Art direction is the discipline of conceiving a great idea, applying a visual construct to it, then executing. An Art Director is not married to a design style, but chooses photographers, designers, illustrators to help direct his or her vision into reality. Designers hone their skills in tactical design elements, try various design themes/styles to become adept at multiple directions.
In the traditional “above the line” advertising world, Art Directors produce print ads and television spots. Regardless of medium, s/he is involved with the creation of the idea, selling it to the client, then ensuring the final product lives up to his or her vision. Example: an Art Director will hire illustrators/designers when a specific style is called for, then use his or her graphic design expertise to incorporate that product into the final ad. In that world, ADs are more directors than designers.
In the online world, design has become such an integral part of art direction that the modern interactive Art Director must be highly competent in motion, type, retouching, photography, composition, editing AND design. With easier-to-use software (try Photoshop before layers existed and type always rendered…), every new generation of Art Directors is even more multi-faceted, more creative, than the previous.
While they have both ADs and Designers at IDS, everyone designs. ADs tend to focus on “big picture” concepts rather than just the tactical design styles. When a Designer is ready to move into an AD role, they move away from the granular focus of design and into a broader conceptual aesthetic.
It is a natural progression for a creative to move away from the tactical (type, gradients, tweens, etc.) to the more conceptual. However, the great part of being a tight team at ID Society is that everyone gets involved in the details, myself included. I’m proud to say that many of our recent launches, 1800Tequila.com and FashionRock06.com, are sites I worked on at the design level.
