Reflections on My Father’s Day Ad Campaign: Seeing Design from Both Sides

Designed on Figma

Working on my Father’s Day ad campaign for class this week really transported me back to when I first started out as a graphic designer. It reminded me of the countless design briefs I experimented with in my early years—the tools I tried, the questions I asked, and the way I learned to extract the information I needed to bring a client’s vision to life.

When I first started, I didn’t fully realize how much context mattered. I would ask myself: What’s the goal here? Who is the audience? What emotions should the design evoke? What tools or mediums will best communicate the message? Each brief required me to think carefully about the kind of information I would need to successfully execute the project.

This Father’s Day campaign flipped the perspective for me. Being in the position of imagining myself as a client made me think critically about what I would need from someone designing for me. If I were booking a design service for a Nike Father’s Day campaign, here’s what I would want to clearly communicate:

• The campaign goal: celebrating fathers in a way that aligns with Nike’s brand values.

• Tone and mood: energetic, inspiring, and authentic.

• Target audience: who Nike wants to reach, and how to resonate with them emotionally.

• Deliverables: the formats, sizes, and placements needed for the campaign.

• Timeline: when things need to be done, and any milestones along the way.

• Inspiration or references: imagery, color palettes, or campaigns that capture the essence I’m looking for.

Going through this process reminded me that understanding design from the client’s perspective is just as important as knowing the technical side as a designer. It’s a balancing act between creativity and communication—making sure the vision is clear, and the design can speak for itself.

This assignment was more than just a project—it was a mirror showing me how far I’ve come since my early experiments with design briefs, and how valuable it is to think both as a designer and as a client.