The world of media and entertainment is highly challenging and creative. The audience tastes and preferences are constantly changing and it is very important to keep up with their demands. Also, “innovation” is the bottom line and there is a perennial need for new ideas that can attract viewer attention. An art director is the one who shoulders the responsibility of devising new ideas and implementing them.



Duties and Responsibilities

Art directors are key persons in all creative domains like films, television, radio and advertising. They devise and approve creative ideas and are largely responsible for the final outcome. The major tasks of an art director are as follows:

1. The foremost work is to create the basic layout or framework for the design or ad creative or video or animation. They must work on the inherent idea or message, look and feel of the ‘creative' till it is perfect and ready to be launched.

2. Art directors are responsible for selecting the theme, style, look, colours and technology for a particular film or ad creative or program. They must then present it to the client and get their approval before beginning their work.

3. Often, they need to supervise a team of juniors be it copywriters, graphic designers and animation experts. They must constantly review the work done by the team and give their approval to the final outcome.

4. Art direction requires to coordinate with different creative teams like designers, photographers and film-makers while working on a specific project.

5. They are responsible for making presentations to the client and make any changes if required.

6. Another crucial task is to manage accounts and budget and ensure that they do not go overboard with the expenditures.

7. Art directors must also conduct a thorough research of their audience tastes and preferences while formulating an idea. They must keep in mind their target audience so as to design the idea that would appeal the audiences.

8. While art directing for films and television it includes selecting appropriate shooting locales and work on it so that it suits the requirements of the film. After the shooting is over, art directors also need to work with the editing team to get the desired final outcome.

9. While working for advertising agencies, their job involves ‘storyboarding' the idea, which means presenting a model of the original creative to the client.

Like in every field, the salary earned by an art director increases with an increase in experience and market exposure. The average salary earned by candidates with less than one year can be from $30,000 to $45,000.

It is very critical to have an impressive resume to seek plump art director jobs. Aspiring candidates must carefully study sample resumes to incorporate the right points.

For hugely experienced candidates the figure can even stretch up to $100000. In fact, for large budget films, the figure can be even more.

These are the most important functions of an art director. However, the greatest challenge is to come up with fresh ideas every time that would suit the customer requirement.