1 Art Direction & Design

Great piece on an often misunderstood issue. I have found that Art Direction is more readily understood in USA than in UK.

posted at 09:06 am on November 2, 2010 by Gary Day-Ellison

2 Its not very good "art direction" VS "Design"

There should be “graphic” in front of “Design”.
Just “Design” must mean more broad broad broad.

posted at 09:58 am on November 2, 2010 by moonbow

3 Love is the message

Thanks for the distinction/definition. I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on art direction vs. creative direction.

I’d like to submit that your analogy of loving your wife is slightly inaccurate. I see it like this. The love would be the message or the content. The flowers and smile would be tools from your toolbox. The art direction then would be the process (and wisdom) of deciding how you wanted to convey that message to her and recognizing that doing it with a scowl might be the wrong tactic.

posted at 11:19 am on November 2, 2010 by Joshua taylor

4 you learn something new everyday

I found this article extremely interesting and informative.

I have only got a few years experience in web design/development under my belt and art direction is something that I have not been introduced to until now. I have heard the term thrown around but never really understood its importance during the process of designing a site. This is something I will definitely be looking into further to help with my own learning.

Great article :)

posted at 11:40 am on November 2, 2010 by adam_faux

6 Art direction elevates and enhances meaning.

A fantastic perspective. Thanks for putting it all into words.

posted at 12:03 pm on November 2, 2010 by aaronsalmon

7 Art Direction and Design

I understand the difference, in an advertisement agency is common to have separate departments, but in web design, I’m used to work in very small teams, usually the same person does both jobs, so people assume that the designer’s job is to take care of everything.

posted at 12:20 pm on November 2, 2010 by nataliav

8 Editorial Design

I love the way you are defining art direction Dan, I also think it’s helpful to define what the so-called “blogazine” is when it’s not an art directed design. In my opinion, Smashing Magazine is confusing art direction with editorial design. I think that’s a more helpful term than “blogazine”. This isn’t to say that the ability to create a unique page for a post on your blog is good or bad, but there are editorial decisions the designer is making. Whether they are good decisions or not isn’t the point. Using this kind of terminology, even if it’s borrowed from print design, allows us a language we can use that isn’t misleading jargon like “blogazine”.

posted at 12:40 pm on November 2, 2010 by kevinsharon

9 Great Article

One of the most insightful design (and art direction) articles I’ve read on the web. Most of us forget the two are separate functions with different tasks.

posted at 01:18 pm on November 2, 2010 by raygulick

10 Defining Design

This was a very interesting read, but I think the design side needs more focus. Design by itself is a much broader entity than art direction—it includes art direction. Art direction is a form of design. I think you need to focus your definition of design before the distinction between the two becomes useful.

posted at 01:46 pm on November 2, 2010 by Stormink