Art Director Job Description Template

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  What does an art director do?
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  Hiring an art director
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  Template

What does an art director do?

Art direction is all about creating and maintaining a creative vision that speaks to your audience. The art director role usually manages an art department, or creative team of designers (including graphic designers, production designers, or set designers), as they work on a creative project, using leadership skills to bring creative concepts to life.

The specifics of an art director’s work differ depending on the industry. Art directors can find themselves working at advertising agencies, on movie sets, and alongside public relations firms, with their work appearing in a huge range of places – billboards, cinema screens, and social media.

Hiring an art director

It’s important to advertise art director positions in the right way if you want to attract the right job seekers to your company. A good art director job description clearly states the responsibilities of the role, along with the precise requirements and skills you’re looking for.

Our art director job description template is optimized for online job boards like LinkedIn and careers pages – but remember that it’s just a template. You’ll need to tweak the finer details so it’s specific to the kind of art director that you’re looking for. (And tease out more information with interview questions, of course.)

You may want to change details like the years of experience required, for example. This will depend on whether you’re looking for a senior art director with a strong track record in the role or a graphic designer that’s looking to make the jump to an art director role.

Ready? Let’s take a look.

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Template

Introduction

At [company name], we’re looking for an art director to develop and maintain a groundbreaking creative vision for our brand and projects.

You’ll lead our art department and report to our creative director. It’s a hands-on role that’ll require you to get stuck into the nitty gritty – like layout design and product packaging – as well as keeping the creative team on track with timelines, and upholding the overall design standards for the company.

Art director responsibilities

As an art director at [company name], you will:

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  Come up with innovative ideas and concepts alongside our copywriter and creative director
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  Create scamps, storyboards, and sketches to showcase your ideas
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  Develop a deep understanding of our marketing initiatives, strategic positioning, and target audience
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  Collaborate with the entire creative team across different types of media, including print, social, and OOH
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  Oversee the entirety of projects, from concept to final execution, within tight deadlines
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  Manage other team members, while delegating tasks and providing feedback
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  Present your ideas to clients, senior management, and team members
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  Keep your finger on the pulse of design trends
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  Build, manage, and motivate the design team

Requirements and skills

We’re looking for someone with:

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  Art direction skills – we’ll need you to demonstrate your work experience with a strong portfolio of diverse projects
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  Leadership skills – including minimum [x] years’ experience managing a design team
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  Time management skills – it’s a fast-paced environment with lots going on, and work needs to be completed on time
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  Project management skills – you’ll juggle multiple projects, as well as managing budgets, team members, and freelancers
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  Communication skills to sell your ideas to stakeholders, and motivate your team
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  Design software skills – we’ll need you to be hands-on, demonstrating knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign and Photoshop
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  A broad knowledge of design best practice in fields including typography, visual communications, UX design elements, interactive design, and more
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  A bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in graphic design, fine arts, or a related field

Salary

We offer a generous package that goes above the average salary in the [industry] space.

[Include details of company perks.]

Our base art director salary is $[x].

About the author

Luke Leighfield

Luke is a freelance writer based in London. A pop musician turned copywriter, he's worked at agencies including AKQA and R/GA, and written for brands like Nike, Google, BBC, and Volvo.