across the entire world.
Prior to Nelson Schmidt, Ward attended the renowned Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design and a minor in Illustration.
As a designer and creative problem solver across all the agency’s clients, her experience ranges from print, logo and identity design, illustration, digital advertising, web design, package design, social media content, art direction, digital animation and more. Ward shares her journey in the industry and insights for growing as an artist.
Field and Farm | Photo courtesy of Nelson Schmidt
Congratulations on winning the Rising Star Award! Can you tell us a bit about your journey to your current role and what’s been your favorite part of working in ad land?
Thank you! Receiving these awards has been such an honor and I am so grateful for all the opportunities that led me here. I graduated in 2020 and wrapped up an internship at an agency shortly after. While figuring out the next step in my career I intentionally crafted my portfolio and freelanced. Through a mutual connection I was able to bring my skills to the Nelson Schmidt team and could tell it was a place and culture I wanted to be a part of. They value the fresh Gen Z perspective I bring and always encourage me to push the creativity of the work to unexpected places. Existing in a space that constantly seeks to create the best work possible is such a driving factor of creativity for me. It pushes me to never settle on the first idea, and that produces some great outcomes!
It can be difficult to craft a creative voice in B2B communications. Where do you find inspiration for your work?
Inspiration can be found anywhere. I browse an array of websites like CommArts, GDUSA, Really Good Emails and Adweek, and social media is also a huge source of inspiration, where I often find myself saving or sending things applicable to current work during my daily scroll on Instagram and Pinterest. In tandem with visual inspiration is fresh air. Good ideas arise from taking breaks and spending time outside, allowing me to come back with a fresh perspective.
Nectar brands | Photo courtesy of Nelson Schmidt
As a designer, what do you think about the usage of AI as a creative tool?
I think AI can be a great tool for internal use when concepting ideas. It allows us to save time and money to communicate our visual idea to clients in early stages of a campaign. Generative AI in Photoshop Beta is super helpful for extending images – I use that on a weekly basis. AI won’t ever replace humans but can help us expand our creativity and lead us to solutions we hadn’t considered.
Sculpture Milwaukee | Photo courtesy of Nelson Schmidt
What’s your advice for other budding artists coming into the advertising industry?
I have 3 big pieces of advice to anyone trying to break into this industry. The first is that it’s okay to make mistakes. That’s how we grow and improve! Nobody expects you to be perfect in your early years. The second is to fill your portfolio with as much real work as you can. This is valuable to potential employers to see your skills in a real-world application, even if it doesn’t feel like the most creative work. The third and final piece is one to take with you throughout your career: nobody is remembered for playing it safe. Push the limits on your concepts, suggest wildcard ideas that may be out of budget or impossible to create in the indicated timeline. These may never come to fruition, but can be scaled back to palatable executions that never would have arisen had the “crazy” idea not been presented.