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Art Directors

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual productions and media, such as print, broadcasting, video, and film. Direct workers engaged in artwork or layout design.

Related: Graphic Designers Producers & Directors Project Management Specialists Special Effects Artists & Animators Writers & Authors

Industries: Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Conceptualize and help design interfaces for multimedia games, products, and devices.
Confer with clients to determine objectives, budget, background information, and presentation approaches, styles, and techniques.
Confer with creative, art, copywriting, or production department heads to discuss client requirements and presentation concepts and to coordinate creative activities.
Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound.
Attend photo shoots and printing sessions to ensure that the products needed are obtained.
Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members.
Present final layouts to clients for approval.
Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound.
Research current trends and new technology, such as printing production techniques, computer software, and design trends.
Mark up, paste, and complete layouts and write typography instructions to prepare materials for typesetting or printing.
Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing.
Prepare detailed storyboards showing sequence and timing of story development for television production.
Work with creative directors to develop design solutions.
Manage own accounts and projects, working within budget and scheduling requirements.
Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing.
Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing.
Mark up, paste, and complete layouts and write typography instructions to prepare materials for typesetting or printing.
Negotiate with printers and estimators to determine what services will be performed.
Create custom illustrations or other graphic elements.
Review illustrative material to determine if it conforms to standards and specifications.

Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.

Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

5 years or more work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

143490/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

68.99/hr

Currently Employed

3,440

Yearly Projected Openings

400

Artistic: People interested in this work like activities that include creating, designing, and making your own rules. They do well at jobs that need:

Self-Confidence
Leadership Orientation
Innovation
Adaptability
Achievement Orientation
Dependability

Charcoal pencils
Desktop computers
Digital camcorders or video cameras
Digital cameras
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Tablet computers

Analytical or scientific software
Computer aided design CAD software
Desktop publishing software
Development environment software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Graphical user interface development software
Graphics or photo imaging software
Internet browser software
Mobile operator specific application software
Network conferencing software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Program testing software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Video creation and editing software
Web page creation and editing software
Web platform development software
Word processing software

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Art Directors

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