Art Direction

Art direction is generally considered to be the act of giving visual expression to an idea with the help of others, in roughly the same way that a film director 'directs' a film using both technical and creative collaborators. But what makes a good art director?

As a job description, art direction still flourishes in advertising, but also in fashion and in magazine publishing. It is also used in movie-making to describe a slightly different activity. In advertising it means directing the appearance of communications of all kinds - press advertisements, television commercials, websites and digital messages. In graphic design, a good art director moulds a palette of visual and verbal elements into a coherent whole. Typically, these elements might include photography, retouching, typography and specialist skills such as 3-D modelling, animation, audio: creating the design might also entail casting, prop hire, model making and location finding. But the one defining characteristic is that art direction always involves directing other people.

To be a good art director, three attributes are essential:

A clear vision of the final outcome.

A working knowledge of the various technical disciplines involved in creating a successful result.

An ability to inspire a sense of joint authorship.

Graphic Design: A User's Manual by Adrian Shaughnessy