Art direction is growing at the average job growth rate with an 11% employment growth expected for the profession between 2021 and 2031. You may find an art director on a film set, in a magazine company, in a PR firm, or a range of other creative spaces. They are at the helm of the creation of a visual concept. They will decide which art or media to use and coordinate the creative vision's realization.
The title of art director requires a blend of an art & design educational background, a great visual eye, and excellent communication and leadership skills. Below are 3 resume samples that highlight the above successfully, as well as some tips and suggestions to elevate your resume today.
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An art director is tasked with creating an engaging visual way to convey a desired message or concept. Many art directors work on a contract basis, while some work in PR firms, various publishers, and advertising agencies, amongst others. Your tasks may include developing a concept, creating a budget, supervising the staff bringing your vision to life, and presenting the finished work for approval to the client.
You will be expected to have at least a bachelor’s degree in art, design, or a related field, as well as experience in the art medium the company uses. Take a look at this recruiter-approved art director resume.
Show recruiters what you can do by compiling samples of your best work into a portfolio. Try to include all the strong samples from the art medium of the company you are applying to.
Keep your tools section current by updating it often and including the newest design software. If you aren’t familiar with the software, take a crash course online before adding it to your resume.
A senior art director is a highly respected professional in the creative industry. This is largely a leadership role where you will be guiding a team or department as opposed to doing direct design work yourself. Your tasks may include consulting with clients, concept creation, communicating your vision to your team, guiding your team, handling budgets and purchases, etc.
As this is a senior position, a bachelor’s degree in design, or a related field, is expected, as is at least 5-10 years of successful experience as an art director. Here is a strong senior art director resume sample to give you an idea of what recruiters are looking for.
Part of your job will include mentoring members of your team or department. Ensure you highlight any mentorship experience you may have. Not only will it show capability, but it’ll also show that you excelled enough in the profession to be considered a mentor.
Communication is a very big part of your job. Knowing more than one language is therefore bound to give you an edge, especially if the company you are applying to is international. List all languages you know and how proficient you are with each.
A junior art director assists in the creation of a design concept and the execution of the concept. Your tasks may include communicating the concept to the team or other stakeholders, training team members on design skills, overseeing the execution of the concept, etc. Like the rest of the team or department, you will be answerable to the senior art director, and you will serve as their representative when they are not present.
You will be expected to have at least a bachelor’s degree in design, or a related field, as well as extensive experience in design and leadership. Take a look at this strong resume sample as a reference.
Stand out from the crowd by going the extra mile to gain design certification. It shows commitment to the profession and also your high skill level in design.
The design tools list will tell recruiters a lot about your capabilities and experience. Recruiters want to see that you know how to use all the industry standard tools, especially the newest ones. So work on becoming knowledgeable on as many design tools as possible. Take it a step further by getting certified in using as many tools as possible.
We spoke to hiring managers at top creative agencies like Wieden+Kennedy, Droga5, and Ogilvy, and they shared exactly what they look for in an Art Director resume. From our research, here are the most important tips to keep in mind when applying to an Art Director role.
Art Directors are responsible for the visual style of a project, so hiring managers want to see examples of your creative work. Include a link to your online portfolio in your resume header.
In your work experience, describe 2-3 of your most impressive projects. Explain the creative vision, your role, and the impact of the work.
As an Art Director, your resume summary is an optional section that can help provide additional context and highlight your most relevant skills and experiences. While your resume itself should already be a concise summary of your qualifications, a well-crafted summary can be particularly useful if you're making a career change or have extensive experience in the field.
When writing your Art Director resume summary, focus on your unique value proposition and the specific skills and achievements that make you stand out from other candidates. Avoid using generic buzzwords or simply restating information that's already included elsewhere in your resume.
The work experience section is the core of your resume as an art director. It's where you showcase your professional achievements, skills, and impact. Aim to strike a balance between providing enough detail to convey your contributions and being concise.
Let's break down the key steps to write an effective work experience section that will catch the attention of hiring managers and help you land your next art director role.
Action verbs are an effective way to illustrate your experience and responsibilities in your previous positions. Strong action verbs can help your previous experience easier to understand and can also highlight your successes to impress recruiters.
For an art director, your action verbs should speak to your various functions. E.g your experience as a leader, designer/creator, communicator, presenter, project manager, etc. Here are some action verbs to get you started.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
Art directors need to be both incredibly skilled in design and also incredibly effective leaders. This requires natural artistic talent but also soft skills like communication skills, project management skills, and mentorship skills. When recruiters look at the skills section of your resume, however, they will expect to see a list of hard skills necessary for success as an art director. This will include the various tools you are acquainted with as well as the various artistic mediums you have experience with.
This is an example of skills a recruiter would expect to see on your resume. Use this list as a starting point for your own personalized skills section.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Art Director job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
