The term art director is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in
advertising,
publishing,
film and
television, the
Internet, and
video games.
Advertising
Despite the title, an advertising art director isn't necessarily the head of an art department. In modern advertising practices, an art director typically works in tandem with a copywriter. The team usually works together to devise an overall concept (also known as the "big idea," etc.) for the ad, commercial, mailer, brochure, or other advertisement. The copywriter is responsible for the textual content, the art director for the visual aspects. But the A.D. may come up with the headline or other copy, and the copywriter may suggest a visual or the aesthetic approach. Each person usually welcomes suggestions and constructive criticism from the other. Ideally, the words and visual should not parrot each other; each should enhance or enlarge the other's meaning and effect.
Any art director/copywriter team's working methods may vary, but generally the copywriter is more involved in the process of gathering information from the client or account executive, while the art director remains more involved through production. At the extreme, a writer might simply submit hand-written text (copy) and strategic instructions to the art director, who then contributes the visual aspects. (Copywriter Bill Bernbach is apocryphally said to have "slid his copy under the door" to Helmut Krone. If this irony is true, the immortal success of this non-synergistic approach may be due in part to Krone having been widely considered "the greatest advertising print art director who ever lived.")[1]
This is not to say that marketing sense is not important. The ability to formulate and communicate the message, rather than simply stylize it, is one of the qualities that distinguishes an "art director" from a "graphic designer." Most often, the two professions overlap in what is known as communication design, with individuals fulfilling both roles at the same time or alternating between roles. Although a good art director is expected to have a sense of graphic design judgment and technical knowledge of production, it may not even be necessary for an art director to be able to hand-render comprehensive layouts, especially now that virtually all but the most preliminary work is done on computer.
In all but the smallest organizations, the art director/copywriter team is overseen by a creative director. In a larger organization, an art director may oversee other art directors and a team of junior designers, image developers and/or production artists, and coordinate with a separate production department. In a smaller organization the art director may fill all these roles, including oversight of printing and other production.
