What does a creative director & designer do?
Creative Directors and Designers are responsible for leading the creative output and brand representation of a product, service, or organization's publication. Their duties include developing visual communication strategies across design, content, graphics, artworks, and media, implement industry benchmarks, leading creative marketing campaigns, and working with the design team to create product or service design. Besides that, they are involved in setting the creative direction and message of a brand and supervising the creative team in ensuring brand touchpoints consistency. Creative Directors and Designers also monitor project delivery and assist in creative project budgeting.
Creative director & designer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real creative director & designer resumes:
- Manage design and layout of website as well as maintain the design through CSS & HTML
- Develop and manage business-to-business PowerPoint presentation service that create new business opportunities and increase revenue for the company.
- Create pattern tile designs and home decor with overseas vendors from sketch to final product.
- Create point-of-purchase displays/ merchandising programs, free-standing inserts, corporate and brand identities, brochures, packaging, and marketing collateral.
- Create layout designs for various direct mail platforms (letters, envelopes, brochures, postcards, self-mailers, etc . )
- Direct photographers in helicopters around the country in advertising and corporate photography.
- Create authored and direct high quality external design collateral, illustration, photography, editorial/technical writing, advertising and promotional/educational materials.
- Provide creative copy direction and copywriting for pharmaceutical clients' internal corporate communications programs, training programs and sales force meetings.
- Work closely with production manager to produce mechanicals for print, billboards, banners, kiosks, and POS displays.
- Develop HTML prototypes for monthly email newsletters and email follow-up campaigns that are aesthetically engaging while maintaining compatibility across all platforms.
- Collaborate with design specialist on promotional creative for email execution keeping brand consistent and in-store POS accurate.
Creative director & designer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Creative Directors & Designer are proficient in Graphic Design, Sketch, and Photography. They’re also known for soft skills such as Artistic ability, Computer skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Creative Directors & Designer that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Graphic Design, 11%
Developed, implemented and validated graphic designs and advertising campaign to meet clients quality standards.
- Sketch, 6%
Sketch and create concepts for baseball-themed apparel Finalize and produce completed designs for apparel/print/web Web design/development/coding Generate brand direction and awareness
- Photography, 5%
Created authored and directed high quality external design collateral, illustration, photography, editorial/technical writing, advertising and promotional/educational materials.
- Creative Direction, 5%
Provided creative direction to a team of designers and advised leadership on the feasibility of new offerings.
- Creative Concepts, 5%
Developed creative concepts to follow marketing, creative, and budget objectives.
- Art Direction, 3%
Generated visual prototypes for art direction.
Common skills that a creative director & designer uses to do their job include "graphic design," "sketch," and "photography." You can find details on the most important creative director & designer responsibilities below.
Artistic ability. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a creative director & designer to have is artistic ability. Their role and responsibilities require that "graphic designers must be able to create designs that are artistically interesting and appealing to clients and consumers." Creative directors & designer often use artistic ability in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "directed artistic and creative direction for all marketing collateral for tapout worldwide, tapout training centers, and truesport alliances. "
Computer skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling creative director & designer duties is computer skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "most graphic designers use specialized graphic design software to prepare their designs." According to a creative director & designer resume, here's how creative directors & designer can utilize computer skills in their job responsibilities: "created illustrations, logos computer graphics, and managed photography and retouching. "
Analytical skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of creative directors & designer is analytical skills. This skill is critical to many everyday creative director & designer duties, as "graphic designers must be able to perceive their work from their consumers’ point of view to ensure that the designs convey the client’s message." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "analyzed past sales and upcoming trends to meet future smartsheet & sales goals when product development of each new seasonal line. "
Time-management skills. creative director & designer responsibilities often require "time-management skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "graphic designers often work simultaneously on multiple projects, each with a different deadline." This resume example shows what creative directors & designer do with time-management skills on a typical day: "directed and collaborated with graphic designers, animators, and illustrators to ensure projects were delivered on time and professionally. "
Creativity. Another crucial skill for a creative director & designer to carry out their responsibilities is "creativity." A big part of what creative directors & designer relies on this skill, since "graphic designers must be able to think of new approaches to communicating ideas to consumers." How this skill relates to creative director & designer duties can be seen in an example from a creative director & designer resume snippet: "led development and execution of creative strategy. "
Communication skills. Another skill commonly found on creative director & designer job descriptions is "communication skills." It can come up quite often in creative director & designer duties, since "graphic designers must communicate with clients, customers, and other designers to ensure that their designs accurately and effectively convey information." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day creative director & designer responsibilities: "create visual identity and full business systems designed to position clients externally and ensure communications are aligned with brand strategy. "
The three companies that hire the most creative director & designers are:
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Compare different creative directors & designer
Creative director & designer vs. Designer
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between creative directors & designer and designer. For instance, creative director & designer responsibilities require skills such as "photography," "creative direction," "creative concepts," and "creative design." Whereas a designer is skilled in "customer service," "html css," "javascript," and "revit." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Designers earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $87,754. On the other hand, creative directors & designer are paid more in the internet industry with an average salary of $170,028.The education levels that designers earn slightly differ from creative directors & designer. In particular, designers are 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a creative director & designer. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Creative director & designer vs. Designer/art director
An art director collaborates with the design and art staff for books, public relations firms, advertising agencies, or newspaper publishers. Art directors create designs and layouts that embody the organization and send the message they want the audience to get. They work with producers and directors of theatres, television, and movie productions to oversee set designs. Being an art director also includes critiquing people's work, working to reach deadlines while still following the budget allocated for a certain project, and (on occasion) disciplining designers who are slacking off on the job.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, creative director & designer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "art direction," "creative design," "video production," and "design solutions." Meanwhile, a designer/art director has duties that require skills in areas such as "brochures," "multimedia," "b2b marketing," and "collateral materials." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Designer/art directors may earn a lower salary than creative directors & designer, but designer/art directors earn the most pay in the media industry with an average salary of $100,319. On the other hand, creative directors & designer receive higher pay in the internet industry, where they earn an average salary of $170,028.In general, designer/art directors achieve similar levels of education than creative directors & designer. They're 0.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for creative director & designers in the next 3-5 years?
Scott Foster
Associate Professor of Studio Art, Chair of Creative Arts Department, Siena College
Creative director & designer vs. Visual designer
A visual designer is someone who creates designs for a variety of platforms such as Internet and intranet sites, games, and wearables. The duties of visual designers depend on the specific project or industry in which they are working. Duties include creating user-centered interaction models, working with information technology and business teams to resolve complex issues, and designing logos, icons, and infographics. The qualifications to become a visual designer include possessing strong problem-solving, communication, and negotiation skills and obtaining a bachelor's degree in design.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from creative director & designer resumes include skills like "creative design," "video production," "product design," and "design development," whereas a visual designer is more likely to list skills in "visual design," "visualization," "html css," and "invision. "
Visual designers make a very good living in the start-up industry with an average annual salary of $121,675. On the other hand, creative directors & designer are paid the highest salary in the internet industry, with average annual pay of $170,028.Most visual designers achieve a similar degree level compared to creative directors & designer. For example, they're 2.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Creative director & designer vs. Senior art director
A senior art director is responsible for monitoring the creative art department's operations, ensuring the adequacy of resources and materials, as well as high-quality outputs based on clients' specifications and business requirements. Senior art directors implement strategic project management procedures to offer deliverables within the budget goals and set timeframe. They coordinate with the clients for progress updates and inform them of any adjustments as needed. A senior art director should have a keen eye for details and knowledge of various art software applications to assist the team, especially when doing revisions.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between creative directors & designer and senior art directors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a creative director & designer might have more use for skills like "art direction," "video production," "adobe illustrator," and "motion graphics." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of senior art directors require skills like "digital marketing," "healthcare," "web banners," and "sr art. "
Senior art directors enjoy the best pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $112,256. For comparison, creative directors & designer earn the highest salary in the internet industry.The average resume of senior art directors showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to creative directors & designer. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.Types of creative director & designer
Updated January 8, 2025
