Art Directors
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Speciality
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Overview
Formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual productions and media, such as print, broadcasting, video, and film. Direct workers engaged in artwork or layout design.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($75K): Advertising and Public Relations
Largest undergraduate program (26.4% of workers): Fine Arts
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Titles for this career often contain these words
DirectorArtCreativeManagerSupervisorArtsServicesCoordinatorArtisticAdministratorGuruDesignConsumerProductsGroupProductionSenior
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Responsibilities and activities

Art directors typically do the following:

  • Determine how best to represent a concept visually
  • Determine which photographs, art, or other design elements to use
  • Develop the overall look or style of a publication, an advertising campaign, or a theater, television, or film set
  • Manage graphic designers, set and exhibit designers, or other design staff
  • Review and approve designs, artwork, photography, and graphics developed by other staff members
  • Talk to clients to develop an artistic approach and style
  • Coordinate activities with other artistic and creative departments
  • Develop detailed budgets and timelines
  • Present designs to clients for approval

Art directors typically oversee the work of other designers and artists who produce images for television, film, live performances, advertisements, or video games. They determine the overall style in which a message is communicated visually to its audience. For each project, they articulate their vision to artists. The artists then create images, such as illustrations, graphics, photographs, or charts and graphs, or design stage and movie sets, according to the art director’s vision.

Art directors work with art and design staffs in advertising agencies, public relations firms, or book, magazine, or newspaper publishing to create designs and layouts. They also work with producers and directors of theater, television, or movie productions to oversee set designs. Their work requires them to understand the design elements of projects, inspire other creative workers, and keep projects on budget and on time. Sometimes they are responsible for developing budgets and timelines.

The following are some specifics of what art directors do in different industries:

In advertising and public relations, art directors ensure that their clients’ desired message and image are conveyed to consumers. Art directors are responsible for the overall visual aspects of an advertising or media campaign and coordinate the work of other artistic or design staff, such as graphic designers.

In publishing, art directors typically oversee the page layout of catalogs, newspapers, or magazines. They also choose the cover art for books and periodicals. Often, this work includes publications for the Internet, so art directors oversee production of the websites used for publication.

In movie production, art directors collaborate with directors to determine what sets will be needed for the film and what style or look the sets should have. They hire and supervise a staff of assistant art directors or set designers to complete designs.

Salary
Median salary: $97,270 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $71,610 and $136,310.
$97K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for artists and related workers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$50K$41K$53K$25K$47K$32K$42K$57K$43K$0$50K$100K$150K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
05K10K15K20K25K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Art Directors
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of art directors who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Time Pressure (100%)
  • Unpleasant or Angry People (48%)
  • High Conflict Frequency (38%)
  • Consequence of Error (37%)
SOURCES:
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Art Directors? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Art directors must be able to listen to and speak with staff and clients to ensure that they understand employees’ ideas and clients’ desires for advertisements, publications, or movie sets.
Creativity
Art directors must be able to come up with interesting and innovative ideas to develop advertising campaigns, set designs, or layout options.
Leadership skills
Art directors must be able to organize, direct, and motivate other artists. They need to articulate their visions to artists and oversee the work as it progresses.
Resourcefulness
Art directors must be able to adapt their latest designs to the changing technology used in their industry.
Time-management skills
Balancing competing priorities and multiple projects while meeting strict deadlines is critical for art directors.
Injury and Illness
About 100 art directors become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 81% of other careers. The most common specific concerns detailed following.
All cuts, lacerations, punctures
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by art directors
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), art directors typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as artists and related workers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for art directors

Many art directors start out in another art-related occupation, such as fine artists or photographers. Work experience in art or design occupations develops an art director’s ability to visually communicate to a specific audience creatively and effectively. Workers gain the appropriate education for that occupation, usually by earning a bachelor of arts or bachelor of fine arts degree.

Some art directors earn a master of fine arts (MFA) degree to supplement their work experience and show their creative or managerial ability.

Education level of Artists and related workers
About 60% of artists and related workers have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by artists and related workers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 59% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
  1. Visual and Performing Arts
  2. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
  3. Communication Technologies
  4. Studio Arts
  5. Communications
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College majors held by artists and related workers
This table shows the college majors held by people working as artists and related workers. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
$36K$75K
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as artists and related workers, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
Fine ArtsCommercial Art and G...Communication Techno...Studio ArtsCommunicationsMass MediaFilm Video and Photo...Liberal ArtsEnglish Language and...Advertising and Publ...All other degreesThis jobTop 10 majors
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Artists and related workers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most art directors? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as art directors. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where art directors earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for artists and related workers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for artists and related workers.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which artists and related workers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Artists and related workers (ACS for all specialties)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Employment
28% of Artists and related workers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 28% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 81% of careers.
28%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of artists and related workers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$43K$38K$61K$24K$53K$56K$0$50,000$100,000$150,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedState governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Artists and related workers and gender
With 38% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 50% of careers.
Gender of Artists and related workers
Men (62%)
Women (38%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$37K$50K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
38%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%, and the difference for artists and related workers tops that, with the median salary for men 35% higher than the median salary for women.
35%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Artists and related workers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Artists and related workers.
Race/origin of artists and related workers
White (82% )
Asian (7% )
Multiracial (3% )
Black (3% )
Other (3% )
American Indian (1% )
Hispanic (0% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$36K$39K$43K$47K$58K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K$120KBlackOtherWhiteMultiracialAsian
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.