Art Directors... What They Do

For a while now, I have been contemplating on what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go in Marketing. I knew I wanted to be in the Advertising section, but I was not sure what was entailed in advertising, i.e.  like who does what or what are all the possible positions for a Marketing major. In my Advertising Theory and Practice class, I started to learn the different positions that create an advertisement. This is where I heard about an Art Director, which I thought to believe were the artsy folks who do all the art works in an ad. Art Directors work with copywriters, who create the text for ads, to create the layout for an ad.  I thought this was perfect since I like putting things together to look pretty, something that is “inviting” to see. Now I am not a very artsy person, but I like taking photos and making random collages when I feel like it. I guess you can say the organization of things is what intrigues my interests and that is what kind of drew my art directing.

To learn more about art directing and what it is like to work in that career, I recently interviewed an art director of a small company. Because he does not want his name to be used, I will call him Mr. X. He is a freelancer who has been working as an art director for about a couple years now. It was in high school when he first got interested in graphic design because of a friend. After graduating, he was then surrounded by many more artists who shared his interest and it eventually led him to becoming an art director.

How Mr. X usually starts off his day is by having an agenda and taking care of the most important part of the task done first, which is usually finding the right picture or image for the ad. I asked him why the picture is the most important part and he said, “it sets the mood of the viewer. Then after that you put the font on there, but it has to be the right font… Because a picture means a thousand words and you set the mood for what the ad is all about.” Now because he is currently working for a small clothing company, Fresh, his job overlaps a little into other areas like finding companies and comparing their prices for flyers. This is how he ends his day. He looks into who has the cheapest prices for the biggest quantities, but also has the best material.

There are days when work just gets too hard to handle and he just wants to quit, but “you just think about the future and not the present day. Basically life has its ups and downs, but in order to get through your rough times, you have to learn from it and what you are doing wrong. Then later on when you actually do come across the same problem, you know what to do.” The main problem that usually occurs is trying to get the design on time. He said for small businesses there are quarter systems and the design has to get in before Fall, for example, because it’s the back-to-school sale; everyone is buying and if you don’t make that deadline, you won’t make money.

I tend to handle difficulties differently. When there is an important deadline I have to meet for school, I usually try to set a time specifically for that task so I don’t have to worry about it and can just touch it up near the deadline. But, being a student there are times when I just procrastinate because I simply just don’t want to think about it or do anything. When the deadline approaches, of course I get frustrated and start to kind of yell that I can’t think of anything to do with the task or know how to finish it. That is when I just take a break for however long it takes until the idea comes to me; I don’t even sleep until I know I can finish the task almost perfectly. During that break, I try to think about it, but I can’t stop so I keep thinking about what I can do. Eventually, an idea comes to mind and I get enthused with finishing the task. This may not work for some or most people, but it works for me just fine. I am really a stickler for getting things done on time and not flaking too much until the deadline.

When it comes to designing the ads for the small business, the focus was “having it be simple and presentable.” The reason being is because when there is so much going on in the background, viewers won’t know where to look, “like Apple and their billboards – product and their label and just a white background—it just goes directly to the subject and that’s what I try to do.” Because the clothing design is called Fresh, through the ads he tries to make it so that whoever wears the clothes they feel accepted, since it is catered to the teenage demographics. “Fresh is another meaning for cool… because people nowadays are absorbing negativity, wearing the Fresh apparel keeps your confidence high.” What he means is that it gives you a boost of confidence because Fresh is like saying “I don’t care what you say, I’m cool.” Also, what helps to sell the apparel is its unique smell right when you get it because immediately it smells Fresh.  

In essence, this is the kind of message the company is trying to get people aware of. It’s about the kind of message not just the company wants to get out there, but for the people, the consumers, to inherit with themselves and not just the brand. I didn’t realize it before until this interview, but when I was in 8^th Grade I was actually thought this. My class was assigned to create a brochure for the school as an art project and put facts in the brochure trying to persuade people why they should come to my school. I guess I had a little experience with art directing or creating a type of ad without knowing.

This is what art directing is about; creating a message that people can immediately associate with and catches their attention. It isn’t just a pretty picture and words; it’s the attitude it brings forth, that resonates within.

Now that I have learned a little more about Art Directing, I am still a bit interested in becoming one, but it seems like I would need to at least take a few art classes. Mr. X said that even though you don’t necessarily have to do the design, just be able to give critiques to fit the image. In order to do that you need a creative background, not exactly an art background because you mainly need to know who your consumers are. This puts me at ease a little, but because my drawing/designing is limited, I should take some art classes to learn a little something; although, I do have some creativity in me when putting pictures together to create something new. At the same time if this does not fall through, I will still look for other positions that I can fall back on.