Pros
Location: Nice variety of restaurants, great shopping, beautiful surrounding area and courtyard. You can easily get away for your breaks and lunches. Hours: I was never required to do overtime, I was able to decide if I wanted to stay late or not. If you had an appointment, no big deal. Management are very relaxed about your 'time-needs' in the creative department. People: A nice creative group to work with if you connect with them. There was a good amount of collaboration between the designers. Creative Director: Knows what they are talking about, extremely hard working, level-headed, tries to push the envelope for the company, great designer. Art Director: Very good communicator, very good with handling and explaining delicate politics, able to discern team attitude and turn it around for the better, great designer. Both Directors are experienced designers, and I never struggled with having to deal with incompetency with either of them. Projects: The projects almost never get old, you have the opportunity to follow trends and try new things. They encourage creativity (to and extent, you are still working for someone.)
Cons
Location: You're next to the freeway. (Good and Bad...) Calabasas Drivers. People: If you didn't fit in with the group, then you're really an outcast. If you don't cosy up to the directors, it is very difficult to work with them. Very Clique-ish. Way too much unnecessary drama. CD: When it comes to projects; Extremely opinionated, challenging to communicate with, does not have much time to discuss, seems to prefer agreement rather than other opinions. AD: Is sometimes unable to give immediate feedback due to CD's specific needs and wants. (Good and bad), Sometimes cannot give you a straight answer due to poor upper management choices. Some of the time, the directors are gone or too busy to discuss projects. So you have to catch them first thing. Which can sometimes overwhelm them because of how many people need to speak with them. Pay: Average fresh-out-of-college Junior Graphic Designer Salary. Projects: I wished that directors would more often tell you that something isn't going to work right away, rather than putting a bunch of time into it and then saying: 'No.' Make sure you ask a lot of questions before you become invested in your design.