Art Director Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post presents complete information on the job description of an art director, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that they typically perform.

What Does an Art Director Do?

Art directors are skilled professionals that develop and implement conceptually designed elements related to brand positioning, public relations, and strategic marketing promotions in order to convey an employer or a client’s distinctive message.

The job description of the art director typically involves supervising the work of other artists and designers that create and design visual images for television, movies, live performances, advertisements, or video games.

Directors of art are responsible for determining the overall concept or tone for each project, and for articulating projects’ vision to artists.

The designers then design images, such as illustrations, photographs, graphics, or charts and graphs, or design stage and movie sets, based on the art director’s vision.

Various artists can develop or create certain parts of an art piece or scene, but it is the director of art who shouldered the supervision and unify the developments.

The director, in particular, is in charge of the overall concept appearance and how it stimulate moods, communicates visually, contrasts features, and appeals to the target audience.

He/she is responsible for determining the visual elements used, what concept style to apply, and when to apply motion.

Art directors major in arts and designs and are employed in advertising agencies, public relations, firms, and magazine, newspaper, or book publishers to create designs and layouts.

They also work with directors and producers of theatre, television, or movie productions to guide set designs. This is a job that requires the director to understand the design elements of projects, motivate other art workers, and keep to the budget of the project, and be conscious of time.

Sometimes, the art director’s role may include determining budgets and timing.

The art director’s work description varies by industry as they work in various industries.

Notwithstanding, almost all art directors determine the overall artistic concept and visual image to use for each project, and supervise a team of designers, artists, writers, photographers, and editors who create separate works that collectively make up a complete product.

The following are some various roles of art directors in different industries:

In Advertising:

An advertising art director usually works in collaboration with a copywriter. In this industry, the title does not mean an art director is the head of the department.

The team (art director and copywriter) join forces to devise an overall concept for all advertisements, such as brochure, mailer, commercial.

Though, the director may suggest an idea for headline and other copy, the copywriter may come up with a visual approach.

Yet, the copywriter major in the textual content, while the art director is responsible for the visual aspect. The team usually welcomes ideas and criticism from each other.

In publishing

Art directors in publishing typically work in tandem with the publication’s editors. As a team, they join forces to work on concepts for pages and sections of a publication.

Individually, the art director typically oversees the visual layout of the publication. Their duties also include selecting art cover for books and periodicals.

Wherein the publication involves websites, the art director will supervise the visual production for the websites. The editor, on the other hand is responsible for the publication’s verbal and textual content.

In firm

An art director works in collaboration with the set decorators and the set designers and directly under the production manager.

The major part of their duty is the administrative aspect of the art department. They are also responsible for apportioning tasks to personnel, such as the Art Department and Construction Coordinators.

Art Director Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Art directors perform various functions in different industries where they may find employment.

However, the following job description example shows the general duties, tasks, and responsibilities they perform across various industries:

• Determine how best to presents an idea visually
• Select which photographs, art, or other design elements to be used
• Determine the overall look or style of a publication, advertising campaign, or a theatre, television, or film set
• Research and study market trends
• Supervise other art workers
• Review, suggest, and approve designs, artwork, photographs, and graphics developed by other staff members
• Commute with clients to develop an artistic approach and style for projects
• Take account of budgets and time
• Present completed projects to clients for approval
• Manage and apportion tasks to other designers and provide guideline

Art Director Job Description for Resume

A resume for the post of art director can be prepared with the use of the sample job description shown above.

The work description contains appropriate statements for writing the professional experience section of the resume, but you must ensure the duties and responsibilities you are adopting for your resume match your actual experience working as an art director.

Art Director Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

The following skills, abilities, and knowledge are vital to the success of someone working as an art director in various industries; individuals aspiring to the position are advised to develop these attributes to make it easier to win employers’ hearts:

• Communication skills – Art director’s job involves taking and giving order. Therefore, the individual holding this role must be good at listening and speaking with staff and clients to ensure that they understand each other’s ideas and desires for advertisements, publications, or movie sets
• Creativity – Art directors must be able to think creatively and bring up interesting and innovative ideas to design advertising campaigns, set designs, or layout options
• Organizational skills – A company’s director of art must possess the ability to organize, guide, and motivate other artists. They will need to articulate their visions to artists and supervise production
• Time-management skills – Meeting strict deadlines is essential for art directors. Also, they must be able to balance competing priorities and multiple projects at a go
• Computer skills – Computer knowledge is paramount as almost all related work are done on computers; not only the basic knowledge of computer, excellent use of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, or other visual design tools is essential.