Table of Contents
What is an Art Director?
The Art director is that individual trained to take charge of a business, corporate or advertising campaign on a large project, mainly of a visual or audiovisual nature due to its constant exposure on communication platforms.
In this sense, the professional of the artistic direction will be in charge, as its name indicates, of directing, like a kind of orchestra, a whole great team of creative designers, collaborators, and artists involved. For this to be carried out successfully, the director must correctly identify with the company he is representing and the objectives of the project he directs as a creative leader.
Why is Art Direction Important?
Extensive advertising campaigns or creative projects appear out of nowhere; they do not come down from the sky; all of this is support by the strategic presence of an art direction department with a professional in charge. In this way, it will remain possible to consolidate planning and promote the visualization of a product or service within a market with high competition levels.
In addition, the art direction is capable of generating a memory in thousands of spectators who consume the final result. As it happens with that publicity that made a hitch with his song or images, and even when a long time passes, he is kept in mind; a successful art director achieves that.
What are the Functions of an Art Director?
Within all the details surrounding the art director, their objective functions can still be delimited, which could vary according to the magnitude of their objectives. However, they are vital functions in his professional practice:
- Generating ideas that go hand in hand with the creative concept
- Develop all the areas that will be involve in the project
- Capture the ideas in graphic format for their classification
- Conduct creative meetings to discuss ideas
- Create strategies that meet the needs of the objectives
- Assemble a creative team
- Maintain good management of art and design programs
- Communicate the creative processes correctly to be carry out
In addition, these functions could also become many more according to the product or company in which it is develop, understanding that in some cases, the art director is assigned greater responsibilities for specific reasons.
However, it will be nothing that this art direction professional is not preparing for if he is qualified for such a mission. So it only remains to have the disposition and a sea of creative ideas to keep in mind when starting new planning.
How to be a Good Art Director?
For an art director to be good, he must not only focus on what he visualizes when structuring an advertising campaign, if that is the case but also on how it materializes in the final results. For this, the professional in the field must have some personal characteristics, which are usually add with years of experience.
Some of those critical aspects that collaborate in the consolidation of a good art director are the following:
Communicational Leadership
To ensure that the entire team carries out the instructions and requirements of their approaches as art directors, they must have communicational leadership before the audience.
It means that everything you communicate must be understandable and digestible. In this way, it will remain possible to maintain an executive order in all the processes carried out to achieve that final objective within an advertising campaign.
Training in Production Phases
By nature, all art directors have had a deep approach with production tools such as audiovisual editing. Photography and design programs. So this knowledge will be essential to work in all possible formats, that is, more fully.
What it means is that a good art director will know how to develop creative and production processes. That involve videos, web pages, prints, web applications, banners and much more.
Trend Update
Like technologies, trends within art tend to change from one moment to another. Therefore, maintaining a reinforced update of the artistic movements. That can applied from the art direction will allow the consolidation of more innovative and current projects.
And not only in aspects of art but also in areas such as graphic design, photography, advertising, fashion, architecture, the music industry, everything will be of great value to feed new planning.
Organization and Planning
All the creatives have the main characteristic of forcing themselves to carry out good planning. And organization of all the projects to make the deliveries on time.
For much more reasons, the art directors must deal with work teams, ideas, exposure to clients, modifications and unforeseen changes, among many other tasks.
Emphasizing that all this should not remain in mind, giving space to doubts or forgetfulness. But use organization and planning from a plan, a blackboard, a calendar or any tool that facilitates such details.
How to Achieve a Successful Art Direction?
For the functions to be carried out and the result to be truly successful. It is also necessary for the art director to consider some key points during his professional activity so that everything is process in the best way:
Application Of Strategies
No advertising campaign or a project involving an art direction is alike; each new challenge is different and requires the application of specific and personalized strategies.
From there, it will be seen if it would be prudent to increase the work team with designers or photographers, or if, on the contrary, it is necessary to work with a smaller group to meet the objectives. But either way, the strategies are decisive.
Self-Criticism Before Processes and Results
Beyond being a perfectionist, self-criticizing the creative processes and the generated results will allow more and more entrepreneurs to want to surpass those achievements for better ones.
In addition, understanding that you work as a team to carry out that campaign or project. Self-criticism should come from the art director and the creatives involved in scheduled meetings to feed the development of all processes.
Knowledge Of General Culture
Many projects are attractive but do not finish positioning themselves due to ignorance of crucial aspects. That limit the connection with the audience, such as the misuse of linguistic norms or the incorporation of offensive words for a particular locality.
So when an art direction is argue with the aspects of general culture that can be affect or can be treated. Whether they are words, photographs or themes, the final result will be more effective.
Quality Exposure
No campaign is create to hide, quite the opposite. So the presentation in front of the client must be a quality exhibition to project all the potential. Work and effort made during the creation processes.
In this sense, audiovisual presentations are usually recreate with all the critical elements. So that the client or team can visualize all the aspects incorporate into the project.
Realistic Quote
Indeed, all work is paid, but even the director wishes to work magic on a campaign. It is essential to determine the fundamental trade-off between what is want and what can be achieve.
In most cases, two types of budgets are present to the client. Where different prices are valuable but equally applicable to the project on the table.
What Professional Opportunities does an Art Director Have?
The truth is that the professional opportunities of an art director can be much more than what is believe since, within two fields, several sectors emerge. It is where the presence of an art direction department is essential.
In this sense, the performing arts area is locate and, on the other hand, the cinematographic place. While from there, the art director can work in the publishing field, digital marketing, advertising, fashion, plastic arts and many more.
Conclusion
The art director is the title for various similar job functions. In theatre, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision of artistic production.