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.
Creative director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real creative director resumes:
- 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.
- Work with illustrators, sketch artists , 3D designers, art directors and copywriters to execute creative vision.
- Code static and WordPress websites and responsive emails.
- Convert sites from a custom build CMS to WordPress.
- Engage in core team brainstorming sessions for main elements of production.
- Design cutting edge, artistic, and user-friendly WordPress themes in Photoshop.
- Create multimedia assets like photography, vector art, and CSS designs for company website.
- Design and fabricate store fixtures from sketch to finish utilizing input and feedback from store managers and customers alike.
- Formalize and facilitate a unique style of cross-functional brainstorming sessions to support the development of new brand platforms and services.
- Maintain a staff of 10 web designers and 2 HTML coders, as well as training and motivation for support staff.
Creative director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 6% of Creative Directors are proficient in Graphic Design, Creative Concepts, and Creative Direction. They’re also known for soft skills such as Management skills, Problem-solving skills, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Creative Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Graphic Design, 6%
Facilitate design meetings to involve cross-disciplined team members, including copywriters, graphic designers, production artists and production coordinators.
- Creative Concepts, 6%
Converted client retail program goals into award-winning creative concepts for national promotional campaigns.
- Creative Direction, 6%
Provide strategic creative direction for delivery of integrated solutions across multiple media channels to maintain brand consistency and improved customer experience.
- Video Production, 5%
PROFILE Freelance Creative Lead for national and international video productions including corporate and consumer facing projects.
- Photography, 5%
Developed and designed, art directed/edited photography and oversaw printing for a 36-page award-winning alumni magazine for five tears.
- Digital Marketing, 4%
Developed integrated digital marketing/radio promotional campaigns for the Museum of Science Boston that boosted ticket sales during key school vacation periods.
Most creative directors use their skills in "graphic design," "creative concepts," and "creative direction" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential creative director responsibilities here:
Leadership skills. This is an important skill for creative directors to perform their duties. For an example of how creative director responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "art directors must be able to organize, direct, and motivate other artists." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a creative director: "involved team building, leadership, creative strategy and strong presentation skills. ".
Time-management skills. creative director responsibilities often require "time-management skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "balancing competing priorities and multiple projects while meeting strict deadlines is critical for art directors." This resume example shows what creative directors do with time-management skills on a typical day: "developed and implemented new procedures in product development process which reduced pre-production timeline 23%. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for creative director responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of creative directors all the time, as "art directors must be able to listen to and speak with staff and clients to ensure that they understand employees’ ideas and clients’ desires for advertisements, publications, or movie sets." An excerpt from a real creative director resume shows how this skill is central to what a creative director does: "oversee all branding, corporate communications and customer relationships with regard to print material, signage and product development. "
Creativity. While "creativity" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to creative director responsibilities. Much of what a creative director does relies on this skill, seeing as "art directors must be able to come up with interesting and innovative ideas to develop advertising campaigns, set designs, or layout options." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of creative directors: "provide creative branding solutions for artists and small business, including web design and brand marketing packages. "
The three companies that hire the most creative directors are:
- Meta60 creative directors jobs
- ICF56 creative directors jobs
- Verizon Services Corp.
19 creative directors jobs
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Compare different creative directors
Creative director vs. Art consultant
A graphic design manager is primarily in charge of leading and overseeing the efforts of a graphic design team, ensuring adherence to goals and deadlines. It is their duty to learn and analyze the purpose of design, coordinate staff, liaise with internal and external parties, set goals and objectives, manage schedules, and conceptualize plans. Furthermore, as a graphic design manager, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between creative directors and art consultant. For instance, creative director responsibilities require skills such as "creative concepts," "creative direction," "video production," and "photography." Whereas a art consultant is skilled in "art gallery," "contemporary art," "art collections," and "art shows." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Art consultants earn the highest salaries when working in the internet industry, with an average yearly salary of $68,646. On the other hand, creative directors are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $162,278.art consultants tend to reach higher levels of education than creative directors. In fact, art consultants are 6.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Creative director vs. Graphic design manager
A Senior Designer/Art Director is responsible for the execution and on-time delivery of high-quality creative materials. They determine how best to represent a concept visually and which photographs, art, or other design elements to use.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that creative director responsibilities requires skills like "creative concepts," "video production," "photography," and "digital marketing." But a graphic design manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "brochures," "product photography," and "flyers."
Graphic design managers may earn a lower salary than creative directors, but graphic design managers earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $82,776. On the other hand, creative directors receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $162,278.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Graphic design managers tend to reach similar levels of education than creative directors. In fact, they're 4.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for creative directors in the next 3-5 years?
Scott Foster
Associate Professor of Studio Art, Chair of Creative Arts Department, Siena College
Creative director vs. Senior designer/art director
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, creative directors are more likely to have skills like "video production," "project management," "end user experience," and "creative vision." But a senior designer/art director is more likely to have skills like "web banners," "visual design," "marketing campaigns," and "html css."
Senior designer/art directors earn the highest salary when working in the media industry, where they receive an average salary of $113,063. Comparatively, creative directors have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $162,278.senior designer/art directors typically earn similar educational levels compared to creative directors. Specifically, they're 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Creative director vs. Assistant art director
Types of creative director
Updated January 8, 2025
