1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
What is an Art Director?
An art director's duties basically revolve around the handling of artistic trends and decisions in plans and campaigns. Several times, it is up to you to think up strategies and ensure the accomplishments of the goals and take charge in harmonizing with different artists and productive workers. In addition, as an art director, you must keep an eye on the improvement of workflow and the labor force, create ideas and strategies, and validate or give opinions on every ingenious achievement by workers.
You must exhibit good communication, project management, coordination, leadership skills, and aesthetic assessment. Additionally, you must have a bachelor's degree. Being an apprentice in an art-related industry can help as well. You will earn an average salary of $74,672 or $35.90 per hour.
What Does an Art Director Do
Art directors are responsible for the visual style and images in magazines, newspapers, product packaging, and movie and television productions. They create the overall design and direct others who develop artwork or layouts.
How To Become an Art Director
Art directors need at least a bachelor’s degree in an art or design subject and previous work experience. Depending on the industry, they may have worked as graphic designers, fine artists, editors, or photographers, or in another art or design occupation before becoming art directors.
Art Director Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an art director can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as creative director, progress to a title such as creative director and then eventually end up with the title creative director.
Average Salary for an Art Director
Art Directors in America make an average salary of $88,367 per year or $42 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $135,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $57,000 per year.
Average Art Director Salary
$88,367 Yearly$42.48 hourly
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Art Director
The role of an art director includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general art director responsibilities:
- Work on and manage a large variety of graphic projects. Develop exceptional designs together with your team while always keeping the client's requirements in mind. Independently manage
- Create graphics for company's online and offline marketing efforts, including brochures, packaging, sales sheets, case studies, presentations, inserts, newsletters, direct mail packages, event marketing signage, logos, print ads, email, landing pages, web banners, web pages, demos,
- Design,develop and maintain e-commerce websites that align with brand guidelines
There are several types of art director, including:
Creative Director
Role:
Creative directors are key personnel in marketing and advertising agencies. They design media strategies and monitor communication campaigns for brands and products. They oversee the work of copywriters and graphic designers, revise presentations and coordinate the work of the creative team, making the final calls in creating advertisements.
The job of creative directors is essentially to whittle down the creative chaos their team generates into the most efficient, witty, and spot-on ad solutions. A good creative director will know how to motivate and inspire his/her or her team, bring the best out of the people they work with, and give space for great ideas to grow.
Advertising is a highly competitive and lucrative business for anyone involved, and creative directors are certainly not the ones to miss out on the financial perks. There are a lot of opportunities to show your worth, and as a creative director, you can make anything between $87,869 to $169,072 a year, depending on your location, the size and reputation of your agency, your experience in the field, and the results your work brings.
- Average Salary: $137,779
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Graphic Design Manager
Role:
Graphic design managers are creative and artistic by nature. Their main purpose is to manage the graphics and design teams and/or departments. They get to apply the artistic nature of theirs in a corporate environment.
Some of the responsibilities and duties that they execute in this capacity include developing various design strategies, managing the design team, collaborating with the product and marketing team to gain more insight, presenting further design ideas and improving current designs and graphics, and evaluating design performance of the team or juniors. Essential skills required to be successful at this position are artistic innovation, conflict management, leadership, interpersonal, and communication.
To successfully qualify for this position, employers usually require a master's degree in graphic design, visual arts, or similar field. Moreover, prior work experience in a related position will be advantageous. The average hourly pay for the position is $30.27, which amounts to over $63,000 annually. The career is also projected to see growth in the near future.
- Average Salary: $66,975
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Freelance Art Director
Role:
The Freelance Art Director helps to turn artistic vision into cinematic reality in a film or video project. They are responsible for the visual style and images in magazines, newspapers, product packaging, and movie and television productions-working hand in hand with the production designer to show its visual identity.
Typically, you need to possess a bachelor's degree in an art or design majors such as fine art, visual communications, or digital media to become a freelance art director. However, it will be best to have several years of work experience in graphic design, photography, illustration, and direction.
The graduates who gravitate in this field end up laying claim to annual earnings at $58,250. The current median pay for a Freelance Art Director ranges from $42,550 to $74,515 in the U.S. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon your experience and skills.
- Average Salary: $85,453
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Art Director Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active art director jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where art directors earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Average Salary: Job Openings:
Number Of Art Director Jobs By State
Top Colleges for Art Directors
2. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
3. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
4. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
5. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,465
Enrollment
6,483
6. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
7. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,610
Enrollment
40,329
8. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,381
Enrollment
34,564
9. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,522
Enrollment
13,760
10. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
Top Skills For an Art Director
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.2% of art directors listed graphic design on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and creativity are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Art Director Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Art Director templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Art Director resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Art Director diversity
Art Director Gender Distribution
Male
57%
Female
43%
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among art directors, 42.6% of them are women, while 57.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among art directors is White, which makes up 67.2% of all art directors.
- The most common foreign language among art directors is Spanish at 47.9%.
Online Courses For Art Director That You May Like
Advertising Disclosure
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This course provides a summary of key concepts from the first two chapters of The Design of Everyday Things (Revised and Expanded Edition, November 2013) by Don Norman. It's intended to be enjoyable and informative for anyone curious about design: everyday people, technical people, designers, and non-designers alike...
3. ART of the MOOC: Public Art and Pedagogy
Students of this course may try their hand at their own public art interventions, or simply focus on learning from the theory of public practice and its recent history. Designed by artist and Duke professor, Pedro Lasch, and co-taught by Creative Time artistic director, Nato Thompson, this course presents public culture and art in their radically reinenvented contemporary forms. The lectures link major developments of recent decades to wider topics like spatial politics, everyday social...
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Best States For an Art Director
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an art director. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Oregon, and Iowa. Art directors make the most in Washington with an average salary of $116,811. Whereas in California and Oregon, they would average $110,627 and $108,462, respectively. While art directors would only make an average of $104,474 in Iowa, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
Total Art Director Jobs: 164
Highest 10% Earn:
$183,000
Location Quotient:
0.92
$116,811
Avg. Salary
2. Oregon
Total Art Director Jobs: 114
Highest 10% Earn:
$170,000
Location Quotient:
1.12
$108,462
Avg. Salary
3. California
Total Art Director Jobs: 874
Highest 10% Earn:
$175,000
Location Quotient:
1.22
$110,627
Avg. Salary
How Do Art Directors Rate Their Jobs?
Top Art Director Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ art directors and discovered their number of art director opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Boys & Girls Clubs of America was the best, especially with an average salary of $79,894. J Walter Thompson follows up with an average salary of $93,168, and then comes Ogilvy with an average of $83,201. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as an art director. The employers include Chico's FAS, Randstad North America, Inc., and JPL
Most Common Employers For Art Director
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta | $169,812 | $81.64 | 23 |
| 2 | Apple | $156,923 | $75.44 | 70 |
| 3 | Microsoft | $152,638 | $73.38 | 29 |
| 4 | Macy's | $132,230 | $63.57 | 37 |
| 5 | Condé Nast | $121,587 | $58.46 | 22 |
| 6 | Aquent | $117,203 | $56.35 | 29 |
| 7 | AKQA | $113,177 | $54.41 | 22 |
| 8 | Digitas | $102,055 | $49.06 | 31 |
| 9 | Goodby Silverstein & Partners | $100,204 | $48.17 | 37 |
| 10 | The Integer Group | $98,992 | $47.59 | 27 |
What Are The Best Companies To Work For An Art Director?
Kayb Joseph
Professor of Art, Covenant College
We encourage students to take a small business course, as most studio owners are small businesses. We also promote internships to determine the right fit.
Art Director Videos
I'm an Art Director
Art Director
Career Advice on becoming a Standby Art Director by Abbi S (Full Version)
Becoming an Art Director FAQs
Production Designer Vs. Art Director
A production designer is a person who focuses on the overall visual representation of the story and works closely with the director, while an art director works more closely with the crew and support staff to ensure that tasks are carried out to turn the production designer's vision into reality.
How Do I Get Started As An Art Director?
You can get started as an art director by earning your bachelor's degree. Most art directors hold degrees, unsurprisingly, in art or design subjects.
If starting from the point of professional experience rather than education, you can get started as an art director by first working in graphic design, illustration, photography, or any other artistic occupation.
How Long Does It Take To Become An Art Director?
It takes three to five years to become an art director. Getting a bachelor's degree usually takes about four years, and you will more likely than not be required to have some prior work experience before earning the title of art director.
How Much Do Art Directors Get Paid?
Art directors in the U.S. get paid about $69,000 a year, on average. As with all professions, salaries can vary greatly depending on location, prior experience, education, and other factors.
What Are The Pros And Cons Of Being An Art Director?
The pros and cons of being an art director relate to creativity, leadership, and long working hours. Here are the top pros and cons of being an art director:
Pros:
Creativity and freedom
What Is The Difference Between An Art Director And A Creative Director?
The difference between an art director and a creative director is that an art director is focused solely on aesthetics, whereas a creative director will handle many other duties.
These duties include strategy, campaign execution, and more. On some occasions, a creative director will perform art direction as well. More often, however, art directors and creative directors will work in tandem, with creative directors providing conceptual ideas behind a project and art directors executing on the details.
Have more questions? See all answers to common arts, entertainment, sports, and media questions.