How To Become An Associate Art Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is an associate art director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Cynthia Tovar

Associate art directors work under art directors' supervision to assist in the graphic design of brands, layouts, advertisements, or other creative-driven tasks. They take total charge of the visual stylings for stage productions, television shows, or newspapers.

Typically, you need to possess an associate's or bachelor's degree in graphic art design and use various design software. As an assistant art director, your job responsibilities include staying current on the latest computer-aided design techniques and mediating between directors, artists, and designers.

The graduates who approach this field end up laying claim to annual earnings at $61,207. The current median pay for an associate art director ranges from $58,215 to $65,508 in the US. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon your experience, skills, or organization.

What general advice would you give to an associate art director?

Cynthia Tovar

Board Member, Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Due to the pandemic, it is unfortunate that there are limited job openings for new graduates entering the workforce; however, there are a number of ways that a young professional can continue to network and gain experience, including virtual internships and entering into an official mentorship or training program (such as the ARCS Mentorship Program, The Museum Leadership, Polaris mentorship program, the Broad Diversity Apprenticeship Program, or The Registrar Hour, Intern Hour). Emerging professionals that join ARCS as an individual or student member, will have access to job listings, networking opportunities, funding opportunities for conferences and the mentor program among other benefits.

For those that do enter the workforce, many institutions' staff are still working remotely or operating in a hybrid model. There will be a need for new staff to communicate effectively with their supervisors, while working remotely, over video meetings. They might also be expected to learn new software or technology such as DocuSign to facilitate remote working and or be expected to serve as a virtual courier using video technology and digital condition reporting techniques. Museums can benefit from a fresh viewpoint that advocates for efficiencies and new ways of operating in these challenging times.

ScoreAssociate Art DirectorUS Average

Salary

6.5

Avg. Salary $82,664

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.71%

Asian 7.76%

Black or African American 4.36%

Hispanic or Latino 14.40%

Unknown 5.70%

White 67.06%

Gender

female 53.30%

male 46.70%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.2

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.0

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an associate art director

Explore associate art director education requirements

Most common associate art director degrees

Bachelor's

66.2 %

Associate

21.5 %

Master's

6.0 %

Start to develop specific associate art director skills

Skills	Percentages
Graphic Design	12.16%
Photography	10.01%
Adobe Creative Suite	9.52%
Adobe Photoshop	6.80%
Sketch	6.64%

Complete relevant associate art director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New associate art directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an associate art director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real associate art director resumes.

Research associate art director duties and responsibilities

Design ads, uploading print PDFs to vendor s printing website, manage print approval process and create HTML email blasts.
Assist in html with Dreamweaver.
Design and develop animation for RFPs.
Produce and maintain new-product marketing templates to establish a solid foundation for brand email campaigns using inline CSS.

Prepare your associate art director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your associate art director resume.

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