1 art director?

I wonder why the position is called art director when it seems to have nothing to do with art. It seems like “concept manager” or “idea architect” or something like that would fit the description more closely.

Do you think this type of work applies mostly to smaller websites advertising a product or service, or is it somehow transferable to large, complex web applications as well?

posted at 12:59 pm on May 7, 2004 by Jennifer Grucza

2 re: art director?

Originally, the art director was the person who chose the illustrator. (And choosing illustrators, photographers, and designers is still part of an art director’s job.)

Art direction became more conceptual during advertising’s Creative Revolution of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Bill Bernbach (of Doyle Dane Bernbach) built “creative teams” composed of one art director and one writer.

posted at 01:37 pm on May 7, 2004 by apartness

3 Delegation

I think delegating is an important part of art direction as well. Knowing who and how to delegate can make your life easier as an Art Director.

posted at 02:10 pm on May 7, 2004 by blakems

4 What They Say and What They Mean

Art Directors, Information Architects, Technical Architects, etc., all share a common problem. Very often an employer says they want one of the above, but they really don’t understand the meaning behind the title. “Looking for an Art Director with 31337 Photoshop and Illustrator Skillz” is as ridiculous as “Technical Architect with 12 years of Java coding experience”. In both cases, those employers are missing the point. Art Directors and Technical Architects don’t do production work Designers and developers do that work.

Very often it is difficult to explain the difference between the two camps (the director-level vs. production-level). This article is pretty good at explaining the difference from the design side. Perhaps soon I will write one from the other side. References like this are always helpful in helping to refine arguments

posted at 04:05 pm on May 7, 2004 by CM Harrington

5 Great job

One of the best articles I’ve seen on ALA in a long time.

posted at 07:29 am on May 8, 2004 by Matt

6 STOP the presses...NOT

Jeffrey always seems to deliver the content I need most at that time. Almost like he’s sitting on my right shoulder watching my every move as I slowly move forward.

Thanks for publishing this week Jeffrey ; )
Thank you for an excellent and timely article Stephen.

posted at 06:22 pm on May 8, 2004 by Ray

7 Doesn´t design include concept ??

Well, I agree that the article is very interesting and I deeply believe that a sound concept is the basis for a good project. The thing is: I´m graduating this year in design and the best teachers always thaught me that, as a designer, I should emphasize my work in the exact principles that Stephen is refering to in his text.

What I mean is: I don´t think that design can be reduced to formal choices such as type and image. The design process itself is born from a concept. After all, not every designer will be directed by someone (specially in Brazil, where I live).

That´s the humble opinion from a design student. :)

posted at 07:24 pm on May 8, 2004 by Werther Azevedo

8 Wow.

This is an awesome article! I had never really though of designing my sites that way. I will definitely be thinking of this article as I redesign my personal site. Thanks Stephen for this little tidbit and thanks Jeffrey for publishing it!

(Spirit)

posted at 07:37 pm on May 8, 2004 by AllSpiritsEve

9 Art or Marketing

So what’s the difference between ‘art direction’ and ‘marketing’?

posted at 09:23 pm on May 8, 2004 by Alexander Whillas

10 re: Art or Marketing

>So what’s the difference between ‘art direction’ and ‘marketing’?

MARKETING: The car is so comfortable, so roomy, so luxurious, it feels like an extension of your home.

ART DIRECTION: Commercial showing people in their comfortably appointed living room. The landscape outside their window is moving. How can the land move? It’s surreal, dream-like, oddly seductive. Beauty shots of family members reacting to the moving landscape continue. The woman in the family puts her hand to the window. Reverse angle, match-dissolve: the camera pulls back to show that the window she’s touching is the window of a car in which she’s riding. The viewer “gets” the marketing idea (“the car is as comfortable as your home”) without being TOLD the idea.

posted at 05:09 am on May 9, 2004 by apartness

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