An art director works in the concept and coordination of the different elements that are part of a campaign. Fátima Santiago shares her views on the new trends in the design sphere.
What differentiates a graphic designer from an art director?
It could be said that art directors usually work in advertising agencies, and graphic designers in design studios. Within the creative department, although we also design, art directors usually work on the conceptualization (usually with a copy) and on the coordination of the different communication pieces, such as television spots, special actions, digital sphere… We may devote to multi-tasking, while a designer is usually more specialized in pure, hard design.
How is your daily work as an art director?
The truth is that one of the things that I like most about this job is that every day is completely different. You never know what you are going to find, how the next project will be, what brand you will have to think about…
Generally, when we face a new challenge, the process follows a similar procedure: I sit down with my partner to think about possible ideas, we sketch and present them to our creative director. Depending on whether we are on the right track or not, we start to land the campaign, or go back to thinking again 😉
What new trends are currently dominating design world?
Lately there is a new craze about handwritten fonts, large masses of flat colors, pastel shades… And also very clean, minimalist compositions and in general, the “less is more” is applied everywhere. This has been a logo trend for a while, because now it has to work in the digital media as well.
How has evolved the professional profile of an art director in the last years?
Now advertising is much more digital, and that has transformed almost everything: from the way you think about ideas, to the tools you have to know how to use to carry them out.
How can an art director really make a difference?
I guess that as in any other profession. All professionals have their own style, tips, manias… For example, I think I never met two directors who can order their Photoshop layers in the same manner 😉
Many new skills are re-shaping the profile of both designers and art directors: corporate identity, graphic arts, editorial design, audiovisual advertising, 2D and 3D animation, web design, apps, packaging… What of all these new areas makes you feel more comfortable?
I studied Fine Arts, so I will always feel closer to visuals and graphic design. But as everything keeps changing, we need to be more skilled in other spheres such as web design, UX, video edition…
