How To Become A Designer/Art Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a designer/art director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Yash Egami

A designer/art director develops art concepts and design for projects and ad and marketing campaigns. They must create compelling visuals for various projects, often to be further developed and hosted on digital platforms. They are the ones who create and direct the flow of the visuals and the face of the brand, including creating and maintaining the brand's standards and kit, all for the use of in public relations and marketing. All of this is built up based on market research, which the designer/art director also conducts and manages.

A person hoping to work in this position will likely need to have at least a bachelor's degree in fine arts, design, or a related subject. They will also need a few years of experience in a similar position and working with creative design and in a media or related company. A good creative portfolio and proficiency with design software is also necessary.

What general advice would you give to a Designer/Art Director?

Yash Egami

VP, The One Club

A recent Forrester report says that the ad industry will lose 50,000 jobs through 2021, with 35,000 of them already lost since the pandemic. The traditional ad agency model was already in trouble, with many brands hiring away talent and creating their own in-house agencies. Add to that the recent reckoning with the Black Lives Matter movement, and what we're seeing is an industry that is being forced to go through monumental change in order to survive.

While traditional roles like art director or copywriter are on the decline, the good news is that, in an effort to reinvent themselves, agencies are seeking creatives with digital skills like UX design and programming. The rise of in-house creative departments has also meant more opportunities for job seekers within brands rather than agencies. And because of the demand for more diversity from clients and those within advertising, recruiters are making more of an effort to hire multicultural talent.

At The One Club for Creativity, we've been at the forefront of change in the industry through our diversity and inclusion, professional development and gender equality programs. We recently hosted our annual multicultural career fair, "Where Are All the Black People?" that brought together thousands of diverse talent with 40 agencies and companies looking to hire. We launched One School, a free online program for Black creatives who want to get into the industry but don't have a portfolio or the economic means to afford to go to ad school. And we're working on upskilling courses for professionals who want to reinvent themselves or keep up with the changing demands of our industry.

So if you're a recent graduate who specializes in art direction, our advice would be to keep an open mind about what kind of company you want to work for and think about expanding your skillset to include digital skills so that you can future-proof your career. Where you are isn't as important because, since the pandemic, agencies have become more comfortable with working remotely and they are more open to having a workforce not centered on the traditional agency hubs, like New York or Los Angeles.

ScoreDesigner/Art DirectorUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $97,448

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.84%

Asian 7.67%

Black or African American 4.33%

Hispanic or Latino 14.23%

Unknown 5.92%

White 67.01%

Gender

female 41.01%

male 58.99%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.2

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.0

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Designer/Art Director in Columbus, OH

Receive alerts for the newest job postings.

Key steps to become a designer/art director

Explore designer/art director education requirements

Most common designer/art director degrees

Bachelor's

74.4 %

Associate

15.2 %

Master's

6.1 %

Start to develop specific designer/art director skills

Skills	Percentages
Photography	9.06%
Graphic Design	8.56%
Creative Concepts	7.01%
Adobe Photoshop	6.82%
Sketch	6.26%

Complete relevant designer/art director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New designer/art directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a designer/art director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real designer/art director resumes.

Research designer/art director duties and responsibilities

Develop strategic project plans managing and maintaining multiple projects from sketch to print, facilitating high-impact presentations to senior leadership.
Edit and maintain the film festival s web site content and design, utilizing HTML and CSS coding.
Organize and coordinate the conceptual idea of product to the working engineer sketch of product.
Lead creative on interactive pharmaceutical presentations and HTML emails working with developers, animators, and programmers.

Get designer/art director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a designer/art director. The most common roles before becoming a designer/art director include graphic designer, art director team lead and designer.

Prepare your designer/art director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your designer/art director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a designer/art director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Designer/Art Director Resume templates

Build a professional Designer/Art Director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Designer/Art Director resume.

Apply for designer/art director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a designer/art director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams