Creative director vs associate art director

The differences between creative directors and associate art directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a creative director and an associate art director. Additionally, a creative director has an average salary of $137,779, which is higher than the $82,664 average annual salary of an associate art director.

The top three skills for a creative director include graphic design, creative concepts and creative direction. The most important skills for an associate art director are graphic design, photography, and adobe creative suite.

Creative director vs associate art director overview

	Creative Director	Associate Art Director
Yearly salary	$137,779	$82,664
Hourly rate	$66.24	$39.74
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	11,610	8,646
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	6	6

What does a creative director do?

A creative director is an individual who creates and maintains a vision for a company's products and branding through digital, print, and film installations. Creative directors supervise and innovative staff team such as graphic designers and artists to discuss and plan the vision's layout and visuals. They also meet with clients or marketing and advertising departments to create designs and make the necessary changes to the systems. Most creative directors must have a bachelor's degree in fine arts and should build work portfolios while starting their careers as graphic designers or photographers.

What does an associate art director do?

Associate art directors are professionals who assist art directors in performing creative-driven tasks such as producing graphic design for brands, layouts, and advertisements. These associate art directors are required to stay updated on the latest techniques using computer-aided design software such as PhotoShop, AutoCAD, and After Effects. They must organize photoshoots and work with PR managers and agents to coordinate the schedules of their models. Associate art directors must also establish a graphic design studio team and provide training for their designers and interns.

Creative director vs associate art director salary

Creative directors and associate art directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Creative Director	Associate Art Director
Average salary	$137,779	$82,664
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $228,000	Between $49,000 And $139,000
Highest paying City	Menlo Park, CA	Santa Rosa, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Apple	Levi Strauss & Co.
Best paying industry	Technology	Media

Differences between creative director and associate art director education

There are a few differences between a creative director and an associate art director in terms of educational background:

	Creative Director	Associate Art Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	Harvard University	Harvard University

Creative director vs associate art director demographics

Here are the differences between creative directors' and associate art directors' demographics:

	Creative Director	Associate Art Director
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 64.7% Female, 35.3%	Male, 46.7% Female, 53.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 7.8% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 7.8% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between creative director and associate art director duties and responsibilities

Creative director example responsibilities.

Manage designers and lead entire in-house healthcare creative department.
Manage all social media outlets and create Youtube channel.
Create, direct, and produce engaging videos and manage Instagram page.
Manage staff including designers, producers, HTML designers, creative writers, and developers; interview and select candidates.
Manage multiple social media profiles (corporate twitter accounts and blogs) to strategically increase readership and draw website traffic.
Develop and manage business-to-business PowerPoint presentation service that create new business opportunities and increase revenue for the company.

Associate art director example 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.
Design Powerpoint decks for presentations.
Coordinate and direct fashion photography shoots for on-figure and tabletop merchandise.

Creative director vs associate art director skills

Common creative director skills

Graphic Design, 6%
Creative Concepts, 6%
Creative Direction, 6%
Video Production, 5%
Photography, 5%
Digital Marketing, 4%

Common associate art director skills

Graphic Design, 12%
Photography, 10%
Adobe Creative Suite, 10%
Adobe Photoshop, 7%
Sketch, 7%
Art Direction, 6%

Creative Director vs. similar jobs

Creative Director related careers

Creative Director related jobs

Creative Director jobs by location

Zippia Careers
Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Industry
Creative Director
Creative Director vs Associate Art Director

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse arts, entertainment, sports, and media jobs