Nobody gets "Creative"....

I started to think it was me.

It usually is.

Over the past ( going on ) 5 years now I’ve worked with very accomplished technical people who through their own admission possess no so called creative skills, or design eye, or they like to say to me “ you’re the creative guy,...”

I then, in turn, would gladly take on both roles as art director and designer. There’s another way of putting that - it’s called chasing your own tail. So I thought, well if I don’t get it how can I expect clients, employers, co-workers and others in my field.

In most visual communication media, art direction is as important as graphic design, although over the past decade or so, print media has increasingly emphasized design over art direction. On the web - art direction is rare, partly because much of the work is about guiding users rather than promoting concepts, but also because there aren’t many design schools that teach art direction. It’s something you have to pick up and use from your years of experience. On the same token, I can’t ( as a pushing 20 year professional ) accept a recent art school grad as an art director. You gotta be in the trenches - a grunt - a foot soldier before you can be a general, ya know?

Alot of companies ( and clients ) put people, like me, in a position where I have to art direct yourself. In addition to that, there is no concept - no appreciation of using visual forms of communication to get points across unless it is in the form of a soul-less diagram. In addition to that, some companies go a step further and make a creative brain run admin or technical side of a web site. In my case, I am fascinated by tech-tools and CMS and very basic programming but I would never take a position where that would be all that I would do. I think it’s required that a creative make the effort to understand the business world, marketing world and developer/technologists world in order to communicate, because trust me - they aren’t making the effort to understand the creative world. It’s on you!

I think companies who hire a jack of all trades person get what they pay for, a person with skills but limited skills. I understand that budget concerns are what leads these companies to hire someone who can “make pretty pictures” as well as “admin the database” but these same companies would likely be better off ( in the long run ) with people dedicated to their specific jobs. This applies to Art Direction and designers as well. These are two separate positions that need specific attention. You would think a left brain position vs. a right brain position would be obvious but two creative positions are just two creative positions that can be done by the same person.

Not so.

Design no longer serves the product; the product serves the design. The product is merely a vehicle allowing the designer to express his vision. Thus design becomes a modified version of fine art (and practically the only version of fine art that pays). It’s hard to art direct from that stand-point. You have to police yourself, make your client or your boss happy while at the same time, you end up creating something you would normally not create - or worse - you allow someone who isn’t a skilled art director direct the art. How many times has that happened to a designer? A designer with enough skills and talent to know what works and what doesn’t work - and a client, with NO CLUE comes along and flat out demands you do something you are opposed to designing. It never appears in your portfolio that’s for sure. Imagine having to do that, to yourself!

That is what eventually is expected when you are a one man shop, or a one person art department.

And the blame can’t be put on non-creative folks. There is a whole generation out there of branding, marketing, and creative people that are driven to “tell” designers how to design and art directors how to do their job while diluting the positions with non-technical requirements.

In a perfect world, a company would hire an art director and allow him or her to develop a team that consists of technical and creative people and designate them to do specific jobs. Above all, this company would have faith and respect in the AD’s abilities and allow him to develop a style for the company, a look and feel - yes a BRAND, a corporate ID - and then marketing and sales would work with the AD to refine and adopt THAT - run with it and everyone would be happy. ( cough cough yeah right cough )

What we have are websites and brochures that all look like they same guy made ‘em, and company CEO’s ( with no design experience ) doing art direction based off these same soul-less cookie cutter web sites and art directors doing design and tech jobs at the same time. This is the new trend, I’m not sure it’ll change any time soon.

You will notice when it does tho. When you see a site, or a commercial that stands above the rest, that is original and speaks entirely different than the main stream. When you stop seeing ad’s on Monster.com for system admin with photoshop skills, when you get hired for a creative job and you don’t have to report to a developer.


...when an art director actually directs the art.

I hope I live long enough to see that day.