Creative directors are the people who are responsible for developing the design concepts for the companies. There job is basically to market the products of the companies and there different brands. It is there job to present the best way to provide recognition to the brand name of the company. The creative directors usually work for the advertising companies, health-care institutions, colleges and universities etc. The main objective of a creative director is to convert the marketing strategies of a company into the creative strategies.
Roles and Responsibilities
First of all it is part of the creative director job description to understand the needs and requirements of the companies. What kind of advertisement does the company wants?? What types of designs and layouts are required?? etc. They should analyze the market scenario of the company also. There are so many things that a creative director should look into before designing anything for the company.
The creative director usually works in teams. They distribute the work in the team like some are assigned the work of designing, some work on pitch and ideas etc. Everyone work according to the needs and requirements of the company. The projects of a creative director includes designing the logos, brochures, annual magazines and reports, pamphlets, campaigns etc for a company.The creative director makes sure that the deadlines are met with time. They ensure the requirements of the clients and help them in fulfilling them. The creative directors should keep on continuing their education also as it will help them in their future.They should keep themselves updated with the new technologies and advancements.
There are so many functions that a creative director have to perform. Some of them are like:-
- creative staff management
- checking on photographers, vendors, account executives, analyzing the project development etc
- They also have to keep a check on the proper scheduling of the projects.
- maintaining the teams and assigning projects to them
- they also keep a check on the quality of the project
they are also responsible for setting budgets and targets for the projects
Qualification and Skills Required
Qualification- A creative director should have a bachelor’s degree in graphic design or art. Besides this they should also possess a good experience in brand management and project management. Usually a creative director starts their career as a graphic designer and with experience they reach the level of the creative director. They should have excellent knowledge on all the fundamentals of graphic and marketing principles. They should be good in computer related skills also.
Requirements- Other requirements for a creative director are:-
- the creative director should have good hand in computers like word, excel, powerpoint etc
- the candidate should also go for certification on various fields like web development, web security etc.It will help them in getting good jobs.
- Another plus point for a creative director is speaking a foreign language,preferably Spanish.
- They should also have expert knowledge on photoshop, flash, idesign etc
Skills required by the creative directors:
General skills required- A creative director should possess the following skills:-
- Capable of leading the creative teams
- A good copywriter
- Good designing skills
- Can work for long hours,even in weekends and holidays
- Flexible in approach
- Ready to travel if necessary
- Good hand in photoshop, coreldraw, flash, web graphic designs etc
- Expert in using java, PHP, HTML etc
- Strong leadership skills. Must be capable enough to handle everything related to work
- Good knowledge regarding everything from ad-campaign to direction.
Professional Growth
The employment opportunities for a creative director are more in advertisement agencies and newspapers and magazines, manufacturing units etc. If we talk about USA, then there half of the creative directors are self-employed or work as freelance.
According to US statistics, the growth rate of creative directors will increase by 13% by 2018. In the coming years, the job prospects for them are excellent but the competition will also be strong. Creative directors with good experience in advertisement and marketing can think of bright careers in the future.
The career as a creative director is very interesting if the individuals have an interest in preparing in designs and layouts. Many new job openings will also occur as the existing creative directors will leave or retire from their job.
