Art Directors
Formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual productions and media, such as print, broadcasting, video, and film. Direct workers engaged in artwork or layout design.
Also called: Art Director · Art Supervisor · Creative Director (CD Director) · Creative Manager · Creative Services Director · Creative Services Manager
Median pay (national)
$111,040
$61,060–$211,410 (10th–90th)
Employed (US)
50,370
BLS OEWS, May 2024
Outlook 2024–34
+4.2%
~12,300 openings/yr
Typical entry
Bachelor's degree
What the numbers say
Refit analysis ·Pay for art directors shows an unusually wide range: the top 10% earn $211,410 versus $61,060 at the bottom 10% — 3.5x. The median of $111,040 leaves roughly 90% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.
Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +4.2% from 2024 to 2034 — faster than the 3% all-occupation average. Even so, BLS projects about 12,300 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.
Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 47 states with released data, Oregon pays the most for this role (median $148,410, +34% vs the national median), while New Mexico sits lowest at $59,740 — a 148% spread for the same job title.
Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Active Listening, Speaking, Reading Comprehension as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list. On the tools side, O*NET flags Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign as in-demand technologies for this role.
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Top skills employers ask for
Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Learning Strategies
- Mathematics
- Science
What they actually do
Core O*NET tasks for this role.
- Work with creative directors to develop design solutions.
- Present final layouts to clients for approval.
- Manage own accounts and projects, working within budget and scheduling requirements.
- Confer with creative, art, copywriting, or production department heads to discuss client requirements and presentation concepts and to coordinate creative activities.
- Confer with clients to determine objectives, budget, background information, and presentation approaches, styles, and techniques.
- Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound.
- Create custom illustrations or other graphic elements.
- Attend photo shoots and printing sessions to ensure that the products needed are obtained.
- Review illustrative material to determine if it conforms to standards and specifications.
- Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing.
Tools & technology
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Creative Cloud software
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Figma
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- AJAX
- Apple macOS
- Atlassian Confluence
- Atlassian JIRA
- Cascading style sheets CSS
- Hypertext markup language HTML
- JavaScript
Knowledge areas
- Design
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Fine Arts
- Communications and Media
- Sales and Marketing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Production and Processing