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Advertising Art Director

Do you want to become a Advertising Art Director? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Advertising art directors are responsible for the visual aspects of advertisements, such as brochures, leaflets, newspaper and TV advertisements. They work as part of a creative team with a copywriter, who provides the words to go with the images. As a creative team they come up with the original idea together.

• The art director is given information about the client, the product and the target audience.
• The team's job is then to find the most effective way of communicating the core message.
• The art director and the copywriter come up with ideas. They reject some before developing others until they come up with a final selection of ideas.
• They show their ideas to the creative director, and may need to modify them.
• The art director may help to present the ideas to the client. Further changes may follow until an idea is finally accepted.
• Finally, the art director oversees designers and others to produce the finished advertisement.

Working hours are generally 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday, but can include evenings and weekends when needed. Most work takes place indoors in offices or studios although some travel is needed.

Salaries range from at least £10,000 a year for new art directors, to over £100,000 a year for successful art directors in leading agencies.

An advertising art director should:

• be creative
• have good communication skills
• work well in a team
• be able to work under pressure
• be interested in advertising as a business
• have an interest in trends and fashions.

Most art directors work for advertising agencies. Many agencies are based in London but other centres for advertising include Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester.

Most art directors have a higher national diploma (HND), degree or postgraduate qualification in an art and design subject. Competition for entry to advertising is fierce, and the most important factor is an applicant's portfolio of work. Although there is no age limit, 80 per cent of agency staff are under 40.

Once in work, art directors are trained by their employer, either shadowing experienced staff or on a structured training programme.

It is possible to become a senior art director or creative director, or some art directors set up their own agencies. Others leave advertising to work in other creative fields, such as design or film production.

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