Creative Director vs Art Director | Definitions & Differences
In This Article
- What Is a Creative Director?
- What Does a Creative Director Do?
- What Skills Does a Creative Director Need to Succeed?
- How Do I Become a Creative Director?
- What Is an Art Director?
- What Is the Difference Between an Art Director and Creative Director?
- How Do I Become an Art Director?
- Final Thoughts on Becoming a Creative Director or Art Director
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What Is a Creative Director?
The creative director is the leader of a creative team. They will supervise the creative process for all projects and act as liaison with business clients that have contracted their company for work.
Creative Directors can be found working at advertising agencies, television stations, film studios, newspapers, magazines, fashion retailers, video game development companies, and other businesses that require branding and creative assets to build awareness of their company and promote their products.
This is an executive level position.
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What Does a Creative Director Do?
At the start of a project, the creative director and select team members will meet with the client to better understand the project objectives. Some brainstorming is likely to take place at this meeting, but typically the creative director will arrange another meeting later with the internal team to continue flushing out ideas.
After some concepts have been worked out, the creative director will then invite the client back in for a presentation. It is standard procedure for an agency to supply two or three ideas for consideration, with the creative director walking through storyboards or rough scripts to give the client a clearer understanding of what the final product will look like. This meeting is critical, because if the client isn’t happy with what they are seeing, they may go elsewhere—resulting in lost revenue for the agency.
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What Skills Does a Creative Director Need to Succeed?
The creative director needs strong presentation and sales skills, as they need to not only oversee these presentations but sell the client on their ideas. Many clients do not necessarily understand the creative process, or even what makes for good creative, so the creative director must be able to explain clearly why their solutions are good for the client’s brand.
Once the client has agreed to a concept, the creative director works with the department heads to determine a course of action, a budget, and a timeline.
The creative director is typically not a hands-on role, they will come back into the project at key times—ensuring the project is on track, that it is adhering to the original project vision, and to give suggestions or to troubleshoot.
The job of creative director is not a small one. In addition to overseeing staff and assignments, they must ensure their team has the tools to complete the job, monitor timelines for each project, and hire and nurture staff. They will oversee budgets and be responsible for administrative work too. Lastly, they will see and approve any project assets before the client sees them.
Creative Directors are leaders. They must be able to manage both people and projects. They must have excellent organizational and time management skills, as at any given time they will be overseeing projects in various levels of production.
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How Do I Become a Creative Director?
Building your career path to becoming a creative director starts with a proper education. First, explore your creative interests. Do you gravitate towards a career in graphic design, animation, app or web design, photography, filmmaking, or perhaps copywriting? A formal education (diploma or degree) in one of these specialties, or training in a related field—such as advertising or social media content creation—would help you to stand out and give you some experience in developing creative content.
Develop a portfolio of your best work while training. Try to make professional contacts through the school you selected and look for part-time work or internship opportunities before you graduate.
Consider supplementing your education with marketing or project management programs that will allow employers to notice that you have a broad range of skills, skills that would be helpful to you as a creative director (if you are working full time, some employers will pay for the costs of these programs).
You should also consider joining professional organizations in your field. This is a terrific way to get some more networking in, learn about the latest technological advancements in software, and for you to meet other students and working professionals of various levels.
Lastly, seek a mentor, someone who has been at the company for a while and is in a senior position. Discuss your career plans and ask for their advice. Set up informal meetings just to chat about the company and the industry in general. You will make a cheerleader out of your mentor, and they are likely to help you build your contact base of industry professionals.
Don’t expect overnight results. Work diligently, volunteer for challenging projects and don’t be afraid to take on extra responsibility. Always be ready with ideas. Soon you could be at the top of the list next time a creative director position opens.
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What Is an Art Director?
The art director specializes in overseeing the visuals of any given project, including artwork, animation, and videos. This position is much more hands on than a creative director’s role. In fact, the art director is likely to report to the creative director.
The art director’s role is typically managerial in nature too. Although not at the executive level, the art director will supervise graphic designers and possibly copywriters. Once a project has been given a green light, the art director will break the project down into its various components, assign work and ensure throughout the production of the project that all the details (photos, illustrations, colours, fonts, style, etc.) are in line with the client’s brand and concept.
The final work of the art director and their team may be seen anywhere—on posters, in movies or TV shows, on digital signage screens and in magazines, websites, book covers or anything that requires printing (food packaging, banners, signs, etc.). The list of possibilities is endless.
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What Is the Difference Between an Art Director and Creative Director?
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The creative director holds a position senior to that of an art director and is accountable for all creative projects at an agency or company. A creative director might oversee a team of several art directors, strategically assigning projects based on each individual art director’s strengths or interests.
The art director will oversee the details of their assignments, ensuring that their team has the required assets completed by the assigned due date. They will update the creative director regularly, and seek input when troubleshooting is necessary. Likely the creative director will see two or three versions of each concept, providing feedback along the way, before they are comfortable enough to bring the client back in for the presentation.
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How Do I Become an Art Director?
As with creative director, it is recommended that you start with a diploma or degree in a related discipline. Because an art director specializes in visuals, you may want to focus on graphic or web design, animation, or photography.
You will need to know the latest design principles and be fluent in design software so that you can help your team troubleshoot assignments. This will also ensure you know the software’s capabilities when brainstorming.
Look for a school that offers industry events, such as lectures or workshops, so that you have already built up your connections before graduating. You should also look for a program that will allow you to develop your people management skills, so that you can resolve conflict or problems quickly and efficiently. Start a portfolio website and keep it updated, and remember when it comes to choosing what work to showcase, it’s quality over quantity.
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Final Thoughts on Becoming a Creative Director or Art Director
Consider that one does not become a creative director or art director overnight; you can count on at least a few years in other roles, perhaps starting as a graphic designer, then moving up to senior graphic designer, before becoming an art director, and then creative director. There are many pathways.
Often with smaller companies, there is a lot of overlap between jobs, including the responsibilities of a creative director and an art director. Indeed, both jobs may not exist at some businesses and are handled by just one individual.
Working at a small company is an effective way to get your career started, because work may be less likely to be siloed, and you will have the chance to learn and do more. Some companies may alter the descriptions of these roles depending on the size of their staff. For instance, at a small agency, the art director may not have staff, and will do all the graphic design work themselves.
Keep your resume, LinkedIn profile and portfolio up to date so that the moment your dream job is posted, you are ready to apply with the skills and confidence required.
