What Becoming an Art Director Entails

Art directors manage and guide work of designers and artists working in television, film, live performances, advertisements, and even video games. They are responsible for the overall style of a visual message.

As an aspiring art director who is currently a student in one of the reputed B design colleges in India you most probably have an idea of what working as an art director means. In this article we explore deeper the expertise you can expect to build in this role.

Becoming an art director requires computer training to create artwork for logo, packaging and layout design. Another part of your role will be management of your team and working well with merchandising and product teams.

A challenging task that comes with being an art director is overseeing the styling of your product. Here you will work on developing the overall brand aesthetic and styling shoots. Designing the packaging layout so that it yields to consumer use is another vital step in this process.These tasks look different in different companies. Diverse industries seek art directors for specialized projects.

In film, art directors are involved in set design for movies where they collaborate with the director and hired artists. Their role in publishing includes overseeing page layout, book design and web publication versions.

Whatever industry you choose, ready yourself for multitasking. You will be functioning as a trained designer as well as a manager. Such a dynamic role demands versatility in your vision while upgrading your diverse set of talents.

Thriving as an art director means being inquisitive and fascinated by visually stunning details no matter how small.

Apart from the expertise in your craft, listed below are some soft skills you will imbibe as an art director:

1. Leadership

The position of an art director is one of special leadership. It goes beyond supervising employees where you will be dependant on your ability to craft a creative vision and get other artists to follow through with their ideas.

2. Storytelling

The importance of communication in design goes with saying. It is key for art directors to articulate their creative choices and ideas to their team. Being able to create this experience for clients though is a completely new level of communication. To make this experience one that connects with consumers, art directors must be powerful storytellers who provide insightful and strategic solutions.

3. Problem-solving

You will find yourself constantly striving to incorporate visually stimulating ways to fulfill your clients’ requests while keeping within certain restrictions. Creative and innovative problem solving is useful here to enable you to venture outside your comfort zone where the perfect solution lies.

Aligned with such instrumental capabilities of an art director, a handful of the best industrial design colleges in India cultivate these qualities in students early on to give them an upper hand when they become professionals.

Gaurav Peshkar I am a Professional Blogger and Content Writer for Avantika University.