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Job outlook for senior designer/art directors in the United States
Senior designer/art director job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected senior designer/art director job growth rate is 4% from 2018-2028.
About 4,700 new jobs for senior designer/art directors are projected over the next decade.
Senior designer/art director salaries have increased 8% for senior designer/art directors in the last 5 years.
There are over 22,099 senior designer/art directors currently employed in the United States.
There are 52,775 active senior designer/art director job openings in the US.
The average senior designer/art director salary is $104,333.
Are senior designer/art director jobs in demand?
Senior designer/art director job and salary trends over time
Senior designer/art director jobs over time
Senior designer/art director job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22,099 | 0.01% |
| 2020 | 21,516 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 22,553 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 21,199 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 20,131 | 0.01% |
Average senior designer/art director salary over time
Senior designer/art director salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $104,333 | $50.16 | +3.2% |
| 2024 | $101,062 | $48.59 | +1.6% |
| 2023 | $99,517 | $47.84 | +0.3% |
| 2022 | $99,217 | $47.70 | +3.0% |
| 2021 | $96,342 | $46.32 | +0.1% |
Senior designer/art director jobs by state
Most common states for senior designer/art directors
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 223 | 32% |
| 2 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 205 | 24% |
| 3 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 406 | 19% |
| 4 | South Carolina | 5,024,369 | 841 | 17% |
| 5 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 295 | 16% |
| 6 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 667 | 14% |
| 7 | Louisiana | 4,684,333 | 594 | 13% |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 3,930,864 | 500 | 13% |
| 9 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 807 | 11% |
| 10 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 447 | 11% |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 697 | 10% |
| 12 | California | 39,536,653 | 3,175 | 8% |
| 13 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 666 | 8% |
| 14 | Vermont | 623,657 | 49 | 8% |
| 15 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,376 | 7% |
| 16 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 705 | 7% |
| 17 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 399 | 7% |
| 18 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 365 | 7% |
| 19 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 222 | 7% |
| 20 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 98 | 7% |
Most common cities for senior designer/art directors
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cupertino | 1 | 2% | $133,243 |
| 2 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $78,111 |
Senior Designer/Art Director job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of senior designer/art director experts
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Memphis College of Art
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Indiana University Bloomington
University of Akron
Kean University
Bethel University
Louisiana State University at Shreveport
Moravian College
Troy University
University Of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Northern Iowa
Humboldt State University
Art Academy of Cincinnati
University of Findlay
Villanova University
Case Western Reserve University
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Tiffany Prater: As we emerge from the pandemic, it's crucial to hone your communication skills, particularly in areas such as presenting your design ideas, collaborating with team members, and effectively communicating with clients. This will not only build your confidence but also help you communicate your thought processes and informed design solutions, be open to correction and criticism, and gather experience while working with senior graphic designers, creative directors, and clients.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Tiffany Prater: Never stop learning because life never stops teaching. This quote by Kirill Korshikov rings true for new designers, who must know the latest trends and tools to be uniquely creative, improve their skills, and land a better design job. Knowledge and inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere in our daily lives.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Tiffany Prater: There are several ways to maximize your salary potential. If you have the time to pick up a few night classes on top of your job, take courses in either Art Direction, Copywriting, Photography, UX/UI design, Social, or Strategic planning. If you'd like to take a break from the private sector, getting a Master of Fine Arts degree is even better as it can lead to higher design jobs and teaching positions.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Frances Zhu: Get competing offers and negotiate a higher salary. Foster skills that lend to higher salaries. For example, even though marine biology may not pay the highest, if you have some coding experience, you will be one of the higher paid marine biologists in the field.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Frances Zhu: Do not feel locked into a career trajectory. Find some great mentors. So much information is conveyed through word of mouth. Put yourself in the way of luck (as assert yourself in situations of opportunities). Advocate for yourself as if your friend were advocating on your behalf.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Frances Zhu: With the rise of AI, we're seeing a lot of skills become irrelevant. Just 5 years ago, a software engineering job seemed ludicrous. Now those are the fastest jobs being replaced by AI. A skill that will never be irrelevant is creativity, which is a skill you can cultivate. Create content and think in new ways that no one (even AI) has ever thought of.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Lucas Charles: As graphic design graduates embark on their careers, nurturing curiosity, continuous upskilling, networking, and collaboration are pivotal. Embracing curiosity sparks innovation, while ongoing learning ensures relevance in a fast-paced industry. Building connections fosters opportunities, and collaboration cultivates dynamic work environments.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Lucas Charles: To maximize their salary potential, graphic design graduates should focus on key strategies. Building a diverse portfolio showcases skills, while cultivating a professional network opens doors to higher-paying opportunities. Continuous upskilling ensures competitiveness, and confident negotiation of fair compensation based on expertise enhances earning potential.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Lucas Charles: In the ever-changing field of graphic design, adaptability, digital fluency, and understanding user experience are becoming more crucial. Embracing new and emerging technologies, prioritizing empathy, and fostering a mindset of lifelong learning are paramount for success.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Kathryn Anderson: Some of the day-to-day duties of a graphic designer entail some basic skills such as the following: listen attentively; engage in and interpret research (visual, text-driven, data-based, etc.); problem-solve; process and critique creative ideas; use technology in an ethical and appropriate manner; prepare digital and other work/files for printing and/or the web; and revamp concepts as per the client’s wishes.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Kathryn Anderson: A Graphic Designer’s work-life is rather sedentary and repetitive. However, any astute employer will encourage a bit of exercise and play throughout the course of the day to keep their team focused and happy. Other downsides might be: fast deadlines or short turn-arounds, insufficient communication from a client, and mandatory overtime hours. Mostly, the benefits out-weight the negatives. In today’s virtual world, more designers can and do work remotely or in hybrid environments—which is a plus for those who have child-care or other familial responsibilities.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Kathryn Anderson: With the advent of AI, graphic designers must be valued for their technical and critical thinking skills. Graphic Designers of today provide more than just what the client wants or envisions, but rather a uniquely hyper-focused solution that can stand the test of time because of the insightful research and intense amount of processing and editing that is embedded in the design.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Dr. Joyce Stoner: Skills in imaging, Macro-XRF, weave counting, and cross-section microscopy are more and more important for practitioners in painting conservation in private work, regional centers, or in museums.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Joyce Stoner: Seek to work with a strong mentor in your specialty for at least the first three years after finishing graduate school. It is always good to be working with a group in any case, to share ideas and experiences as you make decisions.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Dr. Joyce Stoner: Salaries are not very high in art conservation as you start out. But if you work with a mentor, publish and give talks, have a high profile for your knowledge and expertise, and eventually go into private work, especially in modern and contemporary paintings, to my knowledge that is where the higher salaries are found.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
George Logothetis Jr: Create work that is undeniably great. Work that turns heads, shows daring and provocative thinking, and is attention-getting and impossible to ignore.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
George Logothetis Jr: Being able to flex between the various media channels and show competence and imagination in them all. Young creatives have to be versatile and fluent on all communication platforms. It’s also important to maximize your craft and continually hone it. Whether you are art or copy, having a heightened sense of design and writing will not only make the job easier, but you will be more productive. The better your skills are the more work you can create. If you bring lots of work to every meeting, you will always be appreciated.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
George Logothetis Jr: Be focused on the strategic approaches that inform the creative process. Don’t think that being a creative person in advertising is solely about being creative. Show insight and appreciation for business initiatives and how strategies define them.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
David Flynn: Everything that you see has been touched by a designer. The field is expanding with technology, but basic communication design principals remain paramount. It doesn’t matter if it’s a newspaper ad or a social post, you must have a professional that knows how to communicate a message, move the viewer's eye, and make the point. Designers work in every company and in every industry, worldwide.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
David Flynn: They like that it can be very lucrative, so rewarding when you see your work in the world, nothing like it really. Downside is that “creativity on demand” is difficult to sustain and you have to purpose to take care of your creative soul.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
David Flynn: We spend our day creating items that need to communicate a message clearly and quickly to a person or public. Information, directions, product benefits, packaging, events, advertising, anything and everything is designed to inform.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Dr. Denise Anderson: When mentoring students in developing their final portfolios and preparing them for professional practice I ask them “What makes you stand out above the line” or simply put, what separates you from all the other designers looking for a job. This could be prestigious internships, knowing motion or 3D rendering skills and then I tell them to promote their strengths. For example, my student Myesha Bennett spent four years in the Navy to pay for college. What she learned along the way shaped her as the designer she is today and these lessons made her stand above the line.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Denise Anderson: The skills graphic designers will need is learn artificial intelligence software AND how to masterfully use it. The masses will tinker with the new technology but designers need to harness the power of it and use their learned skills of ideation, art direction, and image manipulation skills (Photoshop). What they also need to develop is their storytelling skills which will help them with art directing and creating AI images.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Dr. Denise Anderson: Similar to question 1, leverage what you have done prior to entering the field. It takes my students 6-8 weeks to complete their resumes and personal because the image and content needs to be authentic. Perception is a lot in our field and I train students to feel confident about themselves. Portfolios get students an interview but they need to communicate their value to get hired.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Becki Graves M.A.: I often refer to the 'swiss army knife' in my field. These students can sing, write songs, set up a stage, chart a song, lead a team, lead a room in worship, run worship software, and lead their peers. Don't just keep to one lane, try to learn the most about all of them.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Becki Graves M.A.: It is already vital in the field of creative arts and creative ministry but being a researcher. Research the current products on the market, trends in attendance, etc. This is a vital tool in being able to build the programs or ministry teams you envision.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Becki Graves M.A.: Try anything and everything—no work or job is beneath you. All your experiences will culminate into who you are as a person and employee and leader. Be ready to work several jobs. Most creative types end up being bi-vocational at some point in their career. Try to see this a gift—creative inspiration flows from having multiple lids open at once.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Allen Garcie MFA: One way that a new graduate can maximize their earning potential is by gaining professional experience as soon as possible. Freelance work is a great way to do this! Another way is for a new graduate to work towards earning a field-specific professional certificate (For example, both the American Institute for Graphic Arts [AIGA] and the American Marketing Association [AMA] offer these.), a software-related certification (Adobe and Autodesk offer these.), or an advanced degree (Such as an MA or MFA.). While gaining employment in the design field is primarily related to your portfolio and related experience, additional credentials can still make you more competitive.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Allen Garcie MFA: On the technical side, software is always evolving so skills related to this are always important. However, I think keeping up with advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) is going to be most important for designers over the next 3 to 5 years. This is an area that's already changing the design field as companies like Adobe and others continue to integrate AI into their software. On the other hand, being a designer isn't all about developing technology-related skills though. I also think developing non-technical skills like creativity, collaboration, and adaptability are extremely important for any designer.
Dr. MaryJo Rosania-Harvie
Assistant Professor of Practice | Art Education Coordinator | Interim Art Department ChairMoravian College
Fine And Studio Arts
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Dr. MaryJo Rosania-Harvie: Definitely leadership skills - having the ability to express their ideas and be open to feedback; and the ability to give effective feedback. Artists learn to do this in school through critique and sharing their work with an audience. Also, entrepreneurial skills, critical thinking, and always creativity.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. MaryJo Rosania-Harvie: Consider doing an internship while in school or after graduation. At Moravian, we have designed internship opportunities for all of our art major tracks, so the students are getting valuable work experiences in their chosen area of study. These internships often lead to employment.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Dr. MaryJo Rosania-Harvie: For someone beginning their career, I would advise them to consider the problem-solving and critical thinking skills they developed in school, and highlight those skills when meeting with potential employers and clients. They can consider themselves entrepreneurs, and should try to be flexible and open-minded.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Christopher Stagl MFA: This industry is all about connections with people. You have to network and market yourself. This will lead to opportunities for you creatively - which may start small but you build upon success, grow your clients, and progressively begin to charge more and more as you grow in to your field. Never stop learning, never stop making (even if it's mistakes), and never stop networking.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Christopher Stagl MFA: Definitely video, motion, animation, and effects will continue to grow as some of the most needed skills - but if you can't think creatively, if you can't be unique and different in your problem solving and design thinking approach - then it doesn't matter how much technology you know or how good you are at Ai - you won't have a place in the industry. This industry is based on ideas - not technology. Skills can be learned, the most successful creatives think different.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Christopher Stagl MFA: a. Remain curious about creative problem solving with diverse and unique approaches. b. Seek feedback. Just because your classroom projects are over doesn't mean you still shouldn't be reaching out your peers and mentors to get feedback. c. Do your research, always. Never just assume you know the market or the demographic - do your due diligence and ask all the right questions to learn about your client. d. Tell a good story. The creative industry is really about people - figure out who the people are you're speaking for and speaking to and find the story that lives in those thrulines. e. Be Hungry and Hustle. Nobody is going to do this for you - creative work isn't going to come to you - you have to go get it.
Dak Kopec Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Coordinator, BA Interior Architecture and Design and Master of Design ProgramUniversity Of Nevada, Las Vegas
School of Architecture
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Dak Kopec Ph.D.: Two things to keep in mind; the first is that you must keep up with your computer skills. Software and technology, especially AI, are rapidly advancing. It’s important to stay in the know and to continue learning as new things come to the market. The second is to be as versatile as you can. The job markets are getting tougher, and you need to be able to cast a wide net when looking for work. You shouldn’t worry too much about finding a specialization until you're in your mid-career.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dak Kopec Ph.D.: 1. have a great portfolio demonstrating your design skills’ diversity of design abilities. I.e., show you how you can create designs that are historic, contemporary, and cutting-edge. 2. Demonstrate your ability to think critically and apply information. While AI will soon be able to take over the graphical representation of the design, it is unlikely that it will be able to use critical thinking and deductive reasoning. 3. Use your interview to show your employer you have skills they don’t have in the office and those skills will get them clients. I would research their projects and website, identify a weakness, and then demonstrate in your portfolio that I have the skills to help address existing weaknesses. Once an employer sees that what you bring to the table has value, you’ll be in a better negotiation position.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Dak Kopec Ph.D.: The ability to use AI technologies to develop more realistic designs and to develop stories around those designs. Technology is advancing rapidly, and more and more people are looking to have designs that are more personalized to them and their end-user population, and this will involve storytelling.
Elizabeth Sutton
Department Head, Professor of Art HistoryUniversity of Northern Iowa
Department of Art
What soft skills should all Senior Designer/Art Directors possess?
Elizabeth Sutton: There are many--the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively is absolutely necessary. The ability to ask for feedback and be able to take that feedback and incorporate it into a process is very important. Of course, meeting deadlines is also very important.
What skills will help Senior Designer/Art Directors earn the most?
Elizabeth Sutton: It's not about money. It's about liking what you do and making enough to meet you and your family's needs.... in any case, some of our Graphic Designers do very well when they add a Marketing minor from the College of Business.
What skills stand out on Senior Designer/Art Director resumes?
Elizabeth Sutton: What really stands out is the quality of the student's portfolios and that they have client-based real-world experience.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Senior Designer/Art Directors?
Elizabeth Sutton: We train our students in Adobe Creative Suite: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Senior Designer/Art Director job market given the pandemic?
Elizabeth McPherson: I know that many young dancers, just out of college, were pursuing dance careers in NYC, but after the pandemic with the loss of job opportunities, had to move back to their former homes across the country. I think this could have the potential to encourage more growth in dance outside of NYC. It is just so expensive to live in NYC, and dance generally does not pay so well.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Senior Designer/Art Directors?
Elizabeth McPherson: College courses that focus on entrepreneurship, creativity, and flexibility are very important in this age.
How have salaries changed over time for Senior Designer/Art Directors?
Elizabeth McPherson: I actually do not know. Many performers' salaries have been cut or eliminated, but I do not have hard facts about this.
Hope this helps.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Senior Designer/Art Directors?
Rae Robison: Live theatre will definitely be impacted, but the opening of more film, television and recorded projects will continue to expand. Specifically my design tech students are still working, just in different ways. There's never been a point in human history where we don't seek entertainment in some form or another so there will always be a need for the arts and artists.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Senior Designer/Art Directors?
Rae Robison: This year has really hit home that performers need to have a better knowledge of lighting and costume. What does my light look like? Why is my white shirt flaring? Since so many are working from their homes they need answers to these questions so they can produce their best audition tape or performance. Everyone needs to embrace some tech knowledge so that we can continue to push our new art forms into the 21st century.
What will help Senior Designer/Art Directors increase their earning potential?
Rae Robison: Less specificity and more holistic learning. If you only design sets, you are limited to art direction in a physical space or choosing Zoom backgrounds. If you know scenic, costume, lighting and sound your earning potential is so much more possible. I always train my students to work in live venues and multiple recorded formats to expand their marketability.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Mark Thomas: To maximize salary potential when starting a career in Graphic Design, Professor Thomas suggests specializing in a niche area of design, continuously updating skills to stay current with industry trends, and negotiating salary based on experience and the value one brings to the role.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Senior Designer/Art Director job market given the pandemic?
Anne Beekman: Employers are looking for versatility, someone who can take on multiple roles: graphic design, social media, photography, and web. Anything else that you can add - the ability to write, to do illustration, video, animation - will give you an edge in a competitive job market.
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Anne Beekman: Keep your design skills sharp, for they quickly fade if you don't use them. Continue to build your portfolio with self-initiated projects. Do tutorials to improve with technology and software. Read design books and magazines to stay on top of trends. Then, when a potential employer asks what you have been doing for the past year since graduation, you can show that you are capable of self-initiated learning.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Anne Beekman: For your first job, be willing to take a design position that is not creative, churning out work that is not beautiful, and that is low paying. It will give you needed experience, and you will learn to work fast and accurately. But don't settle there. After a year or two, start looking for a position where you can move up, within the company or elsewhere.
Edward Sobel
Associate Professor, Resident DirectorVillanova University
Department of Theatre
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Senior Designer/Art Director job market given the pandemic?
Edward Sobel: The theater is a complicated career path under non-pandemic conditions. Only a small percentage of those wishing to achieve a sustainable income in the theater can do so. That has been exacerbated in the pandemic environment. Due to health and safety guidelines, most professional not-for-profit theaters and commercial producers are not presenting plays, if they are at all, as they did before the pandemic. Some have pivoted in creating on-line content; others have gone dark. If the pandemic is brought under reasonable control, it remains to be seen if and when audiences will be willing to return to in-person participation.
Many aspiring theater artists sustain themselves through "day jobs," particularly in the service sector. Those jobs also are likely to be scarcer, at least for a while. In short, a challenging job market has gotten more challenging and is likely to be so for the foreseeable futu
What Senior Designer/Art Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Edward Sobel: I would recommend becoming familiar or expert in creating work that can live in a medium other than in-person performance. For example, one could learn about digital editing software or lighting and camera technique. The future is likely also to reward those with entrepreneurial skills. They are learning how to create and manage a budget, articulate a business plan, and raise money. I'd also suggest that artists who can make a strong case for the social benefit of the work they do, be it locally, community-based, or more widely, are more likely to find support and success. Investing now in those social causes for which one feels an affinity will serve the greater good and allow a graduate to begin building a network to continue their artistic work meaningfully.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Designer/Art Director?
Edward Sobel: It's important to know that theater is a relationship-based career. Look to build relationships with those with whom you share a common aesthetic and a sense of purpose. Building relationships takes time and care, and only sometimes pays immediate dividends. Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. Be persistent. You may not ever be able to make a living in the theater. But if you quit, you definitely won't.
I'll add, many but not all who obtain a degree in theater wish to work in the profession. A theater degree, particularly within a liberal arts context, offers highly marketable and desirable skills. The theater is a collaborative art form, making those with a theater degree experience working as part of a team. The theater is storytelling. Those with a theater degree have learned how to construct a compelling narrative and to communicate it clearly. They have practiced analytical and presentational skills. They have embodied empathy. All of this position a graduate well in many other occupations, including law, teaching, advertising/marketing, social work, etc.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Senior Designer/Art Directors?
Steven Ciampaglia: While there is a lot of worry over how the pandemic's economic impact will affect the creative arts, I am not that pessimistic. In troubled times, people always turn toward the arts for solace. Witness how individuals have spent their time in quarantine re-engaging with books, movies, music, videogames, etc. And even though the end of the pandemic may be in sight with the announcement of vaccines, I believe that this re-engagement with the arts is not going away. Therefore, the market for young artists will stay elevated, which is good news for art majors graduating this year.
What type of skills will young Senior Designer/Art Directors need?
Steven Ciampaglia: While there is a lot of worry over how the pandemic's economic impact will affect the creative arts, I am not that pessimistic. In troubled times, people always turn toward the arts for solace. Witness how individuals have spent their time quarantine re-engaging with books, movies, music, videogames, etc. And even though the end of the pandemic may be in sight with the announcement of vaccines, I believe that this re-engagement with the arts is not going away. Therefore, the market for young artists will stay elevated, which is good news for art majors graduating this year.
What experience really stands out on Senior Designer/Art Director resumes?
Steven Ciampaglia: In the arts, a resume is not as important as an artist statement. A good artist statement should demonstrate that the artist can maturely reflect upon their work thoughtfully. It should contextualize their work in the broader lexicon of art, explaining how it is in dialogue with artworks that have preceded it and peers' work. And it should demonstrate potential by pointing toward possible future directions that their work could take.