How to Become a Commercial Art Director
It's hard to avoid the visual images that permeate the day. Television and print ads, billboards, web ads, magazine story layouts and packaging holding everything from makeup to milk. This is the world of the commercial art director---the professional responsible for overseeing the merging of everything from color to quality and from photos to copy. Becoming a commercial art director is an exciting process; for those who brandish the title across their business cards, it's a dream come true. If graphic design is your passion and you believe you have what it takes to manage other artistic souls, set your eyes on this lofty job description once you read all about how to get your creative groove on in this article.
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Things You'll Need
- Graphic design training Managerial and diplomatic skills Portfolio of samples
Instructions
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Become a graphic designer. Starting at the bottom is hard to avoid and in the case of the art director, the bottom consists of two types of education: theory and practice. Theory covers basic art principles that impart information about everything from color to psychology. Practice includes learning the latest software programs such as page layout programs (Quark Xpress or InDesign), web page design programs like Dream Weaver and Front Page, an image manipulation program like PhotoShop and a vector draw program such as Illustrator.
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Learn how to integrate copy and art to achieve design harmony. While some art directors only focus on the visual aspects of corporate or client jobs, many also supervise copywriters, so understanding how the two fields mesh separates run-of-the-mill art directors from award winners. You needn't be a great writer, but you must be comfortable with such make-or-break features as ratio of copy to design and the critical nature of font compatibility as you pursue the Zen of graphic design.
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Become well versed in managing artistic employees. If you've worked around creatives, you know harnessing their skills and being sensitive to their ideas is not always easy. Because creative people have a different perspective, you can explain an idea to them and expect to be impressed by the results. Here's the trick: the idea you find terrific can meet resistance with left-brained folks writing checks, so diplomacy, a sense of humor and patience will go a long way in keeping everyone happy in your role as the creative leader of the pack.
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Strive to become a generalist when you start your career. The world of work shifts in response to economics, so becoming a design generalist will serve you well when you launch your design career. Being a generalist means you would be prepared to manage a two-page ad spread for a cosmetic company, then move on to designing the packaging that holds the product, the point-of-sale unit that displays the items and the signage that graces walls, counters and the billboards dotting highways.
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Pick a specialty once you're established. Once you have determined which sub-discipline suits your creative spirit, move into it with gusto. For example, getting into packaging design doesn't mean you've abandoned your page layout or web design skills. It just means that your ability to engineer economical, practical and attractive packages will push you ahead of others when time comes to head up the creative team for a company that relies heavily on its packaging for sales.
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Move up through the ranks. Savvy creatives know that if they are to be a star in the world of art direction, the more experience and exposure to diverse work situations, the better their chances of success. Professional reputations regularly hang on one's portfolio---the defining proof of a designer's talent. This single presentation vehicle, filled with examples of your best work, has been known to impress clients and employers enough to determine a hire---regardless of other credentials.
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Respect the industry. Being an art director in a world that changes its taste for color, style and utility every year means you'll need to stay in touch with meteoric shifts in buying behaviors and trends. Few fields are more dependent upon publications, classes, workshops and software updates as the design field. Fortunately, there are numerous organizations available to help practitioners upgrade their skills. These same groups also promote networking and assist designers if they decide become certified in a specialty.
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Tips & Warnings
According to the Department of Commerce, art director jobs are expected to stay strong through 2016, but competition for those jobs is also strong, so you will need to stay on top of your game. Art directors earned an average of $83,230 in 2007 (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
