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Art director and production manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

6 min read

Quoted experts

Scott Foster,

Brian Pirman

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical art director and production manager skills. We ranked the top skills for art director and production managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 13.2% of art director and production manager resumes contained adobe photoshop as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an art director and production manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 art director and production manager skills for your resume and career

1. Adobe Photoshop

Here's how art director and production managers use adobe photoshop:

Operate Macintosh computer using Quark XPress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator.
Updated web design & information for all digital inventory utilizing Adobe Photoshop.

2. Creative Concepts

A creative concept is a big idea that helps in capturing the audience's interest, attracting customers, influencing decisions, and help them to take action. A creative concept can be applied to all communication channels like messages, call to action, emails, etc. Generally, a headline or a tagline is the place where creative concepts play a vital role in successfully attracting the target audience.

Here's how art director and production managers use creative concepts:

Developed creative concepts used during initial presentations to prospective clients.
Produced creative concepts that transcended digital tactics that immediately drew public emotions, and directly affected and positively engaged the audience.

3. Graphic Design

Graphic design is the art of making visual content to communicate messages. Designers apply different page layout methods and visual hierarchy by using letters and pictures to meet the need of end-users. Most companies use graphic design to sell their product or services and to convey complicated information by using infographics.

Here's how art director and production managers use graphic design:

Manage team of full-time and free-lance graphic designers/illustrators.
Monitor and maintain priorities of work coming into and going out of the graphic design area.

4. Art Direction

Art direction is an essential job in the activities related to theatre, advertising, fashion, publishing as well the film industry. All of these fields have a direct or indirect connection with art and therefore require direction and supervision regarding this very aspect of the job. The art director is responsible for how a product turns out visually..

Here's how art director and production managers use art direction:

Provided art direction for the 2007 Shore to Summit promotional video, winning the national bronze Telly Award for Jireh Productions.
Provided Art Direction and design specifications to assist with project management for various Marketing and Brand initiatives.

5. Adobe Indesign

Here's how art director and production managers use adobe indesign:

Maintain a knowledge of postal regulations while using XMPie and Adobe InDesign to execute direct mail campaigns.
Used of Adobe InDesign to organize, position, and provide a visually appealing layout.

6. Photo Shoots

A photoshoot is a series of photographs that a photographer takes of someone, usually of a model or a famous person, to be used in a newspaper or a magazine. The goal of a photoshoot is to achieve a predetermined visual objective. Later, these images can be used for editing or post-production..

Here's how art director and production managers use photo shoots:

Plan and manage off-location photo shoots, including hiring of photographers, models, and temporary support personnel.
Collaborate with team to create instructional videos for Ocean State Job Lot; art direct photo shoots.

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7. Editorial Layouts

Here's how art director and production managers use editorial layouts:

Created editorial layout and art under supervision of art director Produced technical art, charts and graphs
Manage production, design editorial layouts and advisement for clients.

8. Print Production

Print production is the process involved during the commercial and industrial act of printing. It involves the oversight function of printing images on paper or any printable material whether digital or manual. Print production is a term used majorly in the graphics design industry or any other industry related to the use of ink to print words, artworks, design, pictures, and many others on paper or other materials.

Here's how art director and production managers use print production:

Directed all purchasing efforts for print production projects, ensuring decisions were made in accordance with budgetary guidelines and cost controls.
Designed and managed print production of bimonthly, glossy direct mail magazine targeted to media buyers.

9. Press Checks

Here's how art director and production managers use press checks:

Managed the preparation of files, printing quotes and attended press checks.
Handled all press checks and magazine distribution.

10. Promotional Materials

Promotional material is any document or article - written, printed, graphic, electronic, audio, or video presentation, distributed or made available in whole or in part on behalf of a product, cause, idea, person, or business for promotion, advertisement, announcement or direction. Promotional materials are used to make a business stand out from its competitors and to engage the target audience.

Here's how art director and production managers use promotional materials:

Developed high-end promotional materials and custom invitations for several major casino clients.
Created magazine promotional materials and exhibit displays.

11. Web Site

Here's how art director and production managers use web site:

Work closely with developer to create user friendly interactive web sites.
Maintain the company web site, IT resources and managed vendors.

12. Art Production

Here's how art director and production managers use art production:

Developed design concept and oversaw art production for NSF funded high school textbook (12 titles) for major textbook publisher.

13. Production Management

Here's how art director and production managers use production management:

Specialized in production management ensuring brand consistency in web and print communications.
Design & Render for Signs, Monuments and Assets * Material Orders * Install & Production Management

14. Mac

A media access control or simply MAC is a network policy that identifies or determines how the data is being transferred in two particular servers through a network cable. The purpose of a MAC protocol is to prevent network or technical issues and simplify transferring the information or data.

Here's how art director and production managers use mac:

Developed and educated staff in Mac electronic production.
Worked with clients, photographers and directing mac designers to produce single page ads to 300 page catalogs.

15. Trade Shows

Here's how art director and production managers use trade shows:

Attended trade shows twice per year to sell High Cotton's product line to our wholesale customers.
Attend seminar and trade shows to learn the most current and up to date techniques in the industry.

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What skills help Art Director And Production Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What art director and production manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Scott Foster

Associate Professor of Studio Art, Chair of Creative Arts Department, Siena College

Working on a team. The exact project might not matter much, although it's better if it dovetails with your interests or career goals. This could be as simple as volunteering at a non-profit to revamp a website or build an app to measure outcomes.

What type of skills will young art director and production managers need?

Brian Pirman

Associate Professor, St. Norbert College

For someone who is contemplating a career in graphic design, I recommend several things. One would be to develop a portfolio that shows a diverse skill-set. This may include expertise in design and layout, photography, illustration, typography as well as animation and video. If you have a more varied skill set, you are more likely to either gain employment or able to do freelance work. The other thing is internships, internships, internships. Having a portfolio of applied work (versus school projects), as long as it's good, will separate you from the competition.

What soft skills should all art director and production managers possess?

Sue Jenkins

Associate Professor, Marywood University

At Marywood University, we seek to develop transferable soft skills in our Art students through various classroom experiences. We do this by focusing on key aptitudes like strong verbal and written communication skills, teamwork and collegiality, problem-solving and creative thinking, design thinking, flexibility, and adaptability, giving and receiving feedback, and basics like time management, punctuality, and personal responsibility. In light of the global Covid pandemic, now more than ever, employers are seeking candidates with strong empathy skills, folks who strive to build Accessibility accommodations in all that they do, and people who are sensitive to and supportive of issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Do you want to know more?

List of art director and production manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for an art director and production manager resume and required skills for an art director and production manager to have include:

Adobe Photoshop
Creative Concepts
Graphic Design
Art Direction
Adobe Indesign
Photo Shoots
Editorial Layouts
Print Production
Press Checks
Promotional Materials
Web Site
Art Production
Production Management

Mac
Trade Shows
Production Process
Print ADS
Production Schedules
HTML
Real Estate
Color Correction
PowerPoint
Embroidery
Typesetting
Apparel
Creative Design

Account Executives
Corporate Identity
PDF
Payroll
POS
Display ADS
CSS
User Interface
Creative Development
Business Cards
Fine Arts

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Art Director And Production Manager Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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