Art Directors are responsible for the visual style of a company dealing in imagery. Magazines, newspapers, theaters, films and television all rely on Art Directors to make everything come together in an aesthetic way that appeals to the key demographic (target audience).

Career opportunities may exist in publishing, marketing, public relations and production. Many Art Directors are self-employed and advertise their skill sets to various companies, stepping in to organize and oversee individual projects rather than being on the permanent payroll.

To be competitive in this role you will need at least a bachelor’s degree in an art and/or design project, as well as several years of related work experience.

A portfolio also goes a long way towards inspiring the trust of clients by giving a physical demonstration of previous projects. This can make starting out hard work and you will need a good measure of perseverance and determination to achieve your goals.

Once you have your foot in the door, the rewards are well worth the effort with pay ranging from around $70,000 in publications to well over $100,000 per annum in motion pictures.

The projection for Art Directors is a slow growth of about 3% in 10 years. It is a very niche market, so concentrate on the development of outstanding skills and do not expect to be inundated with job offers.

Have a resume and portfolio that demonstrate your artistic vision, strategic planning, and inspirational leadership – then be prepared for some tough competition.

Median Pay

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for Art Directors in 2017 was just under $92,500 per year, which equates to around $44 per hour.

Salary aggregator Payscale puts their median salary for Art Directors quite a bit lower at just under $63,000 per year. However, they do mention that commission can play a big role in impacting median salaries, as well as locations.

Coastal cities like New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston all command much higher salaries than cities more inland.

Salaries for younger Directors, as in those with 5 or fewer years of experience, start at around $50-55K/year and slowly increase proportionally with experience gained through about the twentieth year, in which salaries seem to level off.

Obviously, not many Directors work for longer than twenty years in the position as, it can take decades to achieve “Director” title, and those who stay that long usually do it more for a passion of the art than the compensation packages themselves.

Art Director Pay Statistics

Industry Forecast

Being the specialized profession that it is, there are hardly ever times when one might consider “Art Director” growth rates to be particularly impressive. While the arts continue to expand, they do not seem to be directly correlated with national GDP growth, and thus, anticipating expansion and contraction can be quite difficult.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the growth rate for Art Directors through 2024 is about 2%, which is in line with more general Art and Design work, which is also projected to grow at around 2% during this time.

While these figures are positive, meaning there will be an increase in positions, they fall quite short of the 7% average for all occupations combined, which highlights the disconnect between Art Directorship and other more economically dependent professions.

Still, Art Directors will be needed across the country to oversee the work of on-site designers, illustrators, photographers, and craftsmen at art galleries/shows, publications and educational institutions.

Positions in dying mediums like traditional newspaper and magazine print will continue to decline, while positions in web design and mobile platforms will only increase in coming years.

For these reasons, Directors with skills and background with digital mediums will have a general advantage over those who fail to adapt to the way media is increasingly being consumed.

Types of Art Directors

Art is an endlessly diverse form of expression; consequently, there are nearly endlessly specialized types of Art Directors. At the most basic, an Art Director is simply responsible for managing other artistic talents like designers, illustrators, photographers, and other creatives in an effort to achieve a set goal.

Directors achieve their authority to manage these groups of professionals through proven track records in their areas of expertise, as well as through holding a broad skill-set, themselves, that aides them in critiquing and assisting all aspects of art production and distribution.

Oftentimes, Art Directors will specialize in various mediums. For example, you may have Advertising Art Directors who work with advertising firms, from print to video, to audio and web content.

Likewise, there are Art Directors for public relations firms, for big newspapers and magazines, for web design agencies, for theater groups, for motion pictures and even things like architecture and industrial design.

Art can be expressed in so many different mediums it is no wonder the Director position can be an equally diverse and specialized one, as well.

Many Art Directors start out as specialists, in design or production of some sort, and after acquiring enough experience and different types of skills, usually under the wing in “apprenticeship” fashion, or through continued education at an art institute, gain the title of Director.

From here, they can advance or transition into Creative Director roles, more Senior Art Director positions, or other more specialized functions, depending on industry, like Creative Services Director, Creative Director, Vice President & Creative Director, Marketing Manager or Marketing Communications Director.

Your exact job title will be dictated largely by the industry and company you work for. Marketing agencies will have slightly different titles than art institutes, which will have different titles from web design companies and non-governmental organizations.

Try to narrow down your specific title as best as possible as it will help you refine your job search and write your resume with more precision, both of which will increase the number of opportunities you will competitively qualify for as an applicant.

Sample Resume Download (MS Word Format)

Below is an example of a professionally written Art Director resume that you can download, print out and doodle on in effort to get a feel of what is expected from a professional with experience similar to your own.

Obviously, you will want to customize your own resume as the experiences and skills in this sample are specific to that individual, which will vary significantly from your own individual experiences and skill-sets.

How To Write Your Own

Writing an Art Director resume can be quite a challenge, simply because the medium itself comes with a very strict set of conventions that do not really lend themselves to much artistic expression.

Resume formats are established and highly inflexible. Only through subtle uses of color, font selection and layout can applicants stand out over others. The best way to stand out will always be with carefully selected words and descriptive sentences.

Writing an impactful Art Director resume first requires the author to shift their creative mindset from one of visual design to one of thought, just as great novelists do on a regular basis.

The real impressive nature of a book is not necessarily its cover or font, but the content that lies within its pages. For this reason, it is the content of your resume that deserves the most thought.

You can, however, fully express yourself in an attached portfolio of your work or by linking to a website/blog which features your work.

Feel free to display the web address of your portfolio right at the top of your resume, underneath your name and address. Those working in the arts will be curious to visit this and sometimes will even click through to your portfolio before reading the rest of your resume when processing applications on a desktop.

In addition to featuring your portfolio prominently, you will still want to make sure your resume has standardized margins, is free of all grammar and spelling errors, and contains information which is directly relevant to the position you are applying for.

Only Include Recent Experiences

Since “Director” is a senior level position, you will not be worrying about including experiences that are older than 15 years on your resume, as they are highly unlikely to be of use for the level of job you are currently applying for.

Likewise, do not include experiences that are unrelated to being an Art Director, as they will only detract from your other, more relevant, experiences.

Bullet points for experiences should be written in order of most important, as the first point is the most impactful. The older the experiences, the less detail and more “summarizing” you will be.

For example, your current or most recent experience will contain the most detail as the responsibilities will be most relevant to the position you are seeking. Experiences from a few years ago will have slightly less detail, and experiences from 5-10 years ago will continue to have less and less detail the older they get.

Mention Projects/Production as Experiences

Being a part of the “Arts”, being a director may not be as cut and dried as other more common white collar professionals.

Whenever possible, try to include the employing company when listing your professional experiences. If you worked on large projects or productions at the company, you can list those as sub-sets within the primary experience.

Mention shows and campaigns you worked on by name, including the dates, as well. Be sure everything is organized in a reverse chronological fashion.

Name Drop

While you should take care to emphasize your skills and duties in your bullet points, it does not hurt to drop names of influential industry leaders, brands, or individuals you have worked with.

Having worked with a noted person or brand is not valuable because of the mentioned individual, but instead the fact that well-known brands/companies/galleries have trusted your expertise in the past  will serve to reassure those screening your resume for future work  that you can be relied upon.

Name the productions and projects you worked on for specific clients, as long as you did not sign a non-disclosure agreement. Also, include the size of the teams you have managed in the past.

Quantify the team sizes numerically. Also quantify production costs, budgets managed, attendance numbers, etc., as this helps add scope to your achievements and experiences.

Sample Bullet Points

Below is a collection of sample bullet points you can use for inspiration when crafting your own resume. These bullet points reflect the traits that are commonly sought in Art Director candidates.

Sample Art Director Bullet Points

Professional Summary

Instead of a common career objective, you will be using a professional summary, as you are a senior level candidate and career objectives are reserved for entry-level through mid-level professionals.

A professional summary is a relatively straightforward introduction to your resume and a bit easier to write than a career objective because, generally speaking, having extra sentences and bullet points helps candidates better represent their hallmark achievements, as opposed to the limiting 1-2 sentences of a career objective.

Your professional profile can consist of 2-3 sentences, forming a short paragraph, or a couple of sentences plus a few (4-6) key bullet points, as well. Here, you will state your years of experience (numerically), the path you have taken, any special focus you have developed, and your intended aim with the company/organization you are applying to.

Think of your professional summary as what you would say if you had to perform your interview in an elevator and only had a minute or so to communicate to someone what you are all about professionally and how you would be an asset to their organization.

The professional summary, also sometimes called the “professional profile” is the only place where you are allowed to use the first person voice on your resume, so do not worry about sounding braggadocious.

Achievements & Awards

Instead of a typical “additional skills” section that concludes most entry to mid-level applicants resumes, you will instead be writing an “achievements & awards” section. If you have not won any awards, then just call it an “achievements section” or “additional qualifications” section to reflect your seniority.

Here, as hinted, you will include any industry-related recognition you have received from previous work you have done, whether it be from independent judging panels, industry organizations, clients or the agency/organization which employed you.

Showing your awards will indicate to the reader of your resume that you are not only ambitious but also have previously been recognized for your talents, which increases your market value in their eyes as someone with a successful track record who is likely to bring success to their organization, as well.

You can also include any professional associations you may be a member of, whether they be non-profit charities, volunteer groups or professional associations.

Once such group is the National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA) For a complete list of various artistic professional associations you can consider joining please read this exceptional list from the  University of Oregon’s Art and Administration Program.

Useful Skills to Include

Below are some samples of other achievement oriented skills that you can consider sprinkling into your resume to show your broad skill-set that only someone of a senior level can bring to a company or organization.

Useful Art Director Skills

Additional Resources

National Association of Independent Artists 

Directory of Americans for the Arts

The Professional Association for Design 

National Art Education Association