Art directors are one of the happiest careers in the United States. At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, art directors rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 17% of careers.
The Art Director
It's easy to confuse creative direction with art direction, but they are not the same. By definition, an art director is focused solely on aesthetics, whereas a creative director will handle strategy, campaign execution, art direction, and more.It makes absolutely no difference whether you can draw or not. The hands aren't the only means of delivering expression. Contrary to popular opinion. In fact the rhythm of the hands can often dilute and distort the magnificence and authenticity of the expression.
Art directors typically manage the overall design of a project and direct the individuals who work on various creative aspects of the project.
Art Director Skills and Qualifications:
- Coordination.
- Creativity.
- Vision.
- Project management.
- Graphic design skills.
- Developing creative standards.
- Proficiency with illustration tools.
- Desktop publishing skills.
Art Directors made a median salary of $94,220 in 2019. The best-paid 25 percent made $130,330 that year, while the lowest-paid 25 percent made $69,110.
A position as an Art Director is a rewarding, creative role that might be perfect for you. In addition to creating the overall look for a company's products and marketing, Art Directors manage a team of designers and artists that develop day-to-day assets to bring that vision to life.
Art director positions typically require a bachelor's degree in an art or design major such as fine art, visual communications or digital media. Depending on their industry, art directors may have several years of work experience in graphic design, photography, illustration or other fields.
The salaries of Group Creative Directors in the US range from $110,000 to $325,000 , with a median salary of $275,000 . The middle 50% of Group Creative Directors makes between $230,000 and $260,000, with the top 83% making $325,000.
Creative directors manage the creative team of an organization. A majority of these professionals oversee graphics and art for advertising agencies working to create advertising campaigns, publications, entertainment experiences and more.
As an art director, you will be in charge of creating and producing the overall aesthetics of a project. Whether you are implementing a new design for a client website or designing a video game, having strong aesthetic judgment is a primary skill needed by effective art directors.
How to become an art director
- Earn a bachelor's degree.
- Get an art-related internship.
- Seek a full-time art position.
- Consider further education.
- Request or apply for promotion.
- Leadership skills.
- Project management skills.
- Communication skills.
The biggest difference between an art director and a graphic designer is that the role of an art director is more supervisory, while graphic designers focus on creating the actual product. Art directors develop new ideas, whether for their current clients or future ones.
A good creative director knows that work environment is key and tries their best to create a culture of movement, creativity, energy, and stress reduction in order to make sure that their employees are happy and constantly moving forward.
Here are 10 high-paying art jobs:
- Gallery manager. National average salary: $48,656 per year.
- Interior designer. National average salary: $58,585 per year.
- Technical designer. National average salary: $61,223 per year.
- Industrial designer.
- Store planner.
- Art director.
- Senior fashion designer.
- Creative director.
You can become a creative director without a degree, though most producers and directors have a bachelor's degree. Many directors also have master's degrees, but that certainly isn't required. To become a creative director without a degree, you'll need to have ample work experience in your chosen field.
It's essential that creative directors have stellar communication, presentation, problem-solving and project-management skills, too. The best creative directors have elevated soft skills that enable them to inspire creativity and work well with different personality types — all while juggling various projects.
Generally speaking I'd say it's a pretty stressful job. Working in (but especially owning) an agency can be quite stressful. Because you work project based. Projects need to be finished in order to get paid, so there's always this pressure to finish projects.
