Underpaid and overworked - Anonymous employee Real Art Design Group Employee Review

Through the ups and downs over the years, I've always thought this was one of the most sincerely creative, ambitious places in Dayton. I always wanted to work with tremendously talented people, and this is magnetic for those types of people. Real Art isn't perfect, but I've always been given the opportunity to make cool stuff and define my own job.

If you're not into the "design as a service" mentality, it'll be hard to get over difficult client requests, short deadlines and the other generalities of the advertising industry. It's not fun or easy to make your clients happy no matter what, but I think it's as well-balanced here at Real Art as it can be.

The people are great. The teams function like small families, always willing to support one another or extend support across teams. Projects are exciting and the consistent short deadlines give that adrenaline rush. I loved my early days at Real Art.

Although there are many bright minds at Real Art, only a select few are able to shine. Creative direction often comes from a place of "what looks cool/personal preference" instead of "what is best for the client/what is the client looking for" and this is where the internal struggle happens. It's easy to get dazzled by the cool factor, but you'll slowly begin to realize that only the top people get to make the decisions, come up with the concepts they want to push forth, and ultimately they are the only ones who grow. A young designer can learn a lot here, but there is no room for growth or career advancement. If you want to get paid what you're worth, sadly you will not find that here. With consistently short deadlines on almost every project and the above stated creative direction, burnout is real. It hurts to say this truth, but I fell out of love with design while working here.