Finding Your Buchun
How to Find & Build a Creative Partnership That Lasts
Finding Your Buchun: How to Build a Creative Partnership That Lasts
Advertising is a unique industry where, as an art director or copywriter, you’ll often work with a creative partner for years—sometimes your entire career. That partnership can be the key to breaking into the industry and thriving. Finding your creative partner early on can make all the difference.
I found my "Buchun"—Buchun Jiang—while we were both students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign around 2019. Our partnership, which began in college, has shaped both of our careers. In this post, I’ll share tips on how to find your creative partner, what to do once you’ve found them, and how to work together to build a strong portfolio and launch your career.
1. Where to Look: Start in Your Current Communities
The best place to find your creative partner is often right in front of you—within the communities you're already part of. If you’re in college, you have access to an amazing pool of potential collaborators. Start by looking at your classrooms and clubs. That’s where I found Buchun. We were both in the American Advertising Federation (AAF) at our university, and although we hadn’t worked together initially, we connected through mutual friends and eventually became a team.
However, with the power of technology, your community of aspiring advertisers doesn’t even need to be local. You can hold nightly meetings with your creative team via Zoom or Google Meet. Your creative partner might be in a different city, or even another country, but you can still work together seamlessly thanks to remote tools.