Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code AEC

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, Creative Director (CD Director), Creative Services Director, Design Director, Art Supervisor, Creative Manager, Creative Services Manager, Graphic Design and Art Production Manager.

O*NET 27-1011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $114,850; Middle half earn $82,480 to $162,640. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 68% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +4% · As fast as average; 135,000 jobs in 2024, projected 140,700. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Art directors".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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.
Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members.
Mark up, paste, and complete layouts and write typography instructions to prepare materials for typesetting or printing.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Writing3.4 / 5
Active Learning3.3 / 5

Knowledge areas

Design4.3 / 5
English Language4.3 / 5
Computers and Electronics4.2 / 5
Fine Arts4.2 / 5
Communications and Media4.1 / 5
Sales and Marketing3.7 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic33
Investigative28
Artistic100
Social31
Enterprising71
Conventional43

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

special effects artist · DE Spezialist für digitale Effekte/Spezialistin für digitale Effekte · FR infographiste effets spéciaux
animation layout artist · DE Layouter Trickfilme/Layouterin Trickfilme · FR layout man/layout woman
graphic designer · DE Grafikdesigner/Grafikdesignerin · FR graphiste
creative director · DE künstlerischer Leiter/künstlerische Leiterin · FR directeur de création/directrice de création
conceptual artist · DE Konzeptkünstler/Konzeptkünstlerin · FR artiste conceptuel/artiste conceptuelle
art director · DE Art-Direktor/Art-Direktorin · FR directeur artistique/directrice artistique

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Artists (3411)64,500 employed
Advertising and marketing associate professionals (3554)211,800 employed
Graphic and multimedia designers (2142)123,000 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.02. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-1011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test