Art Director Jobs

Salt’s Specialisms in Art Director

• Art Direction
• Digital Art Direction
• Integrated Art Direction

Popular Industries

Art Directors are most often found in the Creative sectors — design, advertising and media. Although FMCG industries and software development companies may employ Art Directors in order to help strengthen their marketing and brand outputs.

Recent Changes

The Art Director role requires a finger on the pulse with regard to the constant changes and evolution to the way in which we view and interact with digital media. This dynamism ensures that Art Directors have to stay on top of their game in order to maintain their position and not lose out in a highly active Creative job market.

Future Prospects

It can take time for Art Directors to move onto more senior roles as these generally require 4 to 5 years experience in a mid to senior level role. All the while candidates for future promotions should be honing their skills and producing the best work they can for their portfolios. However, the wide skill set needed for the role of Art Director opens up opportunities for many higher roles.

Employers’ Requirements

The Art Director must have the gravitas to be client facing with excellent relationship building abilities and be able to effectively balance creativity with analytics. You must be able to demonstrate your ability to represent a concept visually, developing the overall look or style of a campaign. Moreover, you need to be able to supervise, review and approve designs, artwork, photography, and graphics developed by staff members. Talking to clients to develop an artistic approach and coordinating activities with other artistic or creative departments is also highly important. Art Directors should also be capable of developing detailed budgets and timelines.

CV Requirements

Art Directors will have to provide a portfolio of work, showing off their skills as a leader throughout a diverse range of products, helping to illustrate a diverse range of talents that will elevate them above other potential candidates.

Interview Preparation

Interviews will usually involve a spoken interview face to face or via phone/Skype followed on by a formal presentation and walkthrough of your portfolio work. You have to show that you have good communications skills and qualities as a leader.

Educational Requirements

You will generally need a degree level qualification in a Creative sector to become an Art Director. Many are graduates of art, design, architecture, interior, or 3D design courses. You could also undertake higher-level courses in film or theatre production design. It is also vital for you to acquire relevant experience in Creative jobs. You should try to work your way up the career ladder, learning how art departments work and experiencing everyday studio practice.

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