Reddit reviews The Mac is Not a Typewriter, 2nd Edition

I feel like you've been hammered here because of the amateurish nature of your work. Honestly though, I'm pretty sure that's why you came here, knowing that it wasn't up to par, and wanting to know how to change that. Here are some things that I would focus on if I were you:

Typography: By this, I don't mean using different typefaces, but rather the study of how to structure information in a legible manner. I work as a wireframer right now, and everything that I do is Arial. Because of that, I have a maniacal focus on size, leading, value, and block shapes to create a hierarchical system on a grid. A lot of it comes from practice, but I can also recommend some books, Thinking with Type, Designing with Type, Making and Breaking the Grid, and The Mac is Not a Typewriter. Typography is one of the most requested skills by design directors because it is hard and can be very bland, but it is absolutely vital for successful work.

Balance and Rhythm: When you are designing pieces, one of the important things to consider is the structure of negative and positive space. This structure influences the way that the piece is read, and the way that people move through the information. You seem to rely on center aligning things a lot, which is dangerous because it creates no action or movement. This topic isn't as advanced as typography so it's harder to give specific resources, but you can find information on this in any basic design text. I enjoyed Alex White's fundamentals book.

Style and Illustration: The type is amateurish, but what makes the work feel dated is the illustration style. When digital illustration was younger and the tools were rougher, the sort of illustration that I see in your portfolio was very common. The most recent trend has been "Flat", but honestly, anything that can complement or hide the digital nature of its creation can work. If you really would like illustration to be a continued part of your work, I would find some tutorials to really strengthen your Illustrator and Photoshop skills, perhaps stuff from Skillshare or Lynda, or even just internet tutorials.

In General: So to be blunt, you do have a long way to go, I'm not going to sugar coat that. That being said, you do have 2 things extremely in your favor right now.

1. You produce a lot of work. You're getting practice.
   
   
2. You know something is wrong. You're looking for a way to improve.
   
   Ira Glass has a really incredible short piece about creative work that describes the place where you are caught right now. Your taste is not aligning with your skills. You have taken the first step in the right direction, so now you need to go study more and keep seeking critique (Not criticism). Whether that is on design_critiques, or from a colleague or friend doesn't matter. Find a place where someone who is better than you can tell you what isn't working and challenge your status quo.
   
   Good luck, and keep at it!

Being an art director is not "making the ads look pretty." That's being a graphic designer. "Type, sizing logos, fonts, etc" are all designer's skills. For learning design in the shortest amount of time, get these two books: The Mac Is Not a Typewriter and The Non-Designer's Design Book. The Typewriter book in particular is, page-for-page, the most efficient primer on typography I've ever read.

If you're going to work in advertising, it's important you that know what your art director partner actually does. Yes, an AD has to know all the designer stuff as well, but an AD's job goes far beyond fonts and layouts.

On a conceptual level, an art director is the same as a copywriter, the difference is that he tends to communicate ideas without words.

On an executional level, an art director has a solid grasp of what it means to visually be "on brand," which is analogous to a copywriter writing with a brand "voice."

An art director also doubles as a film director. He has to know how to tell a story. Is there a 30-second spot with no copy? Guess who writes that part of the script. That's right, the AD.

The visual storytelling skill carries over into photography. A good shot isn't simply a posed composition. A good shot tells an entire story — a story that propels the conceptual idea. This goes beyond good lighting and knowing how cameras work, this is why the AD works with a photographer to get a shot, as the photographer is executional, akin to a graphic designer.

This book explains it quite well: http://www.amazon.com/The-Mac-Not-Typewriter-Edition/dp/0201782634

TL;DR
Computers aren't typewriters. A well-designed font includes enough space after the period to improve readability in the same way double-spacing used to in typewriters.

Haha I just had this discussion with a friend when he sent me an email using 2 spaces after a period. Ill just copy and paste it.

Back in the day, when we typed on actual typewriters each letter was monospaced, which means the letter I took up as much room as the letter M. Due to monospacing it was necessary to place two spaces after a period to show the sentence break. Then, kaboom! The word processor hits the market and has automatic kerning, tracking and spacing; getting us out of the dark ages of the simplistic typewriter.

Here is an example of monospaced font typically found on typewriters VS a proportional font on a word processor.

You can see how the first is from a word processor and is spaced accordingly to each letter, whereas each letter in the monospaced font takes up the same space. Fun right?

Although, typesetting is no longer monospaced, the technique of using two spaces after a sentence crossed over and was taught in typing classes in HS and the like (I remember when I had my typing class we always did two spaces after a sentence). When I started college, my Desktop Publishing class blew my mind, we were given a book called The Mac is not a Typewriter and our teacher had us all do a paper on monospacing and correct typesetting / typography. So, although the MLA "allows this type of behavior" it is still incorrect. Look at any piece of advertising and you will see that there is only ONE SPACE AFTER A SENTENCE. Or just go to the MLA site and see how many spaces they use after their sentences.

Every designer needs to read The Mac is not a Typewriter. http://www.amazon.com/Mac-not-typewriter-Robin-Williams/dp/tags-on-product/0201782634

it's a fast read also.