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Advertising Education. Free. For Everyone.

You shouldn’t need to go to a fancy ad school or know someone who knows someone to get into advertising. Extra Grind is a free ad school offering classes, tips, and knowledge that makes advertising more accessible.

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Find Your Passion. Fuel Your Work.

Our free classes let you explore anything from strategy to design to project management. As you find what inspires you, you’ll also be able to build a portfolio that will get you in the door.

Sharpen Your Mind

We have classes for a variety of advertising disciplines and more.

Strategy

Strategists infuse everything in advertising with thoughtfulness and inventiveness. The most important skill to learn as a strategist is how to keep learning, and we’re happy to teach that.

Writing

From conceptual thinking to precise wordsmithing, writing in advertising takes a lot of practice. We can’t promise perfection, but we can promise great practice.

Design

Whether you’re considering graphic design, art direction, or just want to know the difference, we have classes to hone your design eye and unleash your creativity.

Project Management

Learn what it takes to shepherd projects from start to finish—and maybe even the fine art of interpreting clients’ vibes.

Digital

We offer classes on UX, UI, and whatever else is coming to a screen near you.

…and More

Not every class will neatly follow a particular discipline or be easy to categorize, just like most of the work in advertising. Expect career prep classes, media recaps, department combo classes, and beyond.

Previous Classes

Copywriting for the Web

Superhuman Office

In Copywriting for the Web, we’ll be covering the evolution of copywriting and how writing for the web differs from more traditional media. We’ll talk through our process and end with an activity where attendees will write copy for a website.

This class will be in-person.

Slots are limited to 15 students. Sign-ups after the class fills will go on a waitlist. Superhuman requires that all in-person attendees be vaccinated against COVID-19. If you are exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms during the class, email extragrind@superhuman.agency and we will arrange for you to join remotely.

Visual Identity 101

Superhuman Office

Superhuman Office

Superhuman Office

Taught By:
Andrew Beckman, Sean Cooley, , ,

Bring your laptop and learn how to approach visual identity, with designers who do it every day at Superhuman! In this three week, in-person course, you’ll learn tips and tricks to give thoughtful meaning and strong cohesion to visual identity branding—and even get to apply what you’ve learned to a hands-on project. Sharpen your critical eye and practice your feedback and critique skills with other designers in this course, too! Classes will take place in our Downtown Minneapolis office with a rotating cast of Superhuman designers each week.

Slots are limited to 10 students. Sign-ups after the class fills will go on a waitlist. Superhuman requires that all in-person attendees be vaccinated against COVID-19. If you are exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms during the class, just let a member of the design team know and we will arrange for you to join remotely.

Creating Interdepartmental Harmony

Remote

In Creating Interdepartmental Harmony we will dive deeper into the project management role within an agency, highlighting how to best work with internal teams. This class will discuss how project managers can establish an effective and collaborative environment for creative teams, creating interdepartmental harmony. This will be a virtual class on Tuesday, January 31st from 5:30-6:30pm CST.

Decoding the Modern Brand Playbook

Remote

Taught By:
Lee Cerier

The world’s biggest brands have been shaped and activated through long-held, industry agreed-upon approaches. Today, the most exciting brands are throwing these rules aside and writing their own playbook. In this class, we’ll look at how classic brands like Coke, Crisco, and Colgate have done things. Then, we’ll juxtapose their approaches with examples of new dynamic brands like Away, Liquid Death, and Allbirds challenging convention to dethrone Goliaths and win our love.

Design Portfolio Dos and Don’ts

Remote

Taught By:

Developing your design portfolio is a lot. Deciding which projects to include, how to talk about your work, and how to show that you are totally job-worthy is no simple task. This class will help answer some of your burning questions and guide you towards building a design portfolio that you can be proud of.

Find Your Presentation Style

Superhuman Office

Superhuman Office

Superhuman Office

Becky Radecki CEO

Taught By:
Becky Radecki

Giving a presentation is one of the biggest causes of anxiety in advertising, and causes many a great thinker to avoid the spotlight. The good news is almost everyone has presenting hangups—you’re not alone! And even better, you can only get better, not worse. This course helps you find your unique style, get over common challenges and become more comfortable presenting your work among the friends you’ll form in class.

Week One 10.13
Learn about unique presenting styles and identify yours.

Week Two 10.20
Share a few slides on why you identify with a presentation style.

Week Three 10.27
Practice presenting your way by creating and delivering a fun presentation.

Slots are limited to 10 students. Sign-ups after the class fills will go on a waitlist. Superhuman requires that all in-person attendees be vaccinated against COVID-19. If you are exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms during the class, just let the teacher know and she’ll arrange for you to join remotely.

Intro to User Experience

Remote

Taught By:
Laura Horan

What is User Experience? In this introductory session you’ll learn the origins of UX and why it’s become integral to modern product design. We’ll cover basic definitions, tactics, and methodologies, and take a look at a case study to see UX applied in real life. Then we’ll roll up our sleeves for a quick UX activity.

Project Management 101

Hybrid

Taught By:
, Alex Reimringer,

Project management might seem vague, but we’re here to add clarity. We’ll run down what project management entails and what different positions you can find yourself working in, take you through our Superhuman secret sauce of project management processes, and leave plenty of time for any and all questions you may have at the end!

Project Management 
with Purpose

Remote

Taught By:

Project Management is so much more than making timelines and corralling creatives. In our upcoming Project Management with Purpose class, you’ll learn how Project Managers at Superhuman help facilitate creative work and bring projects to the finish line with intention and thoughtfulness.

Virtual Portfolio Reviews

Remote

Join us for an opportunity to get one-on-one feedback on your copywriting or design portfolio from a Superhuman. You’ll be assigned to a time slot on a first-come, first-served basis based on portfolio type.

What Writers Write

Remote

Taught By:
, Erin Mackaman

What in the world is a deliverable? Who is SEO? What is a concept?? This one-hour Extra Grind class offers a basic explanation of the kinds of work that advertising copywriters do. Attendees will leave with a better frame of reference for writing tasks and what media elements can work well in a copywriting portfolio.

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