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.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Coordination
- Complex Problem Solving
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Design
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Fine Arts
- Communications and Media
- Sales and Marketing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Production and Processing
What the work involves
- Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound.
- Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members.
- 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.
- Present final layouts to clients for approval.
- Confer with clients to determine objectives, budget, background information, and presentation approaches, styles, and techniques.
- Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing.
- Work with creative directors to develop design solutions.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Artistic, Enterprising, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (68% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (55%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (29%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Art Directors is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 62% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 76% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 92% of occupations compared | 85% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 54% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 97% of occupations compared | 76% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 85% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 90% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 94% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 8.47%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 20.95%
- Constant contact with others: 70.58%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 10.14%
- Fairly important: 29.47%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 0.94%
- Extremely important: 9.69%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2023
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 6.58%
- Very important: 8.87%
- Extremely important: 84.56%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2023
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 6.07%
- Very little freedom: 1.78%
- Limited freedom: 14.48%
- Some freedom: 24.23%
- A lot of freedom: 53.43%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2023
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 23.71%
- Every day: 76.29%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2023
Conflict situations
- Never: 20.19%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.2%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.35%
- Every day: 1.78%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 22.08%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 52.63%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.03%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.47%
- Every day: 1.79%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2023
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 45.84%
- Fairly serious: 31.11%
- Serious: 8.39%
- Very serious: 14.66%
- Extremely serious: 0%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2023
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O*NET-SOC 27-1011.00 · SOC 27-1011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8