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What does an interactive art director do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Scott Foster

An interactive art director oversees the design, development, and research of web-based products to promote a business' management and marketing. They are responsible for the project's overall look, which usually involves leading graphic designers and web developers to create and produce a variety of interactive products. An interactive art director manages a website, widgets on different social media platforms, or mobile applications. They collaborate with other professionals like digital marketers and product managers and outline a goal for the project.

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Interactive art director responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real interactive art director resumes:

  • Lead requirements definition with card sorting, user and stakeholder interviews, contextual inquiry, paper prototyping, and heuristics.
  • Develop front-end code including XHTML, PHP, JavaScript and CSS.
  • Involve in UX design and interaction as well basic HTML coding.
  • Facilitate sales teams by creating interactive presentations on CD-ROM and HTML email campaigns.
  • Champion innovation technologically including responsive UI
  • Champion innovation technologically including responsive UI

Interactive art director skills and personality traits

We calculated that 42% of Interactive Art Directors are proficient in Develop User, UI, and Visual Design. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.

We break down the percentage of Interactive Art Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Develop User, 42%

    Develop user interface and style guidelines for development team, while delivering assets and application wireframes.

  • UI, 7%

    Directed Interactive Multimedia projects for Web and Laptop Presentation from estimating, architecture, UI design to launch.

  • Visual Design, 5%

    Contributed to strategy sessions that produced exciting visual designs and campaigns for both print and digital projects.

  • Art Direction, 4%

    Provided art direction and produced designs for domestic/international partnerships and affiliate licensing software engine.

  • Creative Solutions, 3%

    Partnered with individual business units to understand their objectives so that my team can provide revenue generating creative solutions.

  • HTML, 3%

    Produced all Flash and HTML content and collaborated with developers on application development.

Common skills that an interactive art director uses to do their job include "develop user," "ui," and "visual design." You can find details on the most important interactive art director responsibilities below.

Leadership skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an interactive art director to have is leadership skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "art directors must be able to organize, direct, and motivate other artists." Interactive art directors often use leadership skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provide strategic direction and leadership for ncsoft's digital marketing services for europe and north america, supporting four games studios. "

Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform interactive art director duties is communication skills. Interactive art directors responsibilities require that "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." Interactive art directors also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "created company and departmental blogs using the wordpress cms to help foster better, more engaging inter-company communications. "

Creativity. interactive art directors are also known for creativity, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to interactive art director responsibilities, because "art directors must be able to come up with interesting and innovative ideas to develop advertising campaigns, set designs, or layout options." An interactive art director resume example shows how creativity is used in the workplace: "develop creative for web and digital collateral (skins, pencils, illustrations for animation, etc). "

Time-management skills. For certain interactive art director responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "time-management skills." The day-to-day duties of an interactive art director rely on this skill, as "balancing competing priorities and multiple projects while meeting strict deadlines is critical for art directors." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what interactive art directors do: "refined sitemap and motion design flash animations within compressed 7-week deadline. "

Most common interactive art director skills

The three companies that hire the most interactive art directors are:

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Compare different interactive art directors

Interactive art director vs. Art consultant

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.

If we compare the average interactive art director annual salary with that of an art consultant, we find that art consultants typically earn a $20,400 lower salary than interactive art directors make annually.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, interactive art director responsibilities require skills like "develop user," "ui," "visual design," and "art direction." Meanwhile a typical art consultant has skills in areas such as "art gallery," "fine arts," "contemporary art," and "art collections." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Art consultants earn the highest salaries when working in the internet industry, with an average yearly salary of $68,646. On the other hand, interactive art directors are paid more in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $102,200.The education levels that art consultants earn slightly differ from interactive art directors. In particular, art consultants are 8.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an interactive art director. Additionally, they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Interactive art director vs. Co-director

A career as a co-director brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of an interactive art director. In fact, co-directors salary is $8,790 higher than the salary of interactive art directors per year.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real interactive art director resumes. While interactive art director responsibilities can utilize skills like "develop user," "ui," "visual design," and "art direction," co-directors use skills like "oversight," "curriculum development," "community outreach," and "mental health."

Co-directors earn a higher average salary than interactive art directors. But co-directors earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $83,655. Additionally, interactive art directors earn the highest salaries in the pharmaceutical with average pay of $102,200 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Co-directors tend to reach higher levels of education than interactive art directors. In fact, they're 9.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for interactive art directors in the next 3-5 years?

Scott FosterScott Foster LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor of Studio Art, Chair of Creative Arts Department, Siena College

Visual interfaces. Visual communication, overall, is where our society is headed. Graphic Art and Design are the following English and Communications majors. Consider that we've gone from a marketplace where a company could thrive without a website to our current situation where growth is impossible without a web or social media presence over the last ten years. While these tools are supported by technology, the user interface is the visual component that mediates between a company and its consumer base. Those that are effectively designed will be the ones that see more use and market presence.

Interactive art director vs. Gallery director

On average scale, gallery directors bring in lower salaries than interactive art directors. In fact, they earn a $15,284 lower salary per year.By looking over several interactive art directors and gallery directors resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "facebook," "promotional materials," and "media management." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an interactive art director is likely to be skilled in "develop user," "ui," "visual design," and "art direction," while a typical gallery director is skilled in "gallery exhibitions," "art gallery," "press releases," and "sales transactions."

Gallery directors earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $68,281. Interactive art directors earn the highest pay from the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $102,200.gallery directors typically earn higher educational levels compared to interactive art directors. Specifically, they're 9.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Interactive art director vs. Senior designer/art director

Senior designer/art directors typically earn higher pay than interactive art directors. On average, senior designer/art directors earn a $13,941 higher salary per year.While both interactive art directors and senior designer/art directors complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like ui, visual design, and art direction, the two careers vary in some skills.While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "develop user," "creative development," "prototyping," and "email marketing" are skills that commonly show up on interactive art director resumes. On the other hand, senior designer/art directors use skills like graphic design, photography, sketch, and adobe photoshop on their resumes.The media industry tends to pay the highest salaries for senior designer/art directors, with average annual pay of $113,063. Comparatively, the highest interactive art director annual salary comes from the pharmaceutical industry.The average resume of senior designer/art directors showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to interactive art directors. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.

Types of interactive art director

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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